Tuesday, July 1, 2008

How to switch the clusters

I spoke with IT this morning and they told
me a couple of ways to switch the clusters
so that if I get a flat, I can easily switch
them so that I'm not rolling on the flat.

Note: I've most likely been given this info
in the past. My brain didn't retain it. Now
that I've been in a situation where it would
have been really helpful to know how to do
it, and also now that I'm writing this, I will
hopefully remember it, lol!

Okay, so I'm botting around and suddenly I
have a flat. What I've always done in the
past was stop whatever I was doing and go
straight to the bike shop to have them fix
it. As of today, I know a better way.

All I have to do is put it in stair climbing
function, go up one step, switch to 4-wheel
drive function while the first set of the
clusters are resting on the first step. Then
drive forward, go back into standard function,
and I'll be wheeling on the un-flat wheel
which has traded places with the flat wheel.
Easy!

Another way to do it is if I am in balance,
I can force the chair to "fall" from balance
to 4-wheel by making the chair tilt forward
(see my last post). This will cause an
abrupt and uncomfortable "crash", but it will
switch the clusters. The person at IT tried
it today while I was speaking with her. I
don't think I'll give it a try myself
because it sorta hurts, but it's good
to know.

I think tomorrow I will try the stair-climbing
way to switch the clusters. If I do, I'll
have my daughter film it and I'll post it here.

I kind of wonder about climbing a step with
a flat... sounds a little risky to me, but IT
said it was okay to do. They should know!
Then again, maybe they've never done it with a
flat. If anyone reading this knows this is
not a safe thing to do, please leave me a
comment!

And now, my daughter wants to go for a walk.
Because of the iBOT, I am happy to go on a
walk with her on this beautiful evening. : )

6 comments:

Stephanie said...

OK, I am confused. In standard function, it looks like all 4 big wheels are rolling. Is it actually only rolling on the castors and the rear big wheels, while the "middle ones" are slightly elevated?

That is the only way I can imagine you getting the flat out of the way.

Shannon said...

In standard function all 4 big wheels are rolling, however the middle ones are slightly elevated.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like flat tires are a regular thing. How often? Do you take the wheel off to change the tire? Is there a valve stem? BTW, yours is the best thing going on the iBOT on the Internet. Thanks.

Stephanie said...

So that leaves you plenty of time to safely get somewhere you can fix the flat then, just limits you to standard function in the meantime. Thanks for the info.

Shannon said...

Anonymous,

My most recent flat tires were all related, so I'll just call that one flat. So with that one flat plus the others since I got the bot, I think I've had 3 flats. 3 flats in about 9 months or so... I suppose that's a little much. I really do wish they'd come up with an alternative or better tire. I tested switching the clusters earlier today and it worked. I need to upload them to youtube and when I do, I'll post them here. Being able to switch the clusters will help a lot the next time I get a flat.

Thanks for the compliment! I really appreciate it!

Shannon said...

Hi Stephanie,

Yep, very good info to know. I have a video of me switching the clusters (as I said in the above post), and will post them when I've got them uploaded.