power movers
- Thread starter roscoe
- Start date
Hi @DARREN, How is the Camper Trolley going. Am thinking about the Camper Trolley or Optitec to help me position our new17.56-2 OB at home.
Hi.
We had similar problem with getting van in on a slope and then an angle.
Can back it in but worried about clutch slipping as its a slow difficult task so did loads of investigation.
Ended up buying the Optitec as we didn't want something permanently fitted but easy to use at home only and the cheaper eBay movers looked just too light for the job.
Now we just drive in, attach the Optitec, hook up to onboard battery, use the remote control and hey presto!!
Love it and it moves our 16.49.3 OB with ease up a slope with a hell of a lot less wear and tear on the car and on us.
They are also good to deal with at Optitec.
We had similar problem with getting van in on a slope and then an angle.
Can back it in but worried about clutch slipping as its a slow difficult task so did loads of investigation.
Ended up buying the Optitec as we didn't want something permanently fitted but easy to use at home only and the cheaper eBay movers looked just too light for the job.
Now we just drive in, attach the Optitec, hook up to onboard battery, use the remote control and hey presto!!
Love it and it moves our 16.49.3 OB with ease up a slope with a hell of a lot less wear and tear on the car and on us.
They are also good to deal with at Optitec.
Haven't measured on van battery it but don't really notice too much draw.
When we first tested it we monitored draw on a powertek deep cycle battery that we keep as a spare and on a trolley in the shed. It dropped from 13.6 to 13.3 with about 30 minutes fluffing around trying to work out what we could do with it.
So we're happy. It does what we want it to do easily.
Only thing we've noticed is that it is a bit heavy to lift so we won't be taking it with us on the road but don't need to do that so that's fine.
You do need an Anderson plug as the power cable comes with that.
When we first tested it we monitored draw on a powertek deep cycle battery that we keep as a spare and on a trolley in the shed. It dropped from 13.6 to 13.3 with about 30 minutes fluffing around trying to work out what we could do with it.
So we're happy. It does what we want it to do easily.
Only thing we've noticed is that it is a bit heavy to lift so we won't be taking it with us on the road but don't need to do that so that's fine.
You do need an Anderson plug as the power cable comes with that.
Thanks @Dobbie. Doesn't sound as though its too hard on the battery, in any case it will be primarily for when we are at home. I have thought that it could be handy to take on trips though as it gives you more options for where you set up the van, for example, if you want the draw bar to be facing a river.
We have specified an anderson plug to be included with the van.
We have specified an anderson plug to be included with the van.
Not sure what the quoted weights are but, from memory, think the Optitec was around the 28 kg mark.
I find it feels a lot heavier than that but that might be me. When I think of it I'll weigh it properly so I'll feel better ( or weaker) as the case may be...or just accept the fact that I'm a wimp.
I find it feels a lot heavier than that but that might be me. When I think of it I'll weigh it properly so I'll feel better ( or weaker) as the case may be...or just accept the fact that I'm a wimp.
I have a Parkit360. Reasonably slow and noisy but does the job. Worst part is that it has to work over a combination of grass and paving (flat otherwise) with a hump at the change over point due to having to be a water barrier in the Wet Season. Our van is in the back yard and not accessible from our front, but as our son lives next door backing on to our yard from another street we go through there. Due to a house extension for him the turns are now too tight for using the car at the rear for manoeuvring. It does tend to tear up a bit of the grass though on turning and having a dual axle van obviously makes it worse.
The standard Parkit normally uses a generic tow ball system to connect on to and doesn't work with a rotating off road style hitch. Their modification has a bracket that attaches to the "A" frame with a tube through it and in to the top of the Parkit. There has been only one spot on the "A" frame to bolt the bracket on and due to the position of the onboard battery for the Parkit you have to severely raise the front of the van for clearance of the battery. Normally it comes with a battery box but this made the clearance required impossible so as I had a 100Ah AGM doing nothing I've placed it on its side and it is workable. The main cause of the clearance issue is the toe cutter plate on the underneath of the "A" frame behind the hitch. There is provision to connect the Parkit to the Anderson on the van and feed from the van batteries but I won't even try that until I've upgraded the size of the cabling from the Anderson to the inside of the van.
I'm about to bring the van back in to our yard and one of many jobs to do is to see about cutting the bracket and the inner tube down, add some more welds and see about bolting on a section of it to that toe cutter plate under the hitch. This would move the pivot point forwards to where there won't be any issue of clearance and the front of the van can be lower while moving it and a lot less strain on the bracket. As it is I can see the flexing on the bracket and tube because of the height that I have to use it at.
The standard Parkit normally uses a generic tow ball system to connect on to and doesn't work with a rotating off road style hitch. Their modification has a bracket that attaches to the "A" frame with a tube through it and in to the top of the Parkit. There has been only one spot on the "A" frame to bolt the bracket on and due to the position of the onboard battery for the Parkit you have to severely raise the front of the van for clearance of the battery. Normally it comes with a battery box but this made the clearance required impossible so as I had a 100Ah AGM doing nothing I've placed it on its side and it is workable. The main cause of the clearance issue is the toe cutter plate on the underneath of the "A" frame behind the hitch. There is provision to connect the Parkit to the Anderson on the van and feed from the van batteries but I won't even try that until I've upgraded the size of the cabling from the Anderson to the inside of the van.
I'm about to bring the van back in to our yard and one of many jobs to do is to see about cutting the bracket and the inner tube down, add some more welds and see about bolting on a section of it to that toe cutter plate under the hitch. This would move the pivot point forwards to where there won't be any issue of clearance and the front of the van can be lower while moving it and a lot less strain on the bracket. As it is I can see the flexing on the bracket and tube because of the height that I have to use it at.
I do agree that the flatness of the ground makes a difference. Our approach Is concreted so I forgot to mention that. It's always possible to use some thin sheets of ply under the wheel if the ground is too bumpy.
The Optitec comes with an additional double bracket for the draw bar which took more time to fit than the unit itself but it does fit on the extended drawer bar even with a stone guard and weber box ...a bit of a tight fit but sufficient.
The Optitec comes with an additional double bracket for the draw bar which took more time to fit than the unit itself but it does fit on the extended drawer bar even with a stone guard and weber box ...a bit of a tight fit but sufficient.
It was one of a number of alterations I had organised to be done by Dario Caravans in Adelaide while it awaited our picking it up. Not Jayco or Dealer organised.
I realise this is an old post but you wouldn't happened to have some pictures of how/where you mounted the powermover. I'm trying to fit one to my van and am stumped as to the best way to mount it. Thanks in advance.
I installed a Enduro caravan mover behind the axle due to insufficient space in front as would normally be the case (because of Expanda 16.5 entry doorways dropped step). I spoke to the distributor who supplied me plans to manufacturer my own mounting brackets to the chassis. Took some more customising but does the job as promised - only limitation is grip when wet on the knobly tyres fitted to the Outback version.
Any chance of a picture or two. I just had a plate made up and am about to start the modifications to it. Thanks in advance Barry
In case anyone else is thinking of installing the purpleline powrmover here's a couple of pics . I had the mounting plate made out of 5 ml steel and the mud flaps are just some rubber I had hanging around but they stretch well when the unit is in use.
