Power Option for TV

W

Westie

New member
With the football games this weekend and plans to fish sturgeon all Sunday, I'm considering bringing a portable TV with me on Sunday. Am I better off getting an inverter and regular TV or a 12V portable TV?

I plan to bring a separate house battery and this is not a permanent situation. I don't think reception will be an issue because I will be in the CA delta.
 
I used my cell phone and TuneIn app to listen to games.

Streaming to phone and tablet is possible too

To answer your question we need to know the TV power usage and battery reserve
 
IF you already have both sets available to you, the 12v version would at least not include the inverter losses for energy use. However, a modern flat panel display may use so much less power than an older tubetype unit that it would still draw less power even including the inverter losses.

How about just recording the game or listening on the radio? Seems like a lot of trouble to go through.

Greg
 
Check at the TV store. Some of the smaller "home" sets (13-19") with LED backlighting actually are DC powered and use a brick transformer in the power cord to convert the AC line voltage to the required DC (like older computer printers). Most big sets do this too, but the transformer is internal. You may be able to find one that will fit your needs without going through many hoops at all.

You will need to check the back of the TV itself. Most of the sales people have no clue and it won't say anything on the box.
 
Most TV's are designed to use 120 AC and convert the power to the various DC levels needed, I assume 5 VDC, +12 VDC etc. So a 12 VDC may just have an inverter that gives 120 VAC out and then feeds a standard TV. That certainly would be the cheapest.. Converting DC to various levels is more complicated than starting with AC, since a transformer doesn't use DC, so one has to chop it and then convert it.

The message is that it doesn't make any difference whether you you start with a DC or AC TV, you'll use the same power. So buy the cheapest, an AC model and get a cheap sine wave inverter.

Boris
 
I have had several 110 sets, which hadd 12 volts output from the brick, and used these onn boats. Recently I have not found one. Current in the RV I use a Pure Sine wave inverter and a 40" and 32" TV set, with Satellit dish. One of the dishes, is a "Tailgater" which is self container and powered from the satellite dish receiver. I have also used this dish receiver on the boat, with a pure sine wave inverter.

In the past the "12 volt" receivers were not as good as many of the cheaper 110 V sets. (mass production vs a very few sales of the 12 volt sets)
 
We carry a 400w inverter coupled to a six way power strip for charging phones, camera batteries, cpap machine, etc. Have been doing it since 2009. They can be had from about 30 to 40 dollars on Amazon. If for any reason it does not work out Amazon will cheerfully offer a refund.The power loss from using the inverter to covert 12d vdc to 120 volt ac is over stated in my mind. If you take the 400 watts and divide by 120 volts would figure that the 400 watt inverter would be able to put out about 3.3 amps. They have breakers and squeal when overloaded. They do come in handy. Plus they let you use low drawing 120 volt devices so you don't have to play around with buying sometimes sub standard and more expensive low voltage substitutes. JMHO
D.D.
 
Westie":160okadz said:
With the football games this weekend and plans to fish sturgeon all Sunday, I'm considering bringing a portable TV with me on Sunday. Am I better off getting an inverter and regular TV or a 12V portable TV?

I plan to bring a separate house battery and this is not a permanent situation. I don't think reception will be an issue because I will be in the CA delta.
Click to expand...


fyi

for example


if the battery has 100min reserve capacity
What is amp/hours?
100 x .3 = 30 amp/hours

How long will a battery last?

A 300 watt inverter providing 150 watts connected to a fully charged 100 reserve minutes battery will last approximately 2 hours.

30/15 amps = 2 hours
 
A new 20"/ 22'' Led back lit TV draws about 30 watts and costs less than 200 dollars from what I saw online after quick search. I saw an RCA model in a Wal-Mart ad for 109 dollars. Enjoy the game.
D.D.
 
Or you could say, why do I want or need a TV on a small boat? We have never once missed having a TV while cruising! We have a small 110/12 volt digital TV we bought for our "disposable" RV in Okanogan, probably similar to the $100 Walmart one D.D. mentions, but we have a hard time imagining where would put it or keep it on the CD25. We watched movies on the boat with the computer a few times, and I suppose you could get a USB TV tuner for your computer if you just have to see the big game and are in a location where off-the-air reception is possible!
 
One user has a set up where a tv sits on the helm in front of the center window. It folds out of the way when not used. It is shown in the C-Brats gallery somewhere (I saw it just the other day).
 
Last year we bought a nice little Samsung LCD 22" TV. I built a wooden box for it. It's wrapped in a towel and we keep the narrow wooden box against the starboard side of the boat next to the copilot seat. We can use it on it's stand or it can hang above the back door on hooks. We have never used it yet. Maybe we will use it in a few weeks when we head for the keys for a month. Ranger Tugs come with a TV. that folds down from the roof in the centered in front of the center window. Some marinas have cable TV hookups but as Pat says once we are off the couch and in the boat there are better things to do and look at. :smilep
D.D.
 
I recently bought a 24" Samsung smart TV for the Nordic. It was less than $150 on Amazon and hardly uses any power. Runs fine on the modified sine wave inverter, too (as does the laser printer and microwave which some people have trouble with).

I'd go with a 120v TV and an inverter. The inverter will be useful for lots of stuff on the boat. And you can use the TV at home if you ever want.
 
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