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Old 06-10-2018, 12:03 PM   #1
moodman
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Television on 12V

It never occurred to me when I bought my new 2018 Montana 5er, but recently I thought "Can I watch TV while boondocking?"

Well, I unplugged the shore power and found out...nope! TVs run on 120V only.

Why don't they equip at least one TV so it will run on 12V, or, why don't they run 120V converted battery power to the TV outlets?
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Old 06-10-2018, 12:45 PM   #2
travelin texans
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Without a generator while boondocking you'll find a lot of the comfort items won't work. If like most newer, larger 5th wheels hopefully you didn't get the residential fridge, if so hope you got lots of batteries.
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Old 06-10-2018, 01:08 PM   #3
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You can get a 12V LED tv with a pretty good picture. They are standard equipment in the Sun Seeker Class C by Forest River. I will try to remember to look at the brand when I go to work in the morning.
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Old 06-10-2018, 03:29 PM   #4
Trailriderjoe
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Pay attention at the big box stores, I found one (cheap 22" Vizio) that the power supply was 120VAC to 12VDC. When boondocking, I just hook up straight without the proverbial wall wart adapter.
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Old 06-10-2018, 04:19 PM   #5
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Our HC came with a Supersonic 12VDC set in the bedroom. The picture is OK, not great, the sound is terrible. I've just replaced it with a nice 120VAC Vizio. If you were closer, I'd gladly make you a great offer to solve your plight
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Old 06-10-2018, 05:32 PM   #6
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Another option: When I installed our solar connections, I also ran a line from the fuse-able connection at the battery to the entertainment center. Really easy on the 5er.
Connected it to a 750 watt inverter. Inverter has 110v outlets for the tv and usb outlets for charging the cell phones, tablet and laptop. Also has a meter so I can monitor the battery charge level (very handy). LED tv's draw very little current so the drain on the batteries is minimal.
Be sure to use 10 ga. wiring to minimize any power loss.
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Old 06-10-2018, 06:52 PM   #7
GHen
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I handle the tv in a similar temporary method. First I shut off all the 120 breaker except the one to the the TV circuit. I then hook up an inverter to the batteries and plug shore power into the inverter. My 48 inch tv will run 10 hours in my test and I’ll still be at 12.4 volts so using it a couple hours a day hardly drains the batteries. I have just the 2 12 volt batteries that came from the dealer. My 100 watt solar panel can easily keep up with charging unless I use the heat a bunch.
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Old 06-11-2018, 05:33 AM   #8
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I have a little 100 watt inverter and put a 12 volt car lighter type plug on it, that plugs right into the 12 volt outlet below the TV. The problem is that when boondocking and even at most rural RV parks there is no TV reception. Still, we need it for watching DVDs or using the personal wifi hotspot on the Ipad air (Smart TV).
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Old 06-23-2018, 04:20 PM   #9
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We use a cheap 24" tv from Walmart with a 300 watt inverter hooked up to the batteries and we have a wineguard roof top antenna and a wineguard 12v signal booster and at our last camp we got 7 tv channels on a good day 2-3 when it was stormy and we also have a dvd player hooked up to the inverter and we carry about 150 movies with us.
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Old 06-23-2018, 05:01 PM   #10
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Our rig came with a Jensen 12 volt TV in the bedroom. I've since upgraded it to a larger screen Jensen 12 volt, along with a Jensen 12 volt DVD player. When we do the occasional boondocking, we are all set at night to watch TV.
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Old 06-25-2018, 06:12 PM   #11
mikec557
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bisjoe View Post
I have a little 100 watt inverter and put a 12 volt car lighter type plug on it, that plugs right into the 12 volt outlet below the TV. The problem is that when boondocking and even at most rural RV parks there is no TV reception. Still, we need it for watching DVDs or using the personal wifi hotspot on the Ipad air (Smart TV).

I run a similar setup to Bisjoe. I bought a 150watt inverter off amazon. When I installed our solar panel kit, I took the opportunity to run 12 volts to a cabinet near the tv. When we're off the grid, I plug a 32 inch tv and blu-ray player into the inverter and it runs fine. I've also plugged in the tv and a roku and then ran the roku off my cell phone as a hot spot. Again, this setup works great. You don't need a big inverter for the tv and a supporting device. At least that's been my experience.


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