darrenjc1 said:
Hi,
I have a 12V system (on a horsebox, not a caravan - please forgive me!) in the living and i've just bought a TV to occupy the kids which has a 12V adaptor attached, unfortunately the adaptor is a cigarette lighter style and the plugs in the living are 3 pin plug sockets.
Is there an adaptor I can get that will allow me to plug this in without changing the voltage as everything I've found so far either ups or drops the voltage, or can i simply remove the din plug and fit a 3 pin plug?
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Hello Darren.
We don't have enough information to be able to answer your question precisely, The only three pin plugs we find in caravans are mains 230V ac, supplied when the caravan is linked to the mains with a hook up cable (EHU) You don't tell us what the 3 pin lugs provide in the way of voltage or current.
However let me make a guess, and that is the 3 pin plug does provide 12V dc. in your case.
There is no simple answer to this one. Modern electronics such as TV's and computers usually need a very stable (or constant) supply voltage to operate correctly. That is why they use sophisticated power supply adaptors.
The problem with vehicle based 12V systems, is that most of the time the actual voltage is not 12V precisely but somewhere between 10.5V and 14.5V depending on the state of charge of the battery, and whether the battery is being charged.
It is certainly true that some TV's would not tolerate such wide variations, low voltages are unlikely to do any damage but the set may not function properly, but over voltage could cause damage to the set.
There are some sets that do seem to tolerate the range of vehicle supply voltages, but I cannot tell you which.
How to cope with it. - here are four possible strategies:-
ou could find a TV specifically sold for use in vehicles.
Alternatively you might find a "Boost/Buck" dc to dc converter, which can be found that take a wide range of input voltages but produce a steady output voltage. Do make sure the device is rated for the maximum current the TV requires.
Consider using a 12Vd to 230V ac inverter and then using the sets own power adaptor. Pure Sine wave inverters are the best. Pseudo or quasi Sine wave inverters can produce problems with inducter based switch mode power supplies.
Take up reading and board games.
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