110 volt TV, vs 12 volt TV?

Hi,

The inverter "overhead" will cost you about 12% of the energy being used.

The problem with the 12v TVs for dry camping is that they all are energy hogs, for whatever reason. We have had a Vizio 22" that only consumes 21w, IIRC. We ran it on a small inverter and came out way ahead, watt-wise, versus a typical 12v TV. We have a standalone DVD player which uses an additional 6w. Now we are buying a new, small Class C, and we did not opt for their 12v TV. Instead we bought this Samsung, which uses a 12v brick. We will adapt it to a cig lighter plug, and won't even need the inverter. Its draw is super low too.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BCGRX9M/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3O6SGW9G6LSB5&coliid=I1HVENU0617M3A

No reason to pay a premium price for a 12v TV when you don't need it. Our tv (32" led) and dvd consume about 70 watts. We plug them into the inverter (plugs into cigarette lighter type receptacle) and can watch for hours if not days.

I'd disagree on needing a PSW for the tv, but I may have just been lucky so far.

If you have more than three 12 volt bulbs on they will use more power than the TV or the DVD player. If you really want to save battery power switch to LED lighting.

How big was the old TV?

Are you wanting to put the new TV in the same spot and cover up the hole?

LED 120V TVs are low current draws. a 40" Samsung is 46W normal operation, 117W max, 0.3W standby.

A nice Sony Blu-Ray player is 28W.

You are not going to watch a TV enough to drain your battery bank.

However, you have to be sure you can completely turn off the power at the plug - either a plug bar or a switched outlet. Today's modern electronics are bad about parasitic power drains.

You are also going to want to turn off features like WiFi, smart updating, etc. Those also drain power.

Running a 12V TV won't be any less power usage for your battery bank than a 120V TV except for the inverter overhead for the same size screen.

If you have a laptop with a Blu-Ray player/ drive and an HDMI port - it might be less power draw - but more hassle to hook-up/ unhook.

Personally, my old eyes can't really see any detail on a 19" TV from more than five feet distance. And the 12V TVs I've seen are very dim compared to a near identical 120V TV. Might be manufacturer differences, but too dim for me to use.

Now, if you were going with 80% boondocking without hookups - I'd suggest a lot more detailed math. But for occasional usage for 3-4 nights without power - the TV will be very low on your electrical worries.

EDIT - forgot to mention - as per the previous post - you MUST get a Pure Sine Wave inverter for the TV/Blu-Ray. Very likely the one supplied by your coach manufacturer is not PSW.

12VDC Appliances are just not my cup of tea... Too much current for the standard 12VDC wall plugs you find.

I would get just a 300WATT PURE SINE WAVE Inverter to run all of your 120VAC home entertainment center items... Thats about all you need...

The electronic items really want to see PSW type Inverters. Used to be the cost difference was so large but these days there isnt much difference between a PSW and MSW inverter cost wise. I run a 600WATT AIMS PSW Inverter and it cost $149 a few years ago.

When running PURE SINE WAVE you don't have to worry about blowing something expensive up..

I wired in two 120VAC extension cords out of sight coming from my two 120VAC receptacles on my Inverter. The only thing you can see ins the multiple 120VAC plug in of the extension cord on the back side of a table. One went to the home entertainment cabinet area and the other one went to the bedroom table area. Serves me well for all of my 120VAC items I want to run when off the power grid.

Roy Ken

The Winegard Batwing and the Jack antenna do a good job unless you are totally away from everything. If you have a laptop then you can of course watch the DVD on the laptop using it's battery, or hook it to the TV. I think you have a lot more options (brand/size/features) if you stay with a 110v TV and use the inverter.

I've seen TV/DVD players for sale, all 12 volt. Essentially, there isn't that much difference, since a lot of televisions will have a power brick to step down the voltage, but 12 volts doesn't have that wasted energy of inverting to 120VAC, then rectifying it back down to 12 volts DC. This is not a big thing, but any bit helps when boondocking it without electric.