Battery for a motor mover

[Pinto]

Our leisure battery has just died. Next week at the annual service we are having a Titanium motor mover fitted. Having read about batteries that are powered higher for motor movers, I would welcome any views on whether you need to buy a special battery or not, If so, any recommendations.
Our van has a solar panel and we leave it plugged into the electric when it's at home so the battery is usually fully charged. It is a Coachman VIP 575/4 so not a lightweight van

 

[otherclive]

100-110 amp hour will more than suffice especially with the solar panels. For use with movers I would advise a grade B or A battery. Grade A if you plan on spending much time off grid which you may do with the solar panels support. I recently bought a grade B Banner lead acid battery. If you do the sums a mover takes relatively little current from the battery as it isn’t normally used for that long. But it’s initial current draw can be high.

 

[Hutch]

Hi Pinto, we have a 2013 Coachman 560 , so a bit heavier than your van, I have moved our van about 50 yards, with the awning wrapped up but still attached to another pitch. Stilll plenty of power in the battery. For myself I would drop to a 90 AMH battery but yet again a Gell battery. to save weight ,on my next battery change, but we very seldom go off grid. And I very seldom use the motor mover.

 

[Raywood]

The VIP is a pretty heavy caravan so I would agree that a 110 amp battery is the best bet. With a lighter caravan and only normally using it for short manouvers on the flat we manage with an 80 amp model and it has lasted over 5 years. The battery size needed probably depends a lot on the weight of the caravan and the type of use it is put to.

 

[chrisn7]

Its still often suggested to use a 110Ah battery but many movers are quoted as requiring 85 amp these days. Its supposition I know, but I would guess that most people complete the manoeuvring of a van in less than 10 minutes so a high capacity battery is unnecessary also you are going off grid. Lower capacity will save you weight and cost too.

 

[Pinto]

Thanks for all the replies. My husband can reverse fine, it's just that damn Alko wheel lock alignment, especially if you need to level the van ! Also we have plenty of room for the van at home but at times would like to move it a bit for strimming etc without having to hitch up all the time.

 

[otherclive]

Thanks for all the replies. My husband can reverse fine, it's just that damn Alko wheel lock alignment, especially if you need to level the van ! Also we have plenty of room for the van at home but at times would like to move it a bit for strimming etc without having to hitch up all the time.

Understand but there will also come times when access to a pitch requires a mover due to obstructions preventing reversing in. Also a functioning mover can help getting off a wet or muddy pitch. I’ve had to do that three times and the different cars were 4x4 with one having AT tyres and all the bells and whistles. So you are right in wanting to sort it your mover problem.

PS agree with you about Alko wheel lock.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Its still often suggested to use a 110Ah battery but many movers are quoted as requiring 85 amp these days. Its supposition I know, but I would guess that most people complete the manoeuvring of a van in less than 10 minutes so a high capacity battery is unnecessary also you are going off grid. Lower capacity will save you weight and cost too.

Caravan movers in common with all electric motors use most power the instant power is applied to the motor but it hasn't actually started turning. This is the peak current, but as soon as the motor starts to spin, the movement of its coils within its magnetic field will start to generate a "Back EMF" which starts to oppose the flow of current into the motor, so the actual current consumed drops. the 85A you refer to is the initial current, and it will only consume that amount of power whilst the motor is stationary(stalled). When the motor is running up to speed, the current draw w ill reduce to a fraction of its starting current. Anything that slows the motor down will cause the current to rise, but it will never reach the maximum current until the load causes the motor to stall.

It may take ten minutes or so to position a caravan, the actual time a mover is operated will be quite a lot less than that, so that is one reason why the power used is usually surprisingly little (often less than 1Ah of battery capacity used). For this reason, its not the Ah size of the battery that is the limiting factor, its the peak current delivery, hence a relatively small car battery can very succesfully run a caravan mover , whilst some poorer quality but large Ah leisure batteries could struggle. But a good quality Leisure battery should not be harmed by using a caravan mover.