Electrical Questions

[Noob]

Hello Everyone, im new to the site and a bit of a newbie when it comes to caravans.

To cut a long story short my family have recently taken over my Aunties static van. We have been using it for some years now but want to do a few things up.

Previously she had a black and white TV, this was run by removing the plug and fixing buldog clips onto the wires. This was then connected straight to the battery.

The TV no longer works and I am looking at taking an old portable TV through this weekend and connecting it, just for use in the short term.

I suppose the 2 questions for now are

What's the best way to connect the TV ?

Later on I'm considering an LCD TV with freeview or a Satellite system. I think that the caravan has some plug sockets scattered around, is there a way to run these straight from a leisure battery?

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions

Im sure I will have more questions going forward.

 

[Rusty1]

Hi you could buy an inverter which converts 12v to 240v then plug the tv straight in.

Rusty

 

[TD42]

It would seem that the old TV was 12 volt supply,hence running of a 12 volt battery. Is the caravan connected to the 240v mains? if so you will have no problem using a normal tv

If there is no 240v supply you could try using an inverter connected to the battery,but the battery would only last a for a few hrs of viewing time before it needed recharging

the sockets if they are the same as your normal houshold socket will not be able to supply 12v from the battery

If the van is only 12v supply you will not be able to use a standard LCD tv /freeview/sat system unless they are 12v dc capable

some modern domestic TVs are 12v and use a transformer to connect to the mains,BUT if these TVs are used without the transformer & connected to a battery they can be damaged as the battery voltage drops below 12v

TD

 

[Woody3]

A TV is unlikely to be damaged by a low supply - it will just degrade and eventually stop working.

What may do damage - and I emphasise - is high voltage from a charger or switched mode supply. There are many TV's that work from a nominal 12V external power supply but there is no telling how much you can go above 12V before things start to overheat and evetually cook. A battery will be float charged normally at about 13.8V or charged at 14.4V (or even higher on a boost.) The output from a straight charger can also be very electrically dirty with large spikes which can also do damage.

[Float charging is when the power supply is connected directly across the battery. The supply will keep the battery usually at >90% charge and supply the appliances at the same time. However if any given power eater needs more current than the power supply can give the battery will make up the difference. As soon as the load is removed the power supply will put it back into the battery. 13.8V or 2.3V per cell is usually the set level as the battery will give of hydrogen freely above that level - and before anyone says anything, yes the battery will also gas at below 2.3Vpc if it is depleted and being brought up without control.]

 

[Noob]

A TV is unlikely to be damaged by a low supply - it will just degrade and eventually stop working.

What may do damage - and I emphasise - is high voltage from a charger or switched mode supply. There are many TV's that work from a nominal 12V external power supply but there is no telling how much you can go above 12V before things start to overheat and evetually cook. A battery will be float charged normally at about 13.8V or charged at 14.4V (or even higher on a boost.) The output from a straight charger can also be very electrically dirty with large spikes which can also do damage.

[Float charging is when the power supply is connected directly across the battery. The supply will keep the battery usually at >90% charge and supply the appliances at the same time. However if any given power eater needs more current than the power supply can give the battery will make up the difference. As soon as the load is removed the power supply will put it back into the battery. 13.8V or 2.3V per cell is usually the set level as the battery will give of hydrogen freely above that level - and before anyone says anything, yes the battery will also gas at below 2.3Vpc if it is depleted and being brought up without control.]

Thanks a lot to everyone who replied so far, Your help is really appreciated.

The caravan itself is very basic in terms of electricity. There is no hook up and the only thing that is running is some lights straight off a separate battery.

With regards to the plug sockets that are scattered about, i'm not too sure about the wiring. I will check them out at the weekend. They may be for connecting to an hook up point but we aren't sited where there is an electrical hook up point.

There seem to be a few vans around that are running LCD TVs and satellite systems. If a colour TV only runs for a couple of hours straight from a battery, could anyone offer any info or advice to how this is done?

And thanks for the tip with the LCD TV, my grandad owns the next van along and has just bought a 15" LCD Tele. I have a feeling he was going to connect it straight to the battery, I will check that its 12v compatible first.

(told ya I was a noob!)

 

[Noob]

Thanks a lot to everyone who replied so far, Your help is really appreciated.

The caravan itself is very basic in terms of electricity. There is no hook up and the only thing that is running is some lights straight off a separate battery.

With regards to the plug sockets that are scattered about, i'm not too sure about the wiring. I will check them out at the weekend. They may be for connecting to an hook up point but we aren't sited where there is an electrical hook up point.

There seem to be a few vans around that are running LCD TVs and satellite systems. If a colour TV only runs for a couple of hours straight from a battery, could anyone offer any info or advice to how this is done?

And thanks for the tip with the LCD TV, my grandad owns the next van along and has just bought a 15" LCD Tele. I have a feeling he was going to connect it straight to the battery, I will check that its 12v compatible first.

(told ya I was a noob!)