Techno me looking for 12V HDTV set up

[tweet0753]

would like to look into a TV for ther fish house but don't know where to start...any thoughts, Thanks very much, Terry

[aanderud]

Just get a 110 volt and run it off an inverter. No sense limiting your options on TVs just because you're looking for a 12 volt model.

[Macgyver55]

Flat screens, especially LED ones use very little power. Running off an inverter would be the easiest route. I have a 32 inch LED that says it uses 65 watts while in use.

[tweet0753]

thanks for your thoughts...that will help get me started

[Whoaru99]

Don't know if it would any problem, but for running electronics I'd consider going with a pure/true sine wave inverter if you're heading that direction. I have a Samlex 300W pure sine inverter that was ~$150.

[delcecchi]

Don't know if it would any problem, but for running electronics I'd consider going with a pure/true sine wave inverter if you're heading that direction. I have a Samlex 300W pure sine inverter that was ~$150.

I would bet that all the electronics in a TV run off switching power supplies where the first thing they do is rectify and filter the AC to make DC out of it. Then they make that into high frequency AC (100 khz more or less. Used to be 40kHz back in the day) which in turn is transformed into low voltage DC. The days of transformers and giant filter caps are over.

If that is true, you don't get any benefit from fancy sine wave inverter.

[Whoaru99]

Yeah, that's almost certainly true that a newer TV would have a SMPS. I still use some "old school" stuff with conventional power supplies. A pure sine inverter covers all the bases, no questions.

As a side note, I have several pro audio amps that use SMPS. 115kHz switching frequency. They sound great and pack power (1,100wpc @ 4 ohms in relatively small and light (23lbs) package but there's just something studly about big iron transformers and Coke-can sized caps.

[BLACKJACK]

Do a search on '12 volt TV' you'll find a couple of websites that specialize in 12 volt products. You can get TV's that run on both 12 volt and 110, and for a little more you can get one that allows you to play a DVD. I just ordered one, plugged it into the 12 volt cigarette lighter plug, it works good so far. Whether you're better off going the invertor route or 12 volt route is up to the techies to debate.

[Whoaru99]

With regard to the TV itself it's probably six of one, half-dozen of another. However, an inverter does facilitate using other 120V devices from battery source and likely gives a much wider range of TVs (et al.) to consider.