Who has a good solution to 33rl 5th wheel living room TV

[webeRving]

New member to start with.
Just bought a 2019 Montana 330RL. My question is what is the solution to running the living room TV while boondocking. They install a 12volt plug in the bedroom with the antena booster which was a simple fix with my portable inverter. Then they install two 110 plugs in living room. Another engineering over site?

Tell
Me what you did?

[D_E_Bishop]

I don't intend this to be a rebuke to Doug but not everyone needs a 1000 watt inverter, personally I only run the 35watt TV off mine. I really want to change my 32" TV out for a brand and model that uses a wall brick so I can just wire it through a true 30 amp power point and eliminate the power draw of the inverter.

We usually dry camp on the beach or at "Q" and we can go three or four days on fully charged batteries. When our rig was built it had a home entertainment system and it was preped for satellite that ran off the 300 watt PSW inverter that Winnie installed so while that was 16 years ago, the systems of today don't take any more power than back then, maybe less.

The most important thing is to learn what you need, the ID tag on the electronics should have the input requirements. Write everything down and add them up, then add at least 10 percent to the answer to allow for the future. Then pick out the inverter you need.

[Almot]

His existing 12V receptacle is probably rated 10A, - good enough. It is possible that wires behind this receptacle are too thin to handle 3A-4A that an average small TV would draw, - odd but possible.

With inverter installed near batteries, if this is only for TV, pretty much any old piece of lamp cord will do.

It is also possible that replacing the wires in 12V receptacle with slightly beefier ones - if it really comes to this - will be easier than permanently wiring inverter near batteries.

He should begin with telling the TV wattage.

[wa8yxm]

The 12 volt outlet on the panel with the antenna connector is only good for a few watts. A "map light" to help you read a TV guide might work but a 100 watt inverter is too much for it to be happy with

As others have said get a small TRUE SINE inverter (or a bit one) and install it near the batteries (one compartment over. not in the same air space) using heavy cable. For a 300-500 Standard starter cable is good.

RUn a dedicated extension cord from there to the TV and plug in.. YOu may even be able to do that WITHOUT DRILLING HOLES. as many holes already exist.

[Almot]

webeRving wrote:
My question is what is the solution to running the living room TV while boondocking. They install a 12volt plug in the bedroom with the antena booster which was a simple fix with my portable inverter. Then they install two 110 plugs in living room.

Shooting in the dark here. What is the question? Who "they" - factory? What are the specs and type of your portable inverter?

You can use a portable inverter off the 12V plug if this inverter is suitable for your TV, - some are and some aren't. TV wattage should not exceed 120W then.

You can also use 110V plugs if you hook up inverter temporarily or permanently to 110V, there are several ways to do this.

[dougrainer]

JCK wrote:
Doug chances are the rating on the cigar plug are for only the plug only. If that’s a dedicated circuit back to the fuse bank and manufacture puts in a bigger fuse than the wire can handle there setting themselves up for a law suit. When I get back to my trailer I’m going to pull that fuse and see what goes dead if only the cigar plug I will be able to check wire size

Correct. The amp rating is ONLY for the plug, not the booster part. You can do what you are doing, but the system is not designed to do it. I would much prefer to have a 1000 watt Inverter ONLY, that has pass thru relay, to power my entertainment centers. That is what OEM's do and it works as designed. Doug

[JCK]

Doug chances are the rating on the cigar plug are for only the plug only. If that’s a dedicated circuit back to the fuse bank and manufacture puts in a bigger fuse than the wire can handle there setting themselves up for a law suit. When I get back to my trailer I’m going to pull that fuse and see what goes dead if only the cigar plug I will be able to check wire size

[JCK]

Rick your right I am used to the conversion for 120 volt AC. Yes it’s only 120 Watts DC The rest of The post is correct. I still run my TV and Fan of a 400 watt inverter plunged into that receptacle. Definitely would not run any more load. I have a DC Amp guage I’ll get a reading this week and report back what each it is drawing.

[dougrainer]

JCK wrote:
My cigarette lighter plug or more common a outlet for a 12volt tv is listed as 10 amp. Well 12 volt 10 amp is 1200 Watts more than enough amp to run a 400 watt inverter. I run my 400 watt inverter of that plug all the time. The inverter power my TV and also a Vornado Fan at the same time. Your face plate should on plug should tell amp rating.

As another poster pointed out, your amp/watts draw is wrong. Take the antenna booster loose from the wall. You will see that depending on the year model and brand of the Antenna booster, they use VERY SMALL gauge wires to the actual back of the cigar outlet. Just because the amp rating is 10 amps, the FEED wiring and fuse in the RV fuse panel may be 15 or 20 amp supply fuse. SMALL gauge wiring CANNOT safely flow the higher 12 volt amps that even a 400 watt inverter draws. Doug

From Winegard.

WARNING: Do Not Connect High
Current Devices Such as Hair
Dryers to +12 Volt Receptacle
on Wall Plate/Power Supply.
Maximum current ratings of
this receptacle is 7.5 amps at
+12 VDC.

[Rick_Jay]

JCK,

Did you have a typo in your post? A 12V outlet on a 10A circuit is 120Watts, not 1200 Watts.

You might be running a 400W inverter off that circuit, but it CANNOT output 400 watts without soon blowing the 10A fuse. You can probably realistically output 100 watts or so from your inverter after conversion losses are factored in.

~Rick

[JCK]

My cigarette lighter plug or more common a outlet for a 12volt tv is listed as 10 amp. Well 12 volt 10 amp is 1200 Watts more than enough amp to run a 400 watt inverter. I run my 400 watt inverter of that plug all the time. The inverter power my TV and also a Vornado Fan at the same time. Your face plate should on plug should tell amp rating.

[Sandia_Man]

Wire an inverter, preferably a pure sinewave version, either near your battery bank or in your entertainment center if not too far from batteries. As stated above, the DC power sockets within most rigs normally can not handle the current draw from an inverter which was the case for us.

Being that are entertainment center was located near our battery bank, we installed a small 350 watt inverter within entertainment center and ran wiring from batteries to feed it 12 volts. It runs our HDTV, HD Satellite, HD gaming\Blu-ray player, sound bar and subwoofer easily.

When RVing, we prefer boondocking and dry camping, we purchased our rig to enjoy all the amenities within and do so even while off the power grid. Being able to restore consumed amphours to the battery bank daily, utilizing both sufficient solar and occasional generator use keeps us going indefinitely.

[Ron3rd]

Assuming your TV is 120 volt, which most are, what you need is called an "inverter". It steps 12 volt battery power up to 120 volts. If you just want to run the TV, get yourself a good quality 300 to 350 watt Pure Sine Wave inverter. Lots of ways to wire them in. A good RV tech can do it if you're not handy with these things.

[dougrainer]

WILDEBILL308 wrote:
Like Doug, I don't understand what all this talk of extra 12v outlets???
You hook up the inverter to power the 110 circuits you want to power off the inverter. When you have shore or generator power the inverter passes that power through and does not draw power from the batteries.
Bill

The OP is thinking the 12 volt outlets in an RV are so you can plug in an appliance like a small Inverter to power a 120 appliance like a TV. NOT SO, Those 12 volt plugs are NOT designed to power a Small Inverter that has a cigar lighter plug. Especially the 12 volt antenna booster. The wiring on the back is not large enough to safely power an Inverter. You can do it, but it is not the best way to do it. The OP assumed that there should be another 12 volt plug receptacle by his main TV to use a small Inverter. They do not do that on almost all RV's. He needs to install a 700 watt or a 1000 watt inverter, which is what most OEM's do when they want to Power the entertainment center when boondocking. Doug

[WILDEBILL308]

Like Doug, I don't understand what all this talk of extra 12v outlets???
You hook up the inverter to power the 110 circuits you want to power off the inverter. When you have shore or generator power the inverter passes that power through and does not draw power from the batteries.
Bill