Sometimes small systems are plenty
Friday my wife suddenly got the urge to camp. Immediately. All the TT has is the original Group 24 battery, 5w solar to maintain it and a 700w/1500w inverter I've never even run under significant l...
Forum Discussion
pnichols wrote:
Use an inverter occasionally for the microwave if you don't want to use the big generator or don't have air conditioning (hence no big generator). By the way, 12 volt microwaves do exist if you want to hook them up via big cables directly to your RV's battery bank.
MW is essentially an alternating current - AC - device, it needs AC to generate high-frequency energy, i.e. very short wave length, that's why it is called "micro wave". Models that claim to work off 12VDC, have a small built-in inverter. A limited number of them exist, all are failure. In a camper with propane stove there is no need to bother, the stove can do all the same tasks.
pnichols wrote:
Regarding "lousy 12 volt powered" TVs. We have a superb 26 inch LED TV that "seems to" operate from 120 volts AC, but ... actually uses an external brick to make this happen. The brick merely changes 120 Volts AC into 18 volts DC for the TV's circuits. If I change out the brick that came with it for a 12 volt DC to 18 volt DC upconversion DC-to-DC upconverter brick ... then I have a superb "12 volt" TV without suffering the losses from using inversion to make 120 volts AC out of 12 volts DC.
Other than small-screen automotive market, there isn't much demand for 12V powered TV. Recent 27" LCD/LED models draw less than 3A @12V. 12/18 DC-DC converter or 12/120 inverter with 120/18 "brick", doesn't matter, whichever is cheaper. Power is negligible and so are losses. It is often easier to use a small inverter for numerous low-current devices that are either 120V or have their own AC-DC brick: TV, laptop, shaver, small chargers. If your TV works with MSW inverter (not all the TV sets do), a 150-170W inverter for $25 could be the answer.
