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D_E_Bishop's avatar
D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Nov 14, 2013

Looking for a AC/DC Blu Ray Player/QUEST OVER

Our favorite local campground has very few sites with hookups and we frequent Natl. Parks often and not many have hook ups, so we are looking for low power consumption equipment. Most Blu Ray players use less than 25 watts of AC power and most inverters use much more than that, so I'm looking for a 12VDC powered player that can be hooked up to my TVs. Anyone know of a specific brand and model?

Not interested in any info on inverters, I have two now. I don't want another TV either, I want a 12VDC player for my existing TVs.

Sorry if I am coming off rude but I upgraded my old CRT type sets to flat panels, one with a DVD player and one without. Now we have replaced our old VCR/DVD Recorder with a Blu Ray player at home and our DDs only have Blu Rays discs now so we need a player for the MoHo. There doesn't seem to be any info I can find regarding 12 volt units.

QUEST OVER; I had to gas the towed and do some shopping at COSTCO, which led me down the road another half mile to Best Buy. I found two 12VDC, LG BLU RAY PLAYERS. I bought model LG300,for $60 w/tax and it works fine. It is 2D w/WiFi, nothing fancy and I will probably never use the WiFi function and most places frown on streaming and I have a really dumb phone anyway.

For those of you that spent time explaining about inverters and coach wiring, I learned a lot today. I still prefer my way without the inverters and I'm a happy camper and the DW and DGKs are happy too. NANA bought them some Blu Ray Discs and they couldn't watch them when they visited us at the beach the last two weekends.

Thanks again and see you on the road.
  • Redsky's avatar
    Redsky
    Explorer
    Dec 03, 2013
    The AC/DC players and TV's are high price and low quality. With an AC unit and an inverter you can get the best of the best and pay no more money and have something that will no break down in the middle of a trip.

    The AC players will also be able to support video streaming when coupled with a mifi which beats satellite in every way.
  • Bill_Lynch's avatar
    Bill_Lynch
    Explorer
    Nov 30, 2013
    Thanks to D.E.Bishop!

    Just last night I bout an LG BP-330 for $69 at Best Buy.

    There is an earlier version the BP-300 that sells for less but they were sold out.

    Both of these Blu-Ray players run off 12 volts with a wall transformer. It says it draws 1 amp max on 12volts.

    The BP-330 has a lot of features. One that is interesting to me is you can connect wifi direct to an IPad or iPhone (and maybe other phones) without needing a regular wifi network present. This should come in very handy in the campgrounds.

    Now I'm off to a Radio Shack or electronics store to find a new wired plug so I won't have to chop the one off the wall transformer.

    I will be installing this with my NAXA 22" Led 12volt TV. I wanted to avoid inverters.

    -Bill
  • Gdetrailer's avatar
    Gdetrailer
    Explorer III
    Nov 15, 2013
    tplife wrote:
    Power inverters, that convert 12V to 110V, use 5-20W of power even with nothing plugged into them. Converters, that convert 12V to whatever voltage your appliance runs on (19V laptops as an example) use almost no power at all. We use converters (from Radio Shack) exclusively for that reason, and inverters only as a last resort. We tent camp with a single Optima Blue-Top AGM.


    Inverters vary on the amount IDLE (or no load draw)of power used according to the wattage size of the inverter.

    For instance a 200W inverter can be as low as 100 ma at 12V or 1.2W and compare that to say a 2000W inverter which is going to easily draw 2A or 24W at 12V.

    That idle current can be often used as a measuring stick as to what size inverter you want to use.

    Basically it makes no sense to use a 2000W inverter to power a device of 24W or less since the idle current will be equal or more than the load draw.

    So, IF you have a TV drawing 40W and a Blu Ray player drawing 15W you will have 55W of power to load the inverter.

    In this case you want to have MORE load than the idle current of the inverter so you could choose a 200W-300W inverter since they often will have idle current draws of 100 ma - 250 ma (1.2W-3W) and the load will easily exceed the idle current.

    Keeping in mind that in real life inverters do not often draw a linear current draw but it is often a good idea to load your inverter at a min of 1/2 of its rating for best "efficiency". However in the real world this does not happen often and really it is all about a COUPLE OF WATTS which is not going to break your camping trip (or your life) apart.

    If you WANT to use "entertainment" stuff you should be willing to sacrifice a bit. If a few watts is a deal breaker then I would suggest upgrading your battery bank and enjoy your entertainment...
  • tplife's avatar
    tplife
    Explorer
    Nov 15, 2013
    Power inverters, that convert 12V to 110V, use 5-20W of power even with nothing plugged into them. Converters, that convert 12V to whatever voltage your appliance runs on (19V laptops as an example) use almost no power at all. We use converters (from Radio Shack) exclusively for that reason, and inverters only as a last resort. We tent camp with a single Optima Blue-Top AGM.
  • D_E_Bishop's avatar
    D_E_Bishop
    Explorer
    Nov 15, 2013
    Okay so what you guys are saying is that the Smart BluRay player is rated at 14 watts and a decent inverter should use about 14.7 watts of power. Is that close? Now the question is what is a decent inverter? My TVs are about 30 watts each and the front TV is running off an inverter that Bounder installed. It is a 100 watt inverter with a 120VAC input fed from a switch if on generator or pedestal and #10 wires from the batteries. It is very quiet and runs very cool. The rear TV uses a 120 volt brick stepping down to 12VDC and is run directly off a dedicated 12 volt circuit. Both TVs are 19". One is a Dynex and the other an Insignia, both from Best Buy.

    Both run fine using modified sine wave inverters.
  • Gdetrailer's avatar
    Gdetrailer
    Explorer III
    Nov 14, 2013
    D.E.Bishop wrote:
    The heat my cigarette lighter inverter puts out is outrageous, meaning it is wasting battery power.


    Well that be the problem...

    First, running an inverter from ANY cig lighter plug is wasting energy, period.

    Cig light plugs are terrible high resistance connections, never meant for continuous high power draws. Typically limited to 8A or about 80W and then you are risking a meltdown of the plug.

    Then add in typical cig light outlets are wired with very light ga wire and there can be a lot of that wire in between the socket and battery.

    All of that drops the battery voltage that the inverter gets to see under medium to heavy loads. The voltage drop MAKES the inverter WORK HARDER which means the output stage HAS to dissipate more heat than it should.

    Either hard wire the inverter using HEAVY ga wire directly to the battery (best) or at least install a new cig light socket (if I remember correctly there is some Marine type cig sockets which have better contacts) with a dedicated heavy ga wire run directly to the battery.
  • Big_Katuna's avatar
    Big_Katuna
    Explorer II
    Nov 14, 2013
    I take back my claim to over 90% efficiency.
    A decent inverter should run at about 95 % or higher at half load or under.

    I just Googled it.

    A 200 W inverter doesn't use 200w unless you are pulling 185w out.

    At 40w out about 43 are going in.
  • Gdetrailer's avatar
    Gdetrailer
    Explorer III
    Nov 14, 2013
    Big Katuna wrote:
    Inverters are about 90% or more efficient so use just a little more power than whatever you are powering.


    Yeah, that would be a suggestion that I would make but some folks are over the top power "conservation" happy even though they use an inverter to power a 32" LCD TV to start with..

    Adding a extra 20W-40W for a 120V Blu Ray player wouldn't hurt the bank at all. But one of the portables should be at the most 10W-15W (I have a portable DVD player which uses 9W) so there WOULD be some power "savings" to be had but not all that much.

    Take into consideration that portable Blu Rays run from $70 to $200 and a simple 120V home Blu Ray (without surround sound) can be had for $30-$60 now days... I would buy the home unit and run it from the inverter since the TV would be using the inverter...
  • D_E_Bishop's avatar
    D_E_Bishop
    Explorer
    Nov 14, 2013
    Powderman426, to answer your question, a 12VDC unit uses a lot less power than an inverter, which uses a lot. I am going to pick up a Kill-A-Watt this week end and find out how much. The heat my cigarette lighter inverter puts out is outrageous, meaning it is wasting battery power. In talking to a friend who is also an electrician and beach camps in a lot of places without hookups, we discussed price vs efficiency and 80 or 100 watt PSW inverters that are Energy Star rated, don't exist. I am hedging my bet here because when you make a statement like that, someone will fine an exception and nail one to the cross. I will be looking into the player mentioned and try to find one.
  • Big_Katuna's avatar
    Big_Katuna
    Explorer II
    Nov 14, 2013
    Inverters are about 90% or more efficient so use just a little more power than whatever you are powering.

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