Month: November 2019

14.04, 14,40, 18.42, 19.58, 14.04

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Yesterday I planned to go out to Sainbury’s in the High Street to buy some oranges. It’s not far from me but after 41 years of pushing a manual wheelchair my shoulders are weak and painful, and so for the last ten months I have used a motor on my chair called a Smardrive.

Yesterday the Smartdrive controller failed at 14.04. I tried to fix it but the controller was dead.

Luckily for me the old dedicated controller has been replaced with downloadable software that is stored on a smartwatch. I found the watch at Argos and ordered it at 14.40 yesterday. At 18.42 I received notification that the watch had been dispatched and it arrived at 19.58.

I spent this morning huffing and puffing while downloading Google’s Wear OS and then the Smardrive software, configuring and pairing them with my Smartdrive and phone, and by 14.04 today had the thing working again.

Of course I am not happy that a £4000 wheelchair motor’s reliability is in question but am pleased that I found a workaround within 24 hours. My shoulders will be thankful for it.