caravan manouvering

[Len_Cuff]

Our Adria seems easy to move but only when there's 2 of you
Waiting for OTH is a PITA when I could have moved it and got it connected ready for the off.
Decided to get one from here -
nationalvehiclesolutions.com
As they offer a discount for caravanclub members.

Any thoughts?

Fitter came as promised on time, fitted in about an hour. Given a quick demo - in the rain!! -- well impressed for £649. Very neat and tidy job.

 

[xtrailman]

Len which mover did you get?

My 10 year old Reich cant last for ever, nor can my 10 year old battery, so I'm looking for a possible replacement mover.

 

[Len_Cuff]

It's an Enduro 2 and comes with 5 years parts and labour thrown in!

 

[Andrew_5040506]

The mover draws about 80A so a 110Ah in a good state of charge is almost mandatory. Curiously the cables from battery to controller are like welding cables, but those from controller to motors are much thinner. However when you move it its whistles which suggests the motors are what are known as 'stepping motors' rather than just something that runs of a plain 12V. That is obviously how they manage to make them go both ways and at different speeds.

There are two types of Powrtouch, one that needs manual engagement and one that is driven. Having bought the former and seen the latter, if you can afford the extra cost the auto engage version is much better. The manual unit takes some strength (my wife cannot do it) and like a starting handle if you don't put all of your fingers and thumb on one side of the lever it could do you a nasty injury when it jumps.

 

[TerryIvybridge]

As I've had DMF and clutch problems of late, I'm hopeful that fitting my Powertouch mover to our Bailey Champagne will allow me to reverse it up a small incline onto the drive rather than use the car. I've fitted new rollers and now pray that next time out, easy manouvering will take place.

 

[ProfJohnL]

The mover draws about 80A so a 110Ah in a good state of charge is almost mandatory................

Sorry Andrew but not so,
Your confusing current capacity with charge capacity. even a 30Ah car battery would be able to supply 80A current, in theory for about 20Min. But in reality the motor current will fall as soon as the mover is actually moving so in practice even such a small battery would allow most owners to position their caravan. We have previously shown that for most caravanners with movers, the use of a mover will on average only deplete a battery by no more than about 5Ah

A larger battery is recommended so it still has a respectable charge to operate other items after the mover has been used.

 

[Len_Cuff]

After just having a mover fitted, I've checked the battery and it's marked as 86AH but the mover seems to work fine. Surely if you tow after using it or connect to mains, the battery will be recharged anyway?

 

[ProfJohnL]

Exactly, so having a mover in the circumstances you describe does not necessitate having a battery with a high AH rating.

 

[pmb]

Apologies for the bump I should have asked this at the time. Is there any difference in performance asking a mover to go backwards up a slope to forwards? It is the same motor and presumably gearing so shouldn't be but would be interested in your experiences. I'm wanting to rip the bathroom and kitchen out of my property at some stage and going to use the van facilities for some of that time. It would be handy to have the van the other way round on my drive rather than nose in for this.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

I believe my Powrtouch mover is the same speed in both directions. There are no mechanical changes required for direction, the change being done by the control box by reversing the polarity on the bi-directional electric motors.

 

[Dustydog]

My Numax 120 amp battery using g HD Power touch twin motor moved our 1700kg Wyoming 50 yards at Scourie no problem. Still showed 13 v afterwards.
Once started a good mover with a good battery will go a very long way
Has anyone actually tried using the mover to point of battery exhaustion?

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Dusty,
I would be quite surprised if anyone has fully exhausted a fully charged battery by simply using a mover. When Carver first introduced the mover, they had a demonstration unit which was given a fully charged battery each morning. Despite being used most of the day at exhibitions and shows did not exhaust the battery in a day.

 

[Lonesome-Whizkid]

When someone says they have a 1 in 4 gradient incline on there street or driveway when deciding to get a motor mover, how are you supposed to work out what 1 in 4 means, Is there another measurement that I could understand like degrees??

 

[PaulT]

1 in 4 means that for every 4 (inches, cms, yards, miles etc) travelled horizontally you gain 1 (whatever) in height. It could be stated as a 25% incline. If you draw a traingle on a piece of paper you could use a protractor to measure the angle but I'm not sure that this would be any more useful than recognising that 1 in 4 is steep (I think the steepest public road in the UK is 1 in 3) and 1 in 10 is less steep.