TV while driving

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ABOCCIA

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May 26, 2015
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I wanted to try and revive this thread with a question of my own:

I have my 12v 19" LCD TV powered by the cigarette lighter input in the front cabin of my 1987 Fleetwood Pace Arrow. TV works fine when running on battery power or shore power. However, when RV engine is running, the picture experiences extreme interference and when I turn on the Generator to turn on the A/C, the TV power cuts out (but the red standby light on the TV remains on). Anyone have any idea why this would be happening?


(Post split to a new thread to gain more responses, instead of leaving as a new reply to an old thread from 2010.  -scottydl))
 
I have my 12v 19" LCD TV powered by the cigarette lighter input in the front cabin of my 1987 Fleetwood Pace Arrow. TV works fine when running on battery power or shore power. However, when RV engine is running, the picture experiences extreme interference and when I turn on the Generator to turn on the A/C, the TV power cuts out (but the red standby light on the TV remains on). Anyone have any idea why this would be happening?
 
I believe my 2000 MH had a system to disable power to the TV when the engine was running.  I suspect it was to keep the driver from being distracted.  It was easily bypassed.
 
One way to bypass the DC protection is to plug the TV into a 110v AC outlet (if it has that power cord option also)... if you are running the generator while driving anyway, then those outlets would be powered.
 
Interference from the engine is not uncommon with anything
running off the cigarette/power point. A direct line to the battery often helps.
If not there are filters that may help. The same problem often shows up when
using a CB connected to that point.

The other problem seems to be how your 12 system is wired.
The generator produces 120V and converter would be feeding the 12v.
The cigarette/power port most likely is feed from the chassis battery.
I am not sure how on your model that battery is isolated / connected to
the converter/charger that the generator is charging.

Here is an interactive diagram of how RV electrical systems work in general.
http://www.metrotrekkers.org/utility/electrical.htm

Hope this helps.
 
His TV is 12V and works with the engine running, but with lots of interference.  It doesn't work with the generator on, which is a different problem.  The interference is probably from the alternator and can be cured with some appropriate filters.  As for the generator problem, I have no ready answer.

I merged your duplicate topic with this one to keep all the replies in one place.
 
Common mode interference  You may be able to block it,, But it has one of several sources.

Electrical fuel pumps
Ignition systems (Gassers)
Fuel injectors
Alternator

Those are the major sourcs

If you are trying to play DVD or DVR recordings coming in off A/V cables (or HDMI) then it is for sure it's common mode (Comes in on the power cord)  IF you are trying to watch via Ant-in (RF-3 or Over the air) Then there are other modes.

Try this.. Get a joiner link, oh about 1 1/2 to 2 inch.. This is the link used to repair a chain where you have one side that is a nut and you unscrew it hook the two good chain links into the thing and tighten the nut

Open nut,, Wrap power cord around the metal shank oh, about 10 times,, Re-close nut.

No guarantee but repair #2 is a different power source.. on that is hooked to the house batteries.. They are farther from the noise sources in most cases.

Option 3 is a Jump Start battery pack.. These luggable rechargable power packs contain AGM batteries in the 20-30 amp hour range...  That way you have CLEAN power for the TV.
 
Note that watching TV while moving (not the driver) can work well for recorded stuff or Satellite if operated with an in-motion dish.
However, ATSC digital TV is not friendly for moving vehicles. In their infinite wisdom, the designers of the HD protocols did not include doppler error correction.  :mad: This causes glitches, streaks, data dropouts, etc. when using a mobile receiver, i.e. a motor home traveling down the street. :'(
Previous posters have talked to the engine / generator interference issues and the electrical interlock issue and how to address them. After these are met, you can decide if remaining problems are livable.
 
Thanks for the replies - its not so much watching TV while the coach is moving but more importantly while sitting idle with the genny on. When the genny is running the 12v TV (powered from the 12v output) turns off but the red standby indicator is still lit on the tv so i know its getting power.

I'm assuming I can just switch power sources and plug into the 120v adapter when the genny is running as a simple fix but I'm still curious why the TV cuts out with the genny running.
 
Apart from the fact that the in-dash cigarette light gets its power from the engine or chassis battery and may not be powered or may be momentarily interrupted under the conditions you describe, I cannot think why it would shut down like that. Will it start up again and remain up under those conditions?  The only other reason might be is that the TV does not like the quality of power it is being fed, for whatever reason, and shuts down to protect itself.

The genny itself is not likely the reason as it puts out 120V which then powers up the converter/battery charger. That in turn supplies 12V but would not likely affect the in-dash cigarette lighter. It would also power up an inverter, if one is in use, but not likely if a 12V TV is installed. (The cigarette lighter-like plug behind the TV that is meant only to power the TV is not likely powered by the engine battery but by the house batteries. But, depending on the TV's mounted location, that one is very likely cut off once the engine is started. (Reason: Federal law.)

Some converters/12V Power Centres may supply a poorly filtered (noisy etc) 12V supply. However, this seldom bothers the usual users like lights  but it may very likely cause a problem with sensitive electronics.
 
Do you have a Jensen tv? If so, I had the same problem. There is another posting on this forum about that. Apparently, there is a computer board inside the tv that causes it to be overloaded when it detects a change from one power source to another, and causes it to shut off the tv. I can't remember the exact technical term but it was something like that.  The fix was to run an new 12 gauge line to the fuse board and connected it to an unused fuse space that had power without the generator running (kind of like being connected directly to the battery).
 
Abbocia, I was able to find my posting dated 11/24/14 titled: "Generator Interference with tv picture."  In my case, the tv picture would go dark, but the audio would continue if I was operating the tv on house batteries and cranked the generator on. This was caused by a loss of voltage from the house batteries caused by power demand by the generator. The house batteries were unable to provide sustained cranking power for the generator while providing power to the tv and dvd player. It was explained to me that it was like a computer needing to be re-booted, requiring the tv to be turned off and then back on, but only after the generator was up and running. I hope this helps.
 
Thanks CG - I will troubleshoot with your suggestions. It's a not a Jensen, its a Dynex - not sure if that helps - but I did however try turning the TV on/off once the new power source was used with no luck.

The power source is actually a 12v cigarette lighter adapter that is spliced into one of the lights in the cabin. I'm thinking that could be the issue. When on house battery, it is using 12v power but then when I turn the genny on, the power source clicks to 120 and with no inverter from the power source to the TV, the TV powers down.
 
Starting the generator will not affect your 12V items, other than powering the converter that may cause an increase in voltage on the 12V circuits.  Specifically, your TV won't switch to 120VAC if it's just plugged into the 12VDC outlet, generator running or not nor on shore power.
 
I don't have a converter as I rigged a 12v cable to run from the "cigarette" 12v input to the TV and am not using the original 12v adapter that came with the TV
 
With no converter, how are you charging your house batteries?  The converter also would power your 12VDC loads when on shore or generator power as well as charging the batteries.
 
Ok - I was talking about the converter for the TV unit itself, my mistake. Still trying to learn the RV lingo as I am new to the RV-World. So, thanks to all of your for your help and patience.

Do you know where the converter would be on a 87 fleetwood pace arrow? Now that I am thinking, it may be in the rear bedroom next to the fuse panel under one of the single beds.
 
I don't know where it would be on your RV, but close to, or part of, the fuse panel is a good guess.  The easiest way to see if it's working is to measure the voltage at the battery when not on shore or generator power.  You should read around 12.6VDC if the batteries are fully charged.  Then either connect to shore power or start the generator and the battery voltage should rise to around 13.4V or higher.  If it does, then the converter/charger is working.  In any case, using shore or generator power won't automatically power the TV from 120VAC, the 12VDC outlet it's plugged into will still be powering it.  But the voltage will change, and there are other factors that could cause the TV to shut down when starting the generator.
 
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