My dad has an older hoveround teknique xhd that quit working the other day. He says that he talked to customer service, and that there was a self diagnosis test on the thing that determined the control unit is bad, but they want 00 simply for a new control unit. Rediculous. And he doesn’t have that money.
I’m wondering if anyone has any experience fixing these. I’m pretty handy with a soldering iron, and I’ve soldered up basic circuitboards before. Hoping its just a wire that popped off the circuit board or something. I’ve tried searching for used control units without much luck. Do people part these out and sell them, is it possible to find a used one? Or perhaps a new genaric one that will be compatible?
The problem is he lives over 100 miles away, in the middle of nowhere, so I’m trying to get a good idea of what I’m facing so I can be prepared once I get out there. Anyone have any advice on fixing these?
Nothing you can do. Once a controller is old and bad, it is dead and needs to be replaced. Hoverounds suck anyways. If he needs it that bad, then he should get a new chair.
First the bad news – Hoveround is notorious for high prices and providing bad service, especially they will not provide parts to any but their own dealers – other vendors need not apply so other vendors will not attempt repairs. Second – there is no "used controller" market because the thing that fails is the controller – the batteries, motors and wiring are so basic that unless it is left soaking in water, nothing fails (except for replacing the batteries)
And as you have discovered, the profits/prices on medical stuff covered by insurance is out of sight.
I can’t offer any suggestions on what you will find, but I think it would be worth taking a medium and a light wattage soldering iron with some fine solder and seeing if you can find a broken wire. I fear that anything more complicated will be very difficult because what is going on in the control unit is the interaction of a proportional joystick for speed and relative speed of the two motors (for turning) with electronic maximum speed and proportional starting so that if some jerks the stick over it does not throw the person from the chair.