TV - and I mean flat screen televisions

[Fifty4F100]

I just bought a new travel trailer. It didn't come with a TV but it does have a spot for one. I had an old tube type in my old motorhome and never had it on. Don't usually want to sit inside and watch TV when I'm camping.

But my question concerns the type to buy. I would love to go to Wallyworld and buy something that will fit. But will a house TV work on the road? Will the trailer jar something loose?

[northshore]

Just bought a "Element" 19 inch tv for our truck camper, used a articulating arm to mount. Got the tv from walmart the cheapest one they had, plus it was light weight thin and just the right size for our needs. Right now they are $98 but was told closer to Thanksgiving they will go to (I think they said $79) It works fine has a good picture and it brings in the same amount of stations that the Vizio tv does. The Element is also 12 volts so you can use it on 12 volts or 110 volts. I just wired it direct to 12 volts cause it will stay right there.

[bobndot]

I would be more concerned with the mounting of any tv you choose.
I have seen broken TV's on rv floors , especially in TT (with no shocks) traveling through cities with rough roads.
I installed a removable mount . If you choose to do that, you can use shorter screws because your NOT traveling with the weight of the tv on the mount.

The one I bought has 2 bases for the LR and BR areas, I use one tv and switch locations when needed.
When I travel, I simply remove the tv and place it on the bed where its safe and cushioned. I secure it with a ratchet strap that I slip under the mattress platform.(the strap remains there tucked away when not in use)

There are a few different removable mounts on the market, some are single,this one is double. The arm just slides down from the top and clicks into place. Unclick and lift to remove. The arm remains on the tv.
Ready America 3500 removable tv mount .

http://www.rvautoparts.com/Ready-America-TV-Wall-Mount-MRV-3500_p_12885.html?gclid=CJrkqZzAjckCFYM6g...

[allenm]

My 2016 Starcraft came with a Continu-Us TV. I had never heard of them, but I guess they are big in hospital rooms and such. I hung a 5 year old 19" Sharp in the bedroom I wasn't using at home.

Now the interesting thing is the older TV obviously has a more powerful over the air tuner than the new one. Distant stations that are flaky on the new TV come in just fine on the old one.

I've also noticed this phenomena on home TV's in recent years. I guess with so many people using cable & satellite, manufacturers are just putting cheap tuners in TV's.

One of these days, I'm going to get serious about finding a good quality free standing tuner for the road.

[JoeyM]

I think we're getting our voltages mixed up. I believe earlier commenters were talking about running their "wall-wart" powered TVs directly from 12 volts - as I do.

245 watts at 12.5 volts is close to 20 amps. I doubt anyone cares about the current draw at 110v shore power. From Ohm's law: Power = Voltage * Current. Assume if you draw one ampere at 120v you would need 10 amperes at 12v for the same power.

[Ed_Gee]

rjxj wrote:
LED. My 40 inch vizio led pulls 6 amps. I think the 24 vizio led is about 4 amps.

???!! My 6 year old 50" Sony TV only draws about 2 amps of 120VAC.... ( 245W ). I find it hard to believe that a smaller set would pull 3 times that current......

[DutchmenSport]

We took one from the house and put IN the camper for our bed room. I put a wall mount on, and the television is removable. When traveling, we take it down and simply lay it on the bed. Nice thing about this one is, if we want to take it outside, we can.

The one that came with the camper (living room), is just a normal flat screen television. Nothing special.

[GordonThree]

I bought a regular house tv, but I shopped for a bit, to find the one that A) had a removable base, didn't need one with a wall mount and B) was the lightest possible weight.

ended up with a "dumb" vizio led backlight 24" LCD tv. Power usage 18 watts, weight 7lbs with the base removed.

i also lug around a Samsung "smart" bluray player that I never use for bluray but do use for netflix and youtube.

Vizio remote is smart enough to control tv and bluray, without having to program anything, using HDMI-CEC

I looked for a tv with a power brick but didn't find any larger than the small undercabinet kind. the 110v ac cord goes straight into my tv, no inline converter needed.

[darsben]

bcsslc wrote:
You can also find some 12 volt flat screen LEDs that might be a good option for you. Our TV is located next to a 12 volt outlet so I can plug in and run off the batteries.

Most 110n volt tv's are 12 volt in disguise.

Walmart and Best BUy are both 12 volt tv's. They have an online puck transformer to reduce voltage to 12 volts.

Buy a cord and you have a 12 volt TV

[bcsslc]

You can also find some 12 volt flat screen LEDs that might be a good option for you. Our TV is located next to a 12 volt outlet so I can plug in and run off the batteries.

[IAMICHABOD]

All very good information.One thing to remember when purchasing a TV for the RV is to look at the viewing angle, if you can go to the store and sit lower then off to each side to see what it looks like at those angles. A DVD player is also nice to have.

Most times in a RV you wont be looking straight on at it. I found out the hard way after buying and returning 2 TVs, that sometimes at those angles the screen is washed out or black making them un-viewable.

After buying and returning a Samsung and a RCA I found a Insignia that has a much larger viewing angle, 160 horizontal and 160° vertical viewing angles.

In my RV with the TV in the front or the rear bedroom you have to look up at it. This TV works great in both areas. The DVD quality is excellent.

[azrving]

LED. My 40 inch vizio led pulls 6 amps. I think the 24 vizio led is about 4 amps.

[willi4nd]

Any LED will work, buy your mounting bracket online, you will pay a premium in stores

[RavensFan24]

I have 3 TVs in my RV and they are the same as any TV you'd get at Walmart or Best Buy. There is nothing "special" or different about RV TVs. Mine came with 2 Sansui flat screen TV's (42" inside and 32" outside) and I put a 19" Toshiba TV/DVD combo in the bedroom.

If you wall mount it, make sure it's in a spot that either has a nice backer board (some RVs have one pre-installed and marked as such) or you put up some wood to spread out the weight between the studs before mounting the arm to the wall. If you just want to set the TV in the spot where it fits and it can stand alone, I'd just recommend putting it face down on the bed before you drive away. That way it doesn't have a chance to fall over.

[RDMueller]

Absolutely it will work. Any tv that fits will be fine. The new led tvs use very little power too, my Samsung is about 30 watts. So, with a cheap inverter you can even run it when dry camping without needing a giant bank of batteries.

[Chuck_thehammer]

Samsung... 110 volt.. have a 32 inch in my 30 foot Travel trailer.. rides fine. bolted. I also have a Directv box under it.

best of luck with the New Trailer.