Hello
We have a Powrtouch motor mover on our Coachman wanderer.The motor mover is out of the 5 year warranty period (it is nine year's old).I have just installed a new 12v battery and a new battery in the remote control.
We have just taken the caravan out for the first time this year .the motor mover worked fine until the end of the trip when putting the caravan back into storage .We engaged the rollers and tried the remote control -the rollers moved for about two seconds then nothing .We disengaged the rollers ,removed the red switch key several times and there was nothing .IWe checked the battery with a voltmeter and it showed 13.08 volts .We checked the electronic control unit inside the caravan and it did not show any red lights .
Fortunately someone at the storage site helped us manually get the caravan back in place .
Has anyone got any comments /advice as to what might be the problem or is it just that the motor mover is 9 years old, these things happen and a new motor mover is required ?
Any comments gratefully received .
Thanks
Jim
One of the silly things that happened to me with our Powertouch.
Moved off driveway ok. Hitched up and drove to site. Absolutley nothing when trying to move to our pitch. Remote did not seem to work at all. Quick change of battery but still no joy.
I managed to reverse the caravan to pitch.
A later study of the remote and I noted the battery felt loose in the holder, so I put a piece of folded card under the battery to ensure it was firmly held against the remote's contacts. Bingo, it now works fine.
apart from you saying the battery is at 13.8 volts i would have said flat battery..
check the connections including at the control unit..try a voltage reading when the batty is under load.. to test things you dont need to have the movers pressed against the wheels.. try running the motors not touching the tyres.. you should hear them spin and do their stuff..
i leave my little battery out of the remote if the van isnt gonna get used for a while.. those little prongers do lose their tension over time..
I replaced mine at around 18 years as that was playing silly burgers, when he put the new one on he found that the wires under the caravan had been joined in a few places and joined poorly, he said that could have been the problem. So could be worth checking the wires and contacts
Unfortunately a good off load battery voltage reading only tells you a limited amount, it doesn't tell you the health/capacity of the battery and how it deals with a heavy load! - and MM are a very heavy load!
Your problem reads like a classic insufficient voltage problem, now that could be a duff battery (new doesn't always guaranty 'good'), corroded/lose terminals on MM cabling (OR battery terminals!), failed relays in the control box etc., only more testing can eliminate the possibilities and identify the actual problem.
As both sides have failed to operate simultaneously, it probably eliminates things like a problem within a motor unit, one may fail, but both at same time is HIGHLY unlikely. The motor units are independent of each other, so a problem with one should not reflect on the other.
Have you tried the Powrtouch faultfinding guide: https://www.powrtouch.com/evolution-fault-finding/. The control box warning lights are really quite informative when you know how to read them properly.
Other highly likely probability is with the handset as previously mentioned. The lights on the handset AND the control box may give some clue as to whether it's OK. Again a new battery is no guaranty it's a good battery! - try another new battery to be sure.
If stumped for solutions, Powrtouch customer service is VERY good (I've just spoken with a UK based engineer who really knew what his was talking about re a broken part on my unit, and a whole bunch of bits supplied under warranty with no arguments! - what a joy of a company to deal with!!!) and may give you some insight.
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Topic: Powrtouch motor movers
