T/V"s

I bought a fluid brand 24 " chat screen from radio shack and a refurbed Samsung blue Ray player of eBay last year. Both for less than $ 175. TV is 12 volt but Samsung is not, they run just fine off a 175 inverter that I got on sale for $10.

I gather you're wanting a Tv with built-in DVD, 12 volt. I never had any good luck with these units. You may want to consider an alternative approach as I finally did. Since this was for my camper & not getting much use I purchased a 19" Samsung TV ($50) & a Blu-Ray player ($25) on Craigs List. Since the Blu-ray will play both DVD & Blu-ray, it seemed a better choice. If you buy a used TV, go the route of Sony, Samsung, or Vizio in that order, most other brands are junk. I then purchased a 200 watt inverter with 3-outlets & USB port on Ebay for $23. The Tv is wall mounted & about 2' from it was an overhead cabinet. I used a computer keyboard pull out drawer under the cabinet ($20 - Amazon) for the Blu-ray. Total AMP draw is approx. 3-4 amps per hour for both units. Everything works perfect !!!

Amazing how much camping has changed. I can remember when I went camping to enjoy the country life, listen to the birds chirp, and watch the wild life. Now we all go camping to watch TV or get on our smart phone. Can't be without them. Yep, I'm as guilty as everyone else.

I put an Insignia brand from bestbuy in mine. It's not sold as a 12v tv but it has an external power supply that converts ac to 12v dc for the tv. I then got a 12v cable from Radio shack for the tv. The 19" tv was less than $100 CDN.

My crappy jensen radio unit is also a dvd player and an output runs over to the tv. So far it's working quite well. We don't use it a lot, usually just watch a bit of something right before bed.

I bought the Isignia 19" with dvd as well from bestbuy. Cut off the 12 volt transformer and wired it in. paid a little over $100. Works great for a rainy day or watching the evening news.

I bought a couple of cheapo ones figuring it was just for the RV. Each and every one died for one reason or another mostly the sound and/or cable connection circuit boards go out. I did break down and took the one where the antenna connection board went out to a TV repair shop they replaced it for 60 bucks. Said they see a ton of the cheapo no names come in for that reason.

I finally went out and found a 'small' Vizio flat screen. WHAT a difference! How many channels you can get when camping with the antenna DOES make a difference from brand to brand. The Vizio pulls in about 10 more channels then any of the cheapo brand ones do.

Moved to the Technology Corner Forum.

Wayne
Moderator

F350mule wrote:
Hi all, looking to upgrade our t/v to a flat screen. Must have dvd and be 12 volt. Seen a few on Amazon but some are questionable quality. Trying to find one under 200 bucks if possible..
Thanks

Sam's Club has 2 under $200.

UPDATE - My mistake ... they are of course not 12V. I missed that in the original message. Apologies. They can however be used with an inverter in case there us no suitable 12V alternative.

Under 200...... I have a Dynex. it is not 12 volt but it is 28 inches, no DVD though, however it has an input for the DVD player (2 of them in fact) and there is one of those right next to it (You can buy those for like 10 bucks)

100 bucks at a pawn shop.

I also have a Samsung I got at a Wal*Mart scratch & dent sale, this is 12 volt (Actually 14 volt)

SOME people here in the forums have expressed concern over powering a 12 volt TV with 13.6 to 15 volts of an RV house system, They believe their 12 volt TV's suffered early demise... I can not support, nor can I argue with them.

But my 14 volt Samsung it would seem addresses that very issue. 14 volt +/- 10% = 12.6 to 15.4 20 percent 11.2 to 16.8 20 percent is normal tolerance.

Thanks for the replies, going to check Sam's, probably go the 110 volt route and use an inverter, seems they have better quality..