One of our customers has had an idea that we wanted to run by you to see what you think...
He felt that it would be great to have a mobility scooter that had some sort of adjustable audible warning device so that when in a tight environment it could be heard.
We'd love to hear what you think about this possible addition on new mobility scooters?
Scooters usually have horns but they are not loud enough, just a low peep at the most. They can't be heard even in the quietest environment plus folk have a penchant to walk around with head phones on or chatting or texting on their phones totally oblivious to what is going on around them.
I have a klaxon on my walking frame after I was knocked over by a group of lads walking backwards.
Something loud would be much better.
beau - I love the idea of a klaxon.
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Hi Beau, Many thanks for your response and for your idea.
What do you think about having an adjustable volume with the warning device? so the noise level can be tailored to different situations?
Adjustable volume would be a good idea so the user could change it according to surrounding conditions. If this was to be the case then the user would have to learn which sound level would be appropriate for the circumstances in which they want to use it.
The only drawback I can see is some scooter users not bothering to change the sound level and have it on full volume all of the time regardless.
Second that thought.Quote:
Originally Posted by beau
Just to clarify a point here:
Are we talking about a one off warning, eg. horn/klaxon?
Or are we talking about a repeating warning, like a van/truck reversing warning?
Perhaps a combination of the two would work best; hit the button and you get a repeating beep (or spoken warning) for five or ten seconds?
Gadgets to do all three of those options already exist, it would just be a case of fixing them into or onto the scooter.
(Mmm... have I mentioned I'm an engineering designer; I might go away and design a clamp on one. Be interesting to see what I could get the cost down to).
EDIT
I won't bother.
You can get waterproof sirens with 6 different tones that clamp onto bicycles for less than £4. would need to go into serious mass production even to get anywhere near that selling price.
Suppose I could buy some, repackage the electronics, loose the battery, add leads to tap into the scooter electrics, sell them for about £25-£50 a go as a specialist product for mobility scooters. :rolleyes:
Hi Beau, Yes that's one of our concerns too. Many thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and we'll pass them onto the development team. TGA Mobility Team
Hi Nukecad,
We're not sure at the moment. It was an idea one of our customers put forward to us, and we wanted to know what other mobility scooter users/general public thought.
We like the idea of a combination of the two. I'll pass your comments through to our product development team.
Many thanks for taking the time to reply.
TGA Mobility Team
I can see a problem with a volume switch as by the time you have adjusted the volume switch so it is audible in a noisy environment the chances are it would be too late, having the volume switch turned on maximum all the time I'm sure would would cause problems when just a polite "toot" would suffice. My suggestion would be to have the horn switch configured in a way that the volume would automatically be raised with a continuous push or a series of quick depressions .