Motor Mover Needed
Evening,
I’m looking at getting a motor mover, but need to be mindful of cost, given the fact I’ve only just forked out for the van.
Does anyone know any company’s in Staffordshire/Shropshire area that’ll supply and fit a second hand motor mover?
Cheers for your help 👍🏼
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I wouldn't trust a second hand one as don't know how much use it has had. Could be half way on/off pitch and packs up. For what they cost it might be better to buy new.
https://www.towsure.com/caravanning-equipment-and-motorhome-accessories/remote-caravan-motor-movers
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There are good buys available. My neighbour sold a two year old truma auto one recently with 3 years warranty remaining and transferred free. That had literally been used on and off drive a dozen times max. The local fitter charges £125 to fit normally.
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Hi Shorey13, a bit late replying to your post and you have probably invested in a mover by now, but if not be careful, i am assuming you bought a used caravan.
I bought a new mover Powrtouch Evolution, expensive, but brilliant when it works, and it has a nice little safety device built into the electronics that shuts the whole thing down if your battery level dips below 12v so that damage is not done to the battery.
On my 2008 Coachman there is a built in volt meter which was registering 12.5v when i bought the mover some months ago, yesterday when i returned and had the caravan half way up the drive the unit shut down, on investigation it was a battery voltage low problem, and the reason being that my onboard battery is 11 years old and works perfectly running a few lights in the van which is all it is required to do normally, but when it comes to powering the mover, which it did when i first had it installed, no way, now i am looking at an additional cost of approx £100 for a new battery. Also a note for the unsuspecting if you have the auto version that puts the rollers onto the wheel at the press of a button, these remain locked to the wheels. I did find that if you switched everything off and waited 5 mins then the battery had restored sufficient to move the rollers off the wheels, there is also a manual rachet you can use so not the end of the world.
I guess this could be a problem if you are off grid and have run the battery down and then want to use the mover to aid departure, also the instructions state you should not use the mover whilst connected to the mains supply and in fact the way the on/off switch is fitted in the battery compartment, it is not possible to have the plug for the mains inserted whilst the mover switch is in position.
Note to self, read instructions fully, and check important items like battery voltage
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would not say they are cheap though, never tried one from towsure's lower range of prices, some reviews are good some not so good, my Powrtouch was £1075 fitted comes with 5 year guarantee, again some reviews good some not so, but have been well impressed with mine, apart from battery issue, but an 11 year old battery owes me nothing. Consider a good mover to be an essential piece of caravaning equipment.
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For fitting 2nd hand rollers it might be as well to look at local, mobile caravan repairers.
I admit I got the sales company to fit mine when I bought the van from them.
As for stalling on the drive I have, before now, plugged van into house/garage mains circuit, switched on the in built battery charger and carefully continued to roll it up to it's normal position - ensuring the power lead did not get trapped or run over .
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As for stalling on the drive I have, before now, plugged van into house/garage mains circuit, switched on the in built battery charger and carefully continued to roll it up to it's normal position - ensuring the power lead did not get trapped or run over
on a correctly installed Powrtouch mover what you are advocating is not possible. To switch mover on you have to insert big red key into on/off switch which is located in the battery box next to the mains lead insert, and the key has to remain in situ. With the key in situ it is not possible to insert the mains power cable, this is done to prevent what you say you have done, and prevent damage to the mover.
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Not sure you are correct as some caravans come already wired for motor movers , and the mains inlets are in a seperate covered receptacle , our battery in an under floor box with the switch for the motor mover and its controls in a nearside locker
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not seen this configuration, all i know is my installer was adamant that the mover should never be used whilst 240v attached and he installed it in such a way that this is not posibble and the manual reiterates non use whilst 240v attached. Have to say my old 2003 mover did not have such a configuration you simply moved the rollers onto the wheel with the wrench switched on the handset and it worked, so yes i suppose you could have had the 240v attached. Me thinks using 240v would invalidate the warranty if you returned with burnt out motor.
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so on your particular set up would it be possible to have 240v connected and operate the mover?. Page 19 of the installation manual states an installation as i have described above should be made so as to prevent 240v connection whilst mover is switched on, maybe the mover on/off switch should be in the seperate recepticles for mains inlets, but what the heck, my installation seems to be as recommend so my 5 year guarantee should be protected in this instance.
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The danger of having the 240v supply connected whilst using the mover is mainly that the "power supply" would be seriously overloaded. Secondly, running over the cable, pulling it out of a connector somewhere or entangling the operator and dragging them under the wheels.
I have fitted Anderson connectors on the caravan battery as I have other batteries about that use them, and I also have the same connector in-line on a set of jump leads. This means I can quickly connect the caravan electrics/mover to any available 12v battery should the need arise.
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great good for you, and i think your set up is preferable to mine, at least if you have a flat battery you could connect to the EHU or mains at home and still be able to operate the mover, excellent, one of the benefits of having a modern caravan, still not sure why in their manual they expressly do not recommend using mover whlst 240v is plugged in, with no mention of pre-wired caravans
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Secondly, running over the cable, pulling it out of a connector somewhere or entangling the operator and dragging them under the wheels.
Seriously! How fast is your motor mover? the speed mine goes a snail could get out of the way of the oncoming wheels.
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a snail could get out of the way
That is, if the snail did not have its leg entangled in a loop of the cable, or had not been knocked unconscious when it stumbled over the relocated cable and hit its head on the ground.
Remember all these people "killed by a single punch" one reads of in the news - most are not actually killed by the punch, but by the head injury resulting from hitting the ground.
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I guess the bottom line on this is that we have one member "redface" who has operated his caravan mover whilst plugged into 240v mains supply, and lived to tell the tale, I cannot test this, not that i would want to, as my installation will not allow mains connection whilst mover is switched on, but it would seem like a nice feature to have if you proceed with caution
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A few years ago when we got MY first caravan (Vic had already owned one previously) a mobile fitter supplied and fitted our motor mover in the configuration that Rufs has.
Once when the battery was too low to move the caravan onto the drive I had to remove the battery and charge it before I could move the van further.
On swapping vans the dealer also swapped our mover for us, but this time we could plug in the hook up while still using the mover as the isolator key was in a separate place (key in battery box, hook up external)
On our current caravan we have the isolator and hook up on different sides of the caravan (same mover)
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True but whatever accident might come to lite as soon as you let go of the controller or take finger off the mover stops instantly so getting tangled around the cable or tripping over the mover would come to a complete stop as you would never keep your finger on the button.
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But do snails even need motor movers? I thought they carried their vans on their backs.........................
................now if you had said slugs.
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Hi Shorey13,
We have the following member offer: www.caravanclub.co.uk/membership/member-offers/caravan-motor-mover
Hope this helps.
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surely a snail is a motorcaravan!!!not a tourer!!!!!
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Still not got one...🤷🏻♂️
Seen a few companies offer a 2nd hand mover, fitting and 12months warranty for about £500, just not one that covers Staffordshire or Shropshire.
With winter coming up I might leave it until the start of next year. The van is a 2002 Bailey, so spending £1000-1500 on a top of the range mover wouldn’t make any sense, but we definitely need one because getting it in and out of storage is a nightmare! We dread the first and last 10mins of every trip0
