Connecting a TV Directly to 12v Power?

[KJRitchie]

Looking into upgrading my Sony 23" LCD to a 28" Insignia. The Insignia uses a power brick with AC pins so I'm guessing it transforms AC to DC. Is it possible to bypass that transformer brick and connect the TV directly to the 12v Airstream system; cut off the brick and splice in a 12v male plug? When my converter/charger is pumping out 14+volts would the TV be able to handle it and not get damaged?

Kelvin

[AWCHIEF]

Yes, cut wire, attach 12 volt plug and you will be good to go. Make sure you have the correct polarity. My 22 inch came with both a DC and AC plug.

[KJRitchie]

Maybe one of these would work on the TV. The Insignia has a single pole 12v connection.

Amazon.com: 12 Volt DC Cord To Power TVs With A Cigarette Lighter Socket - Universal Connector: Electronics

[HowieE]

Don't put a lot of faith in cigarette power cords. It is hard to know what part of China they came from and many have a tendency to get hot at the point of contact.

Hard wire with an inline fuse holder for the rating of the TV

[msimon]

We have a 12v Insignia but decided to not connect it directly to 12v since watching it when not plugged into shore power will run the batteries down fairly quickly. We need things to be idiot-proofed ;-). YMMV.

[idroba]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

Looking into upgrading my Sony 23" LCD to a 28" Insignia. The Insignia uses a power brick with AC pins so I'm guessing it transforms AC to DC. Is it possible to bypass that transformer brick and connect the TV directly to the 12v Airstream system; cut off the brick and splice in a 12v male plug? When my converter/charger is pumping out 14+volts would the TV be able to handle it and not get damaged?

Kelvin

It very much depends on what the power brick puts out. Not all are 12 volts DC. It could be any voltage, up to 18 volts, and either AC or DC.

In addition, the quality of regulation of the power supply can be critical to some systems. It depends on how the television is designed.

Personally I would not bypass the original power supply as you don't know what the designers of the system had in mind, or did relative to the above issues.

Even an inexpensive inverter of 100 watts or more will power the television and at only a 10% loss or so. Most inverters these days operate at about a 90% conversion rate. However, that said, many pure sine wave inverters such as Airstream supplies have a high stand by loss, approaching 2 amps. These are not the best ones to us, while surprisingly the cheapo modified sine wave inverters have a much lower stand by loss.

I did some tests on it and the results are in this post:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f450...er-138719.html

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by msimon

We have a 12v Insignia but decided to not connect it directly to 12v since watching it when not plugged into shore power will run the batteries down fairly quickly. We need things to be idiot-proofed ;-). YMMV.

Something must be wrong. Your tv should only be using 20-30 watts. This should not be running your batteries down rapidly. We boondock mostly and don't worry about how long we run our tv.

We run the tv, Jack amplifier, cell phone charging, Ipad charging and interior cooling fan directly from 12v receptacles and they all work fine with no extra losses. We only use the inverter for my wife's hair dryer and our outside cooling fan.

BTW we got our 22" Supersonic tv from Amazon. It came with both a 12v dc and a 120v ac power cord.

Dan

[msimon]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

Your tv should only be using 20-30 watts. This should not be running your batteries down rapidly. We boondock mostly and don't worry about how long we run our tv.

We run the tv, Jack amplifier, cell phone charging, Ipad charging and interior cooling fan directly from 12v receptacles and they all work fine with no extra losses. We only use the inverter for my wife's hair dryer and our outside cooling fan.

Our 24" Insignia TV w/DVD player uses 36 watts. We don't have a solar battery charger or a generator (although a generator has been ordered and is on it's way). Perhaps we are being too cautious. Since we travel mostly in spring and fall and often stay several days at a time without shore power, we worry about running down the batteries--the tongue jack, the refer fans and ignition, hot water ignition, and most importantly the furnace fan (if needed) all depend on the batteries (the furnace being a huge user). Being survival types, maybe we're being too obsessively conservative when it comes to these things. We worry about getting stuck at some point out in the middle of nowhere without the survival essentials, although we could live without hot water ;-).

[KJRitchie]

Originally Posted by idroba

It very much depends on what the power brick puts out. Not all are 12 volts DC. It could be any voltage, up to 18 volts, and either AC or DC.

You're correct. I found a 12v power supply on Amazon for Insignia TV and they output 18v. Its not the type the Insignia has now, a brick that plugs into the wall but I would think the power requirements probably haven't changed.

Kelvin

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by msimon

Our 24" Insignia TV w/DVD player uses 36 watts. We don't have a solar battery charger or a generator (although a generator has been ordered and is on it's way). Perhaps we are being too cautious. Since we travel mostly in spring and fall and often stay several days at a time without shore power, we worry about running down the batteries--the tongue jack, the refer fans and ignition, hot water ignition, and most importantly the furnace fan (if needed) all depend on the batteries (the furnace being a huge user). Being survival types, maybe we're being too obsessively conservative when it comes to these things. We worry about getting stuck at some point out in the middle of nowhere without the survival essentials, although we could live without hot water ;-).

I recommend you install a digital voltmeter so you always know the status of your battery(s). I have a volt minder but you can get a digital voltmeter from Amazon for less than $10. When your no load voltage drops to 12.00 volts, time to start up the generator.

BTW, we can easily boondock 5 days without recharging in mild weather. For example, I boondocked in Raleigh in early October for 6 days. Voltage at the start was 12.85; voltage after 6 days was 12.40. All bets are off when you need to operate the furnace though.

Dan

[msimon]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

I recommend you install a digital voltmeter so you always know the status of your battery(s). I have a volt minder but you can get a digital voltmeter from Amazon for less than $10. When your no load voltage drops to 12.00 volts, time to start up the generator.

Great idea. Thanks.