TV RENOVATION - CAN WE RUN DIRECT FROM COACH BATTERIES?

[messner]

2003 Fleetwood Bounder, 32W, Gas, Front TV Upgrade.

I'm about to upgrade our front TV in the overhead from the old 10,000 pound anchor tube Panasonic to a nice 32" Sharp LED Flatscreen.

I am hoping to be able to watch the new TV off of our batteries when we are NOT plugged into 110/120 and without the Generator running.

The new 32 inch LED Sharp TV draws 65W.

My Questions Are:

1. Is it feasible that I can run the new TV direct from my Coach Batteries. (2 new 6 volt Golf Cart type batteries).

2. Any technical tips on where to draw the power from and how? (The TV area only has the 110 recepticles there for plugin now).

- Our recepticles only work on 110 when the Coach is plugged in, or from the genny when its on. (we are trying to avoid this when boondocking).
- Up front there are 3 x 12V cig lighters (2 in dash & one under dash) but they appear to only come off the chassis battery?

I am wondering if in theory this will work? (Running on the coach batteries).

If it would work, and special tips on how to wire in the power?

I think I would run a power line direct from the battery bank to a 12V cig style plug-in and plug in a car type Inverter by plugging it into that socket. Th TV would then plug into the Inverter.

Am I on the right track?
Any advice?

Any help sure is appreciated!

Jim

[BillAdams]

While I don't recommend it, it may be able to be done. If the TV uses and external power converter it should show the input power as 110V and the output power as XX VDC. If this is in the range of 12V then you can likely cut out the power supply and wire it directly to your coach wiring. "In theory" if the TV used 12-14 V is "could" work. If it says anything other than 12V then you are really taking a big chance. Even if it says 12V it means the TV is expecting to see a consistent 12+V power input and your RV will sometimes be providing 12V and sometimes as much as 14V while charging.

You first need to look into the TV specs and then you need to decide how important that is compared to installing a small inverter that will provide the correct 120V power to the TV with only a minimal additional loss of battery capacity due to the inverter inefficiency.

[kaypsmith]

If you wind up using an inverter, the 65 watt is very good for this use. I would recomend at least a 300 watt inverter, this is nearly 5 times the usage of your tv, but as Bill said, the ineffiency of an inverter if using anything less could cause a shortened life for the tv. The newer tv's that are led lighted are very forgiving of small inequitys, and will work just fine on a msw (modified sine wave), because the first thing that happens with 120 ac entering the tv, it converts back to 12 volt dc.

The power supply's don't mind the supposed square wave provided by the inverter. 65 watts, if that is all that will be pulled through the inverter, should draw approximately 2.25 amps from your battery source, but please remember that there are other appliances drawing from that same source, such as the lighting in the coach, the refrigerator, if using the standard camper fridge, etc.

Sorry to be getting so technical, but thats how it is.

Kay

[dickandlois]

Jim,

You can run a cable from the 12 volt batteries. 65 watts is not really excessive and you can pickup a good inverter that puts out 200 watts or 400watts with out braking the bank.

Look for the pure sine wave units, today's electronics like it much better !!!!!

NOW, the catch 22 thing. Do you have battery banks for both the coach and chassis. The thing you do not want is running down the chassis batteries and strand yourself in the boonies.

The distance between the batteries and you 12 volt outlet is needed to to determine voltage drop for a given current over a given distance. So wire gauge if high on the list.

So think of a location for the 12 volt outlet that is close to the batteries and run a good gauge 120 volt extension to the set. It is allot more efficient.

Rich.

[wolfe10]

I would also be hesitant to run a TV directly from a battery. Battery voltage is NOT 12.0 VDC. It ranges from just under 12 VDC to over 14 VDC. Safer to use the small inverter, particularly a sine wave inverter. Another option would be to find a DC to DC converter.

[kaypsmith]

One more suggestion, you can purchase a ups (uninteruptable power supply), disable the alarm, plug it in to the already there 120 supply. This way there is no worry about running down your batteries.