New TV for our older motorhome 12v or 110

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93Coachman

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Our older Coachman has several 12 volt plugs where a TV hooks up and has A few 110 outlets scattered around two. Would like to put in one small 19 inch flat screen. ( not big TV watchers ). What would you get a RV 12 volt or an Walmart normal TV thanks for your opinions  Don in KY
 
Usually the residential (120v) tvs are much cheaper.

Do you ever want to use the tv when no shore power is available? If so, a 12v tv or the addition of an inverter to make 120v would be your choices.
 
We do a fair amount of boondocking and I wish the TVs in our motorhome were 12 volt. If most of our camping was done while hooked up to shore-power, I'd probably feel differently. To watch TV while dry-camping, we not only have the draw of the TV to consider, but also the inverter. It's just more draw on the batteries. There's probably not a big electrical-consumption difference between running 12 volt vs. 120 volt TVs, but when you're boondocking and trying to minimize the need to run your noisy generator, every little bit helps. 12 volt TVs typically cost quite a bit more though, so that's something to consider too.

Kev
 
I asked the TV guy at BestBuy and he looked it up on a sales computer and said several of the LED or LCD tv's have a inline power cord transformer much like a laptop computer has,  and are actually a 12 volt DC powered T.V.

He said you just unplug the inline transformer it's becomes a 12 VDC T.V.

or...I guess in theory when you are boondocking you could take your 12 R/V battery power and send it to an inverter that would send 120 volts A/C to the T/V's inline transformer that could convert it back down to 12 volts D/C....;) (it's a joke)
 
If you can find a 110v TV that is in fact using a power transformer down to 12 volts test is the right size for what you want it should simplify the install.
 
Be aware that just because the TV has an external power supply that does not mean it's running on the same voltage as your RV does.  (Which might vary from10.5 up to 14.2 volts and still be considered normal). The TV might not like either extreme.

I fried a Samsung this way.  It might be safer to use a normal 110v TV and an inverter.
 
Good points. We are wimps and usually stay where there re hook-ups. But I guess if we were to Walmart or rest area it 12 might be handy  thanks for the replies



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Buy an inexpensive 110v TV and a 12/110v inverter. When you need to use the TV  on 12v, use the inverter. I purchased a 400w inverter for $25. It works great.

George
 
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