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Cycle Chair - Electric wheelchair

The name brand is Cycle Chair.  A partially blind man I have been introduced to wants it to get around the local neighborhood.   He has the frame with wheels, single wheel in the front with bicycle type steering, dual in the back that are connected to the drive motor via a chain and belt.  The 24 V motor that runs when connected to 12V.


I can't get any data off the motor, so what level of wattage should I purchase in a new controller?


I will use a hand throttle for the speed control, since this guy used to be a motor cycle guy and it will be easy for him to know how to operate. 


Thanks in advance, Tony S

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1 person has this question

That is a General Engines Cycle Chair from the 1970s. They were heavily advertised in the back of Popular Mechanics magazines. Here is one of their ads.


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The Cycle Chair's electric motor is 24 Volts and although the Watts of the motor is not mentioned by the manufacturer or written on the motor itself, by looking at it (we have a couple of them here in our shop) I can tell from its size and lack of ventilation holes that it is around 500 Watts continuous duty.


It would be safe to use a 24 Volt 500 Watt controller on it for continuous use. A 24 Volt 1000 Watt controller could also be used with it as long as the tricycle was not used going up hills at full power all of the time. With a 1000 Watt controller more power could be had from the motor for momentary uses such as getting up steeper driveways and ramps, however I would not recommend a 1000 Watt controller for full power use going up long hills, as it might overheat the motor. If the trike will just be used at around walking speed on mostly flat ground then a 1000 Watt controller will be fine though. Either way, with a 500 or 1000 Watt controller the trike will run great though.


Please let us know if you have any questions.

I  just ordered your:  24V 500W Electric Scooter Speed Controller with Speed Limit Adjustment Knob  part # 24500A.    Please let me know what battery or batteries are suggested for this type of unit. 


Tony Suda

For a 500 Watt controller the minimum battery size should be 10Ah. So any battery pack with 10Ah or larger batteries will work.

Electric wheelchairs usually have large batteries that are 35Ah or higher. This way the wheelchair will have a long range and can be driven for several hours before the batteries need to be recharged.

I suggest using the largest size of batteries that will fit into the battery boxes, so the chair has the longest range as possible.

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