Message Forums

We've just bought a large 6 berth caravan.. however didn't factor in the cost of a mover! Having got it home, whilst the drive is relatively flat (and tarmac), it takes a lot of effort to man handle it into place.

Whilst ideally we would like to buy a fitted mover, they are very expensive, and therefore are looking at second hand motor mover/big foot/mr shifta. My question is therefore how do people power a motor mover? Is there any way to draw power through say the charging circuit of the 13pin electic plug of the van and use it to power? Problem is that parked up, it is not possible to access the battery compartment of the van (positioned too close to wall of house) so if I connected direct to battery I would need to unplug the 12V circuits of the caravan, and once parked leave the connectors for the motormover outside neither of which are ideal.

Any thoughts? Our neighbour is looking to sell a motor mover for a reasonable price, but not quite sure whether it will do the job we need! he's said I can try before I buy, but it's the power issue that I see as the biggest problem... anyone tried a transformer and run it off mains?!?!

All movers are designed to run off 12V, and I really don't think that a transformer/inverter is the answer. I had a similar problem to you with my last 'van, ie., battery locker close to the wall, and how I got round it was; I ran two 6.5mm (?) cables from the battery across the 'van to a locker on the opposite side, and fitted a 12N (or 12S if you wish) socket to them. I then fitted the appropriate 12N/12S "Plug" to the wires on the mover, and it was simply a case of connecting them up whenever I wanted to use the mover.  

I don't know how well a jockey mounted mover would work on a 6 berth van?

Some run from the van battery but others have their own onboard battery - e.g. Mr Shifta. You could use an extra battery to connect it to if you can't get to the one on the van.

I have one which connects to the van battery and it works well on my little 2 berth, I also used it for an even smaller Freedom Microlite which I had before, and once used it running from the car battery to move my Combi Camp, but it does have a very long cable.

You don't say if you have a single ofr twin axle caravan? I recently removed a Truma Soft start motor mover for a single axle caravan. In operation this motor mover is powered up by the use of the remote control and auto powers off after about 20 seconds of stopping and actuator bar can be fitted to engage both movers from either side, a secondhand unit should set you back around £400, (CHECK with the seller if they unit they are advertising is the same) you may have to buy the actuator bar as an extra, fitting instructions are available from truma, and is well within the capabilities of a competent DIYer. Hope this helps. Regards Rob.