Inverter and small TV for 1640LTD

[TomMonger]

Greetings...

In my new 1640LTD, I installed a cigarette lighter socket right next to the dual USB port outlet (under the seat of the dinette). It's connected to the same circuit as the CO2 detector and dual USB outlets.
I also have a 300 Watt Inverter (sine wave) that plugs into a cigarette lighter socket. Will it be OK if I get a small 24" TV (120v) and plug it into the Inverter which would be plugged into that cigarette lighter socket?

-Tom in Scranton, PA

 

[TSQ]

Most cigarette lighter sockets are rated for 15A: 15A x 11.5V = 173W x 85% Inverter efficiency = 147W.

Probably want to keep the draw under 120W. Your TV should have a rating label on it.

Not sure what kind of battery capacity you have in your trailer but be aware that a 120W load is ~10A at ~12V. So an hour of TV watching will knock you battery back 10Ah.

 

[TomMonger]

Most cigarette lighter sockets are rated for 15A: 15A x 11.5V = 173W x 85% Inverter efficiency = 147W.

Probably want to keep the draw under 120W. Your TV should have a rating label on it.

Not sure what kind of battery capacity you have in your trailer but be aware that a 120W load is ~10A at ~12V. So an hour of TV watching will knock you battery back 10Ah.

Thank you for the quick reply. I'm not sure what the television ratings are, as we haven't purchased one yet. Just trying to decide if I should just use the Inverter (that I already have) and buy a small television, or spring for an actual (and pricey) 12-volt television. Also, the cigarette outlet, I assume, would be on a 10 amp fuse since it's connected with the CO2 detector and dual USB ports.

 

[McFlyfi]

You might want to look into a 12v TV/DVD player instead of the regular ac tv. It'll cost you a little more upfront, but you bypass the inefficiency and complexity of adding the Inverter. I have one and it typically runs at about 3.5 amps per hour on DVD.
Amazon has them.

 

[TSQ]

A quick Google search indicates that a typical LED backlit 24" TV should draw 20~25W so you should be good.

Not sure if you have any ancillary receivers or other loads that go with it.

 

[TSQ]

Or a 17" Chromebook with external storage if that suits your viewing needs? I see them on Amazon for <US$200. Most of them charge off USB-C.

 

[TomMonger]

You might want to look into a 12v TV/DVD player instead of the regular ac tv. It'll cost you a little more upfront, but you bypass the inefficiency and complexity of adding the Inverter. I have one and it typically runs at about 3.5 amps per hour on DVD.
Amazon has them.

Sounds good, thank you!

 

[tfischer]

+1 to getting a 12V TV. You can sometimes find one that has an external power supply and happens to run on 12V even i it isn't advertised as a "12V TV". I actually just checked one of ours to see, and sure enough (see attached pic).

 

[Sjm9911]

I second getting a pad and downloading a few movies or shows for the trip. They are cheap and easily charged. As for the tv route, you will probably need a boster also. That also takes power. How much I have no idea.

 

[Dnodoz]

We have a ac 24 inch Roku TV that we hang in our Aliner. When we don’t have Shore Power, we plug it into a Bestek 300w Inverter. Draw is not significant for us to worry about.

We tried 3 different 12v dc only tvs before this and either trashed or gave each to Goodwill. All 3 had horrible screens and distorted horribly if any angle on viewing position. Just junk. Also the combo are all regular dvds only, no blue ray. We have hundreds of blue rays in our collection at home that we could pack but almost no dvds. We got a $49 blue ray player at Walmart for the camper and plug it into the Inverter also if we want to watch a disc.

 

[Snow]

How handy are you with electronics, or do you know someone who is handy?

All of today's tvs, DVD, bluray, and game systems (excluding those that are battery operated) all have a step down transformer and rectifying bridge in the power supply circuit to convert 120vac to 12vdc.
If you are handy or know someone who is.. simply "convert" a tv.

 

[TomMonger]

How handy are you with electronics, or do you know someone who is handy?

All of today's tvs, DVD, bluray, and game systems (excluding those that are battery operated) all have a step down transformer and rectifying bridge in the power supply circuit to convert 120vac to 12vdc.
If you are handy or know someone who is.. simply "convert" a tv.

I've been known to "toy around" with electronics!

 

[Anthony Hitchings]

How handy are you with electronics, or do you know someone who is handy?

All of today's tvs, DVD, bluray, and game systems (excluding those that are battery operated) all have a step down transformer and rectifying bridge in the power supply circuit to convert 120vac to 12vdc.
If you are handy or know someone who is.. simply "convert" a tv.

Probably not - too bulky ,today's devices use "Buck Converter" circuits.

 

[tfischer]

Probably not - too bulky ,today's devices use "Buck Converter" circuits.

Same idea though.

As I mentioned above, you can find small TVs that have external power supplies and take in 12V directly. The one in my pic was one of the cheapest 20" TVs that Best Buy had a few years ago. Perfectly good TV for its size too.

Otherwise, you'd have to open up the TV, poke around with a meter and figure out what voltage it uses internally. If you're lucky, it's 12V and you just add a DC jack. But it may be something else, and then you'd need a DC->DC converter to make that work. Not expensive or all that hard but more monkey work.

I'd personally just find one that takes 12V. Well personally I wouldn't bring a TV camping, but I don't think that's what the OP wants lol.

 

[TSQ]

What are you planning to watch?
- Over-the-air (terrestrial) TV via an internal receiver?
- Satellite TV via an external receiver?
- DVDs/Blu-rays via an optical drive?
- Streamed media (Netflix, etc) either streaming or downloaded on a storage drive?
- Digital media via a storage drive?

 

[caverunner17]

As a few others have mentioned, a tablet is ideal here. We picked up a Fire HD 10 for $75 from Amazon and got a 128GB SD Card for $12. I can download probably 100+ hours of HD Disney+ and Netflix without issue and you'll get 12+ hours of battery life.

Another option is a Chromebook - though make sure that the one you get either has enough SSD space or allows for the movies to be stored on an SD card. One of our Chromebooks doesn't allow for Netflix to store videos on the SD card and the 32GB internal is only enough for 3-4 movies.

 

[davido]

If you're going to go the TV route, get 12v. An Inverter is an inefficient way to watch TV.

For me, I have a Roku and streaming services (Hulu+LiveTV, Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video). On the road I'll just sign my tablet or my laptop into the streaming services. You can watch a lot of video on a signle charge of the tablet or laptop. And in the enclosed spaces of a popup, a laptop screen or large tablet screen may be perfectly adequately sized.

Going with a laptop or tablet you will probably have better battery life, smaller screen than a TV (which may be ok in a Popup), plus all the capabilities of a laptop or tablet. Why would I need a laptop or tablet's other capabilities? It's very useful to be able to use a device to book activites while camping, book other campsites, research hikes, and so on.

 

[davido]

Another comment; The last circuit you should be hooking an Inverter up to is one that powers the smoke detector or CO / Propane detector. Those should be as reliable as possible. An Inverter with too much load on it might trip the breaker and then you don't have a working CO/Propane/Smoke detector.

In my pup I had enough circuits available that I could dedicate one to the cig plug / USB ports. But if I didn't, I would use the same circuit as the built-in CD player / radio that we never use.

 

[popup-flyer]

I did this on my campers TV. Its 120 or 12v. I just flip a rocker switch I put in one of the holes for the legs and plug in the barrel plug when I want 12V. Its on a stand so blocking one of those leg holes is NBD.

How handy are you with electronics, or do you know someone who is handy?

All of today's tvs, DVD, bluray, and game systems (excluding those that are battery operated) all have a step down transformer and rectifying bridge in the power supply circuit to convert 120vac to 12vdc.
If you are handy or know someone who is.. simply "convert" a t

 

[TomMonger]

I'd personally just find one that takes 12V. Well personally I wouldn't bring a TV camping, but I don't think that's what the OP wants lol.

I certainly won't NEED a TV, but I'd like to have one for late night viewing, news, weather reports from local (antenna) channels.