Which TV?

[PHOENIXFLIER]

So 'er indoors can watch the soaps whilst I go to the pub / fishing / cycling / etc. We need to come up with a 16" LCD 12 / 230 V TV. The favourite at the moment seems to be the Cello C16230F, but because its me, its out of stock virtually everywhere which I suspect means no more. Can anybody recommend a similar TV please?. Do not want to wast to many Stella tokens on a gogglebox, as my idea is to try and get away from the plethora of screens we have at home!

 

[Thingy]

Avtex. Had mine for 10 yrs now. Excellent quality and lasts well given the shaking it takes.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

The favourite at the moment seems to be the Cello C16230F, but because its me, its out of stock virtually everywhere which I suspect means no more.

Yes, it is a brilliant piece of kit and good value for money. We are very pleased with ours, as most people will be. No wonder it is sold out. hmy:

PS and half the price of other popular TVs advertised in caravanning magazines.

 

[Gabsgrandad]

Sounds reasonable?

https://www.aldi.co.uk/21-5"-full-hd-caravan-tv-dvd-combi/p/077304145400500

 

[Anseo]

Sounds reasonable?

]https://www.aldi.co.uk/21-5"-full-hd-caravan-tv-dvd-combi/p/077304145400500

https://www.aldi.co.uk/21-5"-full-hd-caravan-tv-dvd-combi/p/077304145400500[/quote
Looks good Gabs, I can't help but think how similar it seems to be like the one I recently bought at I think the same price, https://finlux.co.uk/tv-22fbe274b-ncm?ref=1

Sound quality is not very good, everything else is very good, jack lead to stereo radio in caravan transforms it into a very pleasant little setup.

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

Great, visit to Aldi on the cards it is then. How much juice do these TV'S take when running "off grid"? Have got a small solar panel, but could do with some help on the subject! Thx. Simon.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

The Aldi one quotes 36W power consumption.

Edit - the Cello is only 9W operating.

 

[Martin24]

Save the money and let her read your copy of Practical Caravan. After that there's the water to get, toilet to empty, van to clean inside and out. There, she doesn't really need a TV at all.

 

[Thingy]

Save the money and let her read your copy of Practical Caravan. After that there's the water to get, toilet to empty, van to clean inside and out. There, she doesn't really need a TV at all.

A man after my own heart.

Seriously though, you get what you pay for. Unlike your TV at home, your caravan TV travels and gets bounced about. I am dubious that the cheaper ones will last as the Avtex has.

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

Yay! Think I'll save the money and her a dart board and a set of arrows. Van just about big enough.Get her a battery operated hoover while I'm at it.

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Seriously though, you get what you pay for. Unlike your TV at home, your caravan TV travels and gets bounced about. I am dubious that the cheaper ones will last as the Avtex has.

I don't expect Avtex are any differently built to cheaper priced ones, they just have a 100% price markup because they have 'for caravans' in the title. The Cello ones are described for cars and lorries in any case, hence running off 12v dc. We retain the polystyrene delivery packaging to store our TV in and place the whole lot in a bed locker for storage/travelling, complete with the fixing arm attached.

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

Sounds about right. Same in the model flying world. Just add the word MODEL in front of PVA for example and jack the price up by 100%. Rip off.
Just had another idea!.
Could I use a 20" household TV, (rated at 30w) with a suitable inverter and 100w. solar panel?
This would save buying yet another TV?.
Getting more complicated by the minute.

 

[Gabsgrandad]

Been carrying a tv of various makes (Most of the 'bits' come out of the same place! - Whatever make it is?) for 40 years - thousands of miles, can't think any of them have ever been travel sick!!

 

[Anseo]

I put a TV screen face downwards on the lower bunk mattress and a bungee cord round mattress and TV.

It always stays in place and never had a problem from transporting it in that way.

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

Ok, think I might have cracked it....was getting amps / watts mixed up! I am now planning to use (off grid) a Logic flat screen 20" 230v TV coupled to the 300w inverter that Aldi are selling. Now the only other question is what is the smallest Solar panel I can use to keep the battery charged whilst the TV is on? I think that a 60w with 10a regulator  will just about be enough

 

[ProfJohnL]

Ok, think I might have cracked it....was getting amps / watts mixed up! I am now planning to use (off grid) a Logic flat screen 20" 230v TV coupled to the 300w inverter that Aldi are selling. Now the only other question is what is the smallest Solar panel I can use to keep the battery charged whilst the TV is on? I think that a 60w with 10a regulator  will just about be enough

When dealing with inverters, you need to be aware there are two generic types, Modified square wave (Also known as quasi Sine wave) and the Pure Sine wave inverters. Modified square wave inverters are known to cause problems with electric motors, and some electronic devices, this is due to the squareness of the output wave form which can cause oscillation or ringing in some inductive based equipment.

To be safe ensure you go for a pure sine wave inverter which mimics the mains grid power far more safely. However there is a trade off. and pure sine wave inverters are less efficient (typically about 70%) than modified sine wave (typically 90%) so you will need to look at a solar panel about 30% bigger than you thought.

Also I'm fairly sure you realise that solar panels will only produce power during daylight hours, so you will be relying on battery power during the hours of darkness, so again to ensure the battery will be topped up properly you will need to assume the daylight requirement will be more than just the power consumption of the telly and inverter.

My guess is if the telly is being used for 4 hours per day you will need a solar panel of at least 120 to 150W to be reliable.

 

[Hutch]

Just go to the Pub at lunch time, then BBQ and listen to the Battery, powerd wireless. At night time.

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

After yet more research, and listening to the advice on here, I am giving up on the inverter idea. I am going to bite the bullet and get a "caravan" 12v TV and 80w solar panel with built in regulator. We only intend to use the TV for a few hours in the evenings (off grid), with probably one small light on. Brand new 110mah battery. TV rated at 2.5amps. Everything else will use gas.Comments welcome!

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Depending on age and manufacturer/model of your van there may be other items using 12v dc eg electric toilet flush, fridge control panel, alarm, radio, water pump, as examples.

 

[PHOENIXFLIER]

Good point. Manual toilet flush, fridge very basic and on gas, alarm runs of separate supply, radio and water pump yes. Hopefully, an 80w job would cope with that!.

 

[Parksy]

I fitted an 80 watt solar panel for off grid use, but I have to say that if you intend to regularly use a tv along with led 12v lighting, water pump, toilet flush and enough battery power to ignite the gas for the cooker, fridge and heater I'd strongly advise you to follow the advice offered by the Prof.
If such panels had been widely available for a reasonable price when I bought mine I'd have gone for 150 watt, an 80 watt panel will struggle to provide enough charging capacity for a 120 amp/hour leisure battery to stay off grid, especially when the battery is no longer new.

 

[ProfJohnL]

After yet more research, and listening to the advice on here, I am giving up on the inverter idea. I am going to bite the bullet and get a "caravan" 12v TV and 80w solar panel with built in regulator. We only intend to use the TV for a few hours in the evenings (off grid), with probably one small light on. Brand new 110mah battery. TV rated at 2.5amps. Everything else will use gas.Comments welcome!

I'm still concerned that you chosen size of solar panel will not be enough.

Just to get an idea of the amount of current (Amps) you will use in a day you need to find the 12V current rating of each appliance and multiply it by the number of hours use it will have each day.
Just as a guide
Don't forget the lighting which if there not LED luminaries, then for each bulb or tube you can consider them to be using about 1A when on.
Modern fridges and water heaters also use some 12V current for their control systems and these can be considered to be about 0.25A on average each.
Car type radios can also consume 1 to 2 amps when being used and some even consume 0.1A when apparently turned off to retain memories.
Active television aerials also use some power Assume about 0.1A
Water pumps can often use 4 to 6A but generally do not run for very long and in reality the total power they use in a day is likely to be less then 1Ah

With out a TV its estimated that a 4 berth caravan will consume about 20 to 30Ah of battery capacity. But allowing for the inefficiency of recharging batteries, and the variable charge current due to the British weather, you need roughly 2.5x the solar panel capacity compared to the daily Ah usage.

With the addition of a TV at 2.5A used for about 4 hours a day equates to an additional 10Ah of battery usage.

So being a little pessimistic your total daily Ah usage could be the basic 30Ah + the 10 for the Tv giving 40Ah. that equates to a solar panel capabale of developing of about 100Ah of charge. Based on a 8 hours of effective daylight that is an average charge current of 12A rating Simple maths Volts x Amps = Watts (12A x 12V = 144Watts)

So I strongly recommend going for a minimum of a 120W or 150W panel.

 

[Hutch]

And remember , thats if your battery is fully charged, if you have used a motor mover to perfecty place your van, then !!! Pack of cards, box of Dominoes and a little candle light, and a nice beer or cider and a glass of wine for the boss. Go off Grid if you want but forget the Tv and extras,
Hutch.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Hutch,

Of course motor movers will use power and being such high current device they bound to put a big demand on the battery - or so you might think. But when you actually review the way a mover consumes power then the picture is nowhere as dramatic or disastrous as its tempting to make out.

DC motors always have a high inrush current when the start from stationary. But generally after this the current will settle down to a much lower level Exactly how big these values are will depend on the make and model of mover and the caravan. but as reasonable guesstimate will be 20A running current.

Some motor movers may be capable of pulling a maximum peak current of 80A but 40 to 60A is more typical. Obviously the battery needs to be able to deliver this amount of current, and virtually all Caravan batteries should be able to do this, though as batteries age they may be less capable. But the inrush current will normally reduce within a fraction of a second (one three thousand six hundredths of an hour), so the total charge required for this will be 80A x 1/3600 Ah = 0.02Ah!

After the inrush current has subsided the motors will use much less current, Most will probably use less than 20A. But again the length of time the mover is used will be no more than about 5 min one twelth of an hour), so again the current x time 20 x 1/12 = 1.7Ah!

So all in all using a mover is most likely to use less than 2Ah of battery charge, that roughly I halogen lamp for 2 hours!