Should You Buy A DC Or AC Electric Powered Stair Lift?
Early electric stair lifts were powered from a mains supply. However, nearly all new models are now powered by rechargeable batteries. Batteries are seen as being preferable and having many advantages over an AC mains powered unit. However, mains powered units have been improved and offer one or two advantages of their own. The first models were powered by directly wired into a mains socket via a trailing cable. A spring-loaded drum, located at the top of the stairs, would store the cable. Having a trailing cable has some inherent problems. Tripping over the cable was an ‘accident waiting to happen’. Also, the drum and cable were moving parts and, as such, required more maintenance. Also, early AC powered stair lifts could suffer from erratic stop and start motions, which could be uncomfortable or even painful for some. Despite these drawbacks AC powered units were preferable to battery driven ones. Back then technology was not as advanced as it is today. Batteries were often unreliabl
