12 Volt inverter running TV???

[Phil_374544756]

Hi Does anyone use an inverter to power there TV & if so how heavy are they on the leisure battery. The battery i have is 110amp.The TV is usually on for a few hours in the evening. Most of the time when we go caravaning we are on a mains hookup & as I already own a 19 inch TV dvd combi rated at 60watts dont want to spend the money on a 230v /12v model. There are times when i go to watch motor racing for the weekend that there are no mains hookups.Therefore if i could use it off the battery would be useful.

 

[JTQ]

We used an inverter to run a domestic SONY TV very successfully for some years.

They are about 90% efficient if sized correctly so your 60 Watt TV will drain up to 5.6 Amps continuously; that's quite a heavy load.

In reality we found our SONY's 60 Watt rated AC adaptor ran at much lower power, possibly as you don't need full sound and brightness in the confines of the van. In our case it was only 4 Amps being taken from the battery.

If you are limiting yourself to seriously 3 or 4 hours between charges this is not too a big issue.

We found our small 75 Watt inverter would not work but our 150 Watt inverter did, possibly some "start-up" issue. Ours is a reasonable quality inverter not a real cheapy but it is still a modified sine wave not full sine wave one.[I think its labelled "no-mains" and came from Maplins 12 years ago]. Be cautious that some inverter have irritatingly noise cooling fans, our has no fan.

 

[Mikey1]

I have tried to use an invertor before,it was a Ring one,it was to use my laptop really not the tv.

I never had any joy with it,it always beep and stopped and started so never continued down that route

 

[Steve L]

As JTQ has said using an inverter for the length of time your thinking of shouldn't cause too much trouble.

I use a 150Watt inverter to run our sky+ box. Yousee, her majesty has a load of stuff in the planner and we found that on our seasonal site, the mower gal unplugged the vans to mow the grass as it was easier than moving cables etc.

Mind you, she did forget to plug some back in and then there was chaos when regular weekenders arrived to find their domestic freezer in the awning leaking liquified ice cream etc.

"Lovely!!!!"

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Unplugging to mow is common practice at the CC site at Blackpool and we use an inverter on the Sky+ set up to avoid losing recordings

The Tv is 12V so no problem but we did have a 230V one that was OK on the inverter

You need a good quality (square sine wave I think!) as sold by Leisurepower of Warrington

We had a trip out incident in France a few years ago

We arrived on site(2 oufits) and plugged in to the hook up points

We both tripped it out and the other hook up was connected to a travellers outfit with large freezer in awning

They were out and we expected trouble when they returned

The hook up box had a large padlock very visible and we approached with tools to try to gain entry for resetting trips

We needn't have worried because someone had removed the screws to the hasp on the fitting and it could easily be opened with some sighs of relief!!

 

[WatsonJohnG]

This makes interesting reading

http://www.leisurepower.co.uk/acatalog/inverter_advice.html

 

[Phil_374544756]

This makes interesting reading

]http://www.leisurepower.co.uk/acatalog/inverter_advice.html

http://www.leisurepower.co.uk/acatalog/inverter_advice.html[/quote
Many thanks for all the suggestions & feedback im going try a reasonably priced 150/200 watt inverter and give it a whirl if i was using it alot would invest in one of the sine wave ones.But the small use its likely to get doesnt justify the cost. Regards all Phil