Why is my stairlift at half speed going up, ok coming down?

What about the green light that didn't show ? Is that OK now or did you have to change batterys?

MArcus
February 2013

Thanks guys, I have now actually got it working the best it's ever been, one of the dip switches when set to the 'half speed' mode has got it going at full speed. It now just shows 8 or 9 on the display. I have reset it as well btw.
Thanks again for all the advice.

Ron
February 2013

I'd just like to add to my previous post about stairlift battery failures:

"Suggestion to any professionals who service lead-acid powered appliances in critical applications. "

If your policy is not to replace batteries periodically, then invest in (or ask your boss to buy) a lead acid battery capacity tester. Using one will quite accurately estimate actual A/hrs a battery has and removes most of the guesswork. It could pay for itself on a single use - by preventing a return call. I'll bet if you practice using this tester on a selection of batteries (even 'new' unused ones) you'll be surprised at what it tells you. A car battery only needs a fraction of an A/hr to start the engine, but a stairlift requires more energy than that.

MArcus
February 2013

A similar thing happened with my friend's stairlift down to street level, it always went down the stairs fine, but the problems were when it carried back her up, it got steadily slower over the months, especially towards the top. Eventually it dropped down to a slow crawl for most of the climb.

The main problem was the Maintenance Contract lulling her into a false sense of security. They are careful in the way they 'test' the lift so as not to detect worn out parts - because then they would have to replace them at their cost.

They would arrive and 'inspect' it periodically, she would sign the paperwork and they'd leave and they would carry on getting the annual fee. Meanwhile she'd stopped going down to street level altogether because she didn't trust the lift, even though it was 'officially in perfect working order'.

Some weeks later on I witnessed this lift stopping a few steps short from the top. By that time she'd already lost her confidence in it and she'd specially chose a time when she had someone with her (me).

Here's the technical details: When the Engineer did the last 'service', he'd measured the battery voltage (while under charge) which was the correct voltage. He operated the lift a down for a few steps and then back up again. From these 'tests' he deemed the battery as OK. Wrong.

The only real way to test the battery is to watch its terminal voltage while loaded with a person and climbing up the stairs.

Instantly the problem was revealed, and what that the maintenance contract had failed to pick up on each time. On one of the batteries, the terminal voltage was rapidly collapsing under load, and towards the top the other battery was suffering the same problem. Replacing both batteries (bought off ebay very cheap) restored the lift to perfect working order. The maintenance contract has been cancelled and the money saved spent on more useful things.

This failed battery would not of been picked up by the maintenance contract.

MArcus
February 2013

hi there......showing 8 or 9 on the display is just a direction code of which way the stair lift is going in your case 8 means going up and 9 down,,when also showing the letter "n"/8 means your upside slowing down switch which usually activates near the top of rail for parking is either faulty or stuck in/needing cleaning........hope this helps ........ian

IAN
February 2013