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 Post subject: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 1:22 pm 
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Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:56 pm
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Location: Millhaven, ON
I have been casually looking for a 12V TV for the new boat... I would like a DVD Combo 19-22". I tripped across this one. I know you can use an inverter but at this price why bother plus you don't have to worry about power losses through the inverter.

http://www.vivaladeals.com/p-1108-19-inch-skyworth-sltv-1969a-1080i-acdc-12-volt-lcd-hdtv-with-atsc-digital-tuner.aspx

Here's a 22"
http://www.roadtrucker.com/12-volt-lcd-tv-dvd-widescreen/skyworth-large-12-volt-lcd-tv-dvd-player.htm#Skyworth_22_Wide_Screen_12-Volt_LCD_TV_DVD


Anybody else see any deals out there?

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Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie

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'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 1:53 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:45 pm
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Location: Indiana
Marc check out my thread. The 19" Insignia LED LCD TV you can hard wire in as 12v. We will take it off the boat over the winter and use the oem powercord/transformer and put it in the kitchen.

Find a small 12v DVD player and your all set.

But I'm not a big fan of combo units.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
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'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225


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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 2:19 pm 
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Location: Millhaven, ON
I will review your thread. I don't recall any details of how you wired the unit. I was at Best Buy and Future Shop the other day and I couldn't tell if the TV's were 12V. How can you tell? They were all rated at 120V... some were even hard wired as opposed to a receptacle.

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Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie

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'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive


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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:22 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:45 pm
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Location: Indiana
The way to tell is the back of the tv says input as 12V and there is a power brick (transformer) in the power cord, similar to a laptops.

On the 19" Insignia the power brick is mounted on the back of the TV. All the other ones I looked at Best Buy and Walmart were just a power cord.

There is a wealth of info on the Insignia's over at ClubSeaRay.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225


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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:33 pm 
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wkearney99

Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 3:50 pm
Posts: 2444
Location: Boat in Annapolis, live in Bethesda, MD
Some use an external power supply (aka 'a brick'). Others have the power supply internally but use only 12v from it.

The tricky part about using 12v directly is that some devices are VERY picky about it. And since the voltage in a boat is likely to fluctuate a lot (from lows of 10v to highs of 14v) it's hard on the electronics. In some cases it may damage them. So ones designed for operation in a vehicle are definitely worth considering over something you'd have to hack. There are 12v to 12v voltage regulators, but I've not had the occasion to use one. These smooth out the fluctuations and provide stable 12v. But by the time you go this route you might as well just be using an inverter.

Regardless of which ones you use be away that the 12vdc outlets may not be able to supply enough amperage to drive the TV. Some have rather thin gauge wire to them. I know this is true on our 348 up in the forward berth, and I think in the cockpit too. This will necessitate running new wire. Either all the way back to the breaker panel or through a fuse inline to the main battery switches. It's generally considered a bad idea to run straight from the batteries, even with a fuse. Better to pull power off a terminal from the main switches instead. Wires hanging off the battery tend to corrode and potentially spark a lot more than ones safely secured through a switch. That and the next owner will thank you for not making a rats nest mess of the wiring.

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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:10 pm 
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268 Vista

Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 9:49 am
Posts: 4989
Location: West Michigan
wkearney99 wrote:
Some use an external power supply (aka 'a brick'). Others have the power supply internally but use only 12v from it.

The tricky part about using 12v directly is that some devices are VERY picky about it. And since the voltage in a boat is likely to fluctuate a lot (from lows of 10v to highs of 14v) it's hard on the electronics. In some cases it may damage them. So ones designed for operation in a vehicle are definitely worth considering over something you'd have to hack. There are 12v to 12v voltage regulators, but I've not had the occasion to use one. These smooth out the fluctuations and provide stable 12v. But by the time you go this route you might as well just be using an inverter.



Sounds logical, but vaguely familiar .
Quote:
If you are trying to run directly off 12v dc circuit you need to know the minimum voltage needed to run the television.

In the past I had a 5.5" analog color television set that was for true RV use. It ran down to 11.8 volts dc. I later purchased a 9" analog color TV. While it stated to run either 120v ac, or 12v dc, it was not exactly true. It needed a minimum of 12.6 volts to operate. Since a fully charged battery is 12.7 volts, you would get about 1/2 hour operation before the battery fell below 12.6 volts. The television was designed to be used while driving (plugged into one of the 12v outlets of the vehicle) with the alternator keeping 12v circuit voltage above 13.2 volts, not directly off a battery while camping.

With the cheap cost of portable inverters (<$50.), it is simpler to convert 12 volt dc to 120v AC to power a television. The inverter regulates the power to fully utilize the battery. I have been using the same Vector inverter for over ten years.

http://www.motorhomemagazine.com/boards ... 921663.cfm

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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:13 pm 
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Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:56 pm
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Location: Millhaven, ON
I will be running the 12V from a spare switch in the 12V breaker panel. And it will be all new heavy wiring and only needs to go 5 feet. The previous owners have hacked away at the wiring on several items and I am slowly figuring out why and rewiring properly. It's hard without a wiring diagram but some head scratching generally figures it out. The biggest problem I am finding is that if they rewired something (for some reason?) they seemed to have left lots of excess wire. I have been shortening these up and it makes it alot easier to trace out other circuits. For example, the electric trim tabs had 50 feet of wire and only needed maybe 12.

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Marc, Kathlin & Nathalie

Image
'89 Chaparral Laser 32

'93 Vista 245, 5.8L w/ King Cobra

Former Boats
'01 H260, 7.4 VP Duoprop
'98 H200, 5.0 GL w/VP SX drive


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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 6:34 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:45 pm
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Location: Indiana
FYI, the max power for my TV is 35W. Not more than a typical household lightbulb.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225


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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:48 pm 
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wkearney99

Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 3:50 pm
Posts: 2444
Location: Boat in Annapolis, live in Bethesda, MD
Be aware there's often a startup drain that's a lot higher than when running. I've seen one TV pulling 150W at startup and then settle back to 45W during regular viewing. I had a kill-a-watt monitoring the use when powering it from shore AC. It was killing the 100W inverter I wanted to use. The 400W alternative I had handy wouldn't work over the existing thin wiring. Go figure. One... more... project...

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista


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 Post subject: Re: 12V TV deals
PostPosted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 7:46 am 
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Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:53 pm
Posts: 739
I put this on my arch: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Q2 ... ss_product

I'm happy with it so far.


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