TV 120 or 12V ?

[OremPhelyn]

Brand new owner of a 2017 Springdale SG 202QBWE. Prior owner added 2 solar panels that keep the dual batteries charged.

I've read several forum threads about inverters and 12V systems for TVs. I'm obviously woefully ignorant of something fundamental.

We will likely boondock or camp in locations with few hookups. We have a dual fuel generator though l'd prefer to only run it when absolutely necessary. It'll run 9 hours on a tank of gas.

1) My Springdale has two locations where TVs can be mounted with coax ports and 120V plugs. What factors affect installing a standard TV of my choice in either / both locations?

2) When running on batteries only, how much and what kind of juice is available?

3) Once properly powered presuming a 12 V inverter in use, does a TV draw down batteries too rapidly to use them as the power source?

4) There is a both a single and a dual coax input / output connector on the wall above the A/V unit. I haven't tested them yet to figure out which does what. Is anyone familiar with these connectors?

5) I will need to be able use the trailer to work remotely at some point. That means powering a laptop and 23" monitor all day. What do I need to know / do to make this happen?

A lot of questions and thanks for sharing your expertise!

TIA.

Brian

2001 GMC Yukon Denali
2017 Springdale SG 202QBWE.

[JRTJH]

I owned one 12 volt TV about 10 years ago. Otherwise, all my RV TV's have been 120 VAC and operate on shore power or generator. We do have an inverter, about 140 watts, that plugs into a cigarette lighter (we use the plug on the TV antenna amplifier control plate) and plug the TV into that inverter. It uses about 70 watts, so roughly half the inverter output. So far, in about 7 or 8 years of watching TV in this trailer, that's all we've needed to do.

You can get "as high tech as you want" with installed inverters, transfer switches to existing circuits or even run "dedicated circuits for inverter power" but all that costs money, the more involved, the more money, and nearly every bit of it will be "lost at trade in time" since it won't increase the value of the trailer compared to the cost to install.

As for "how much battery power will the TV's use?" That's a very highly individualized answer, because it's not only the TV's, but the lights in the trailer, whether they're LED's or incandescent, the amount of furnace use, water pump use, radio use, recharging of electronics use, and other energy demands on the batteries. On good days, the solar system may "keep up with demand" but when parked under trees or on a cloudy day, all bets are off on solar recharging....

So, lots of things impact battery charge status to go along with connecting tV's (120VAC or 12VDC) to the trailer "energy grid".

As for the "single and dual coax outputs near the TV location", the single connector is from the rooftop amplified OTA antenna. The dual plate is for "cable/satellite connections". For cable, there is a "jumper cable" that connects as a "passthough" on that plate. For satellite reception, the satellite receiver is connected to the output side of that plate and the receiver output is connected to the input side, which then feeds the TV.

So, for OTA TV, there should be an 8" jumper coax on that plate and for cable, leave the jumper in place, for satellite, connect the receiver/control box by removing the jumper cable.

[OremPhelyn]

"(we use the plug on the TV antenna amplifier control plate)"

Is that what that is? Thank you!

[travelin texans]

Not to sound condescending, but it sounds like you're not very well adept at electrical systems, 12 volt nor 120, so it sounds like you may need professional help or at least someone more knowledgeable than yourself to help with this project. It's difficult to help while typing on a forum.

[bsmith0404]

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of solar systems to keep up with inverter demands. The answers to your questions are difficult because too many factors can come into play. Inverters have different outputs and different designs that all play into the amount of energy they will pull from your batteries. Full sign wave inverter uses a lot more power than a modified one. If it was mine, and the only thing you wanted to power was the tv, I’d get a 120 v tv, get an inverter big enough to run the tv without going overboard, run it directly and place it in a spot that is easy to turn on and off or connect a cutoff switch. Then I’d run the gen as needed to keep the batteries properly charged.

[OremPhelyn]

travelin texans, Yep you're right! I am not adept at electrical systems! Thus my newbie questions. Getting informed before I make further decisions.

[OremPhelyn]

bsmith0404 thank you for the reply!

[Canonman]

Here's what we did.
First, I'd recommend getting a pair of 6vdc golf cart batteries to store your solar power if you don't have these already. Also, verify your solar panels are rated at least 140 watts. Ours are 200w and keep up with our usage just fine.
Second, you only need a small 700 watt or so inverter to run the TV or laptop and monitor. We installed our 300w inverter right at the TV in the living room. No bedroom TV. These small inverters have very little "overhead" power demand compared with the larger ones. The TV plugs directly into the inverter for power. Cell phones and laptop plug directly into the USB ports also on the inverter. We generally only charge the laptop when everything else is off or while we're gone sightseeing etc just to save on battery reserve. Going on 4 seasons now with this configuration and have not needed to run our generator even though we have it with us. Obviously, your power demands will be different. You may need to run the generator a bit during the day depending on your power consumption or during rainy/cloudy weather. Nothing wrong with solar as the primary battery charger and use the generator as a secondary source.

[Camperklahowya]

i share your hesitation, go slow have a plan and you’ll be fine. Here’s what we did for our first Tt, as we prefer boondocking as well. Luckily our tv was 12v but I installed it and I tapped into the 12v system at the junction box for the tv antenna. It was not made by keystone but the manufacturer really helped me. Fast forward to today….

Picked up our passport and upgraded to two lithium batteries with 200 w solar panels on roof. Our previous system was two renogy 100ah batteries with a portable 90w solar panel. The stereo in the new one had to be swapped out because it had no DVD player. Easily done and had to splice some wires but no biggie. Now, the included tv only ran on a 110 outlet but I got a pure sine inverter for under $70. I patched in to the wires to the power supplied to the stereo. With the inverter installed I could plug my tv into it and it works great with little electrical draw.
We are easy on the electrical system, we found with the old system we could watch one movie a night at the 90w panel topped us off in the daytime.
The new system with lithium and larger solar has been surprisingly good. Still new to it but impressed so far.

I’m not that confident working with electricity, but with each project I gain experience and understand more about my trailer. In the end you will know more about your rig than anyone else. Take it as an opportunity, this forum is a great resource to help.