What 12 volt TV do I buy

spudandpatricia

Free Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2008
Posts
56
Likes collected
5
Location
Wigan, Lancs, England
Funster No
4,259
MH
Lowprofile
Exp
15
HI all

Looking at now buying 12 volt TV for M/H

Would welcome any sensible comments on the ones you have now, is it good, is it sensible price etc. Where you bought.

I can do all the usual checks on line etc, but really value the input from the gang.

Cheers in advance

Spud :thumb:
 
I may be odd, but I can't understand why people must have a TV in their motorhome?? I like to get away from TV's and mobiles for a bit of peace and quiet!!

I've seen people inside a motorhome on a beautiful sunny afternoon, watching the TV. Why?? You can do that at home!!

I take my laptop, and a USB internet dongle. I can, if I absolutely have to, catch the news, or a 'dare not miss' on iPlayer.

Believe it or not, a laptop on the internet, is a damn sight cheaper than a TV and satellite dish.
 
TV

I may be odd, but I can't understand why people must have a TV in their motorhome?? I like to get away from TV's and mobiles for a bit of peace and quiet!!

I've seen people inside a motorhome on a beautiful sunny afternoon, watching the TV. Why?? You can do that at home!!

I take my laptop, and a USB internet dongle. I can, if I absolutely have to, catch the news, or a 'dare not miss' on iPlayer.

Believe it or not, a laptop on the internet, is a damn sight cheaper than a TV and satellite dish.

It's called CHOICE.
I bought mine from Tesco @ £120 with a DVD player. I catch up on the news and sport whilst overseas via a Roadpro sat dish. It can be used either on mains but I fitted a 12v plug. Works off the leisure bty but if on hook up that's no problem.:thumb:
 
We have an Akura 15" lcd model AHLTV15, it has a good picture and sound it comes with mains power pack and also a dedicated 12v cig plug lead, so no arguments from them if it goes faulty using it on 12v as they supplied the lead.
 
Welcome the comment

I may be odd, but I can't understand why people must have a TV in their motorhome?? I like to get away from TV's and mobiles for a bit of peace and quiet!!

I've seen people inside a motorhome on a beautiful sunny afternoon, watching the TV. Why?? You can do that at home!!

I take my laptop, and a USB internet dongle. I can, if I absolutely have to, catch the news, or a 'dare not miss' on iPlayer.

Believe it or not, a laptop on the internet, is a damn sight cheaper than a TV and satellite dish.



Good point but TV can be useful. I ain't no TV slave, but I'm having one anyway, it only works when " I " turn it on !!!!

Have lap top etc. Now looking for TV.

Cheers

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Tell me about fitting the 12 volt plug, sounds interesting

It's called CHOICE.
I bought mine from Tesco @ £120 with a DVD player. I catch up on the news and sport whilst overseas via a Roadpro sat dish. It can be used either on mains but I fitted a 12v plug. Works off the leisure bty but if on hook up that's no problem.:thumb:

Tell me about fitting the 12 volt plug, sounds interesting.

Choice in what we do is the thing, can't beat it.

thanks for the info.

Spud
 
Where did you buy the Akura ???

We have an Akura 15" lcd model AHLTV15, it has a good picture and sound it comes with mains power pack and also a dedicated 12v cig plug lead, so no arguments from them if it goes faulty using it on 12v as they supplied the lead.

Thanks for the info.

Where did you buy the Akura ???

cheers
 
MEOS. Seems ot have all features of the Avteck ones at 1/2 the price.
 
Avtex all the way for me.

Expensive but great in my eyes, pure quality and a better picture than I get at home:thumb:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
You can buy the 19" AKURA (TV/DVD Combo) which is also 12v from TJ Hughes for £169.99. Saw them in the Bristol store today. I bought one some time ago and am very happy with it.
 
I have an old Roadstar 10" which gives a cracking picture off the van aerial but is a bulky set so bought one of these;

Link Removed

Takes up a miniscule amount of space, easily packs flat and weighs almost nothing. Picture quality off the van aerial is not as good as the older TV but it doesn't bother me as I bought it primarily to use outside the UK and run my mp4 player through it.

Whatever size mh you have, when buying a tv you need to think about size and weight first. Having a nice big screen is fine in a house and weight isn't an issue, but do you really want to cart all that around in a motorhome?
 
We have a 17" UMC combo bought for £135 from Makro. Seen them being sold at most of the M/H shows for £199 and £230. Excellent unit but the remote seems slow to react sometimes.

Andy
 
I have an Avtex all in one absolutely great

Would be my first choice in future
 
HI all

Looking at now buying 12 volt TV for M/H

I bought an Akura 15" with dvd and f/view for £87 delivered off ebay .They were listed as refurbished or returned stock .Mine was in an unopened box. Working great no problems .Just do a search on ebay you might find one .I also bought a 19" with Dvd and F/view from Comets for £180 and put my own 12v plug on it .Great pic better than the Akura at angles but twice the price.:thumb:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Hi.

The issue here is that the '12v' ins only nominally 12v and will fluctuate from about 10v to about 15v depending on the state of the battery, what else is drawing current and whether or not the battery is being charged. If the device comes with a 12v cigar lighter type lead, its clear that the voltage regulation within the device itself is good enough for the manufacturer to supply a 12v lead. Most of those with a non-standard 12v plug that come only with a regulated mains power supply, and many others that do not come with the 12v lead in the box, need a stable 12v supply or you will a) fry the electronics, and b) see real problems (often switching off) when the voltage goes low. Its the former that causing all sorts of problems with suppliers refusing to honour warranties.

The answer is a regulated 12 volt supply from someone like Amperor. There are however not cheap but then replacing a device every few months is not either. If you buy the version with the multiple connectors, you can use it for all sorts of electronic gear that needs a stabilised supply. You can also use it on a 24v supply to drive 12v equipment.

So like all 'choice' issues above, you have a choice whether to try just connecting a 12v supply or go for the safer option.
 
Hi.

The issue here is that the '12v' ins only nominally 12v and will fluctuate from about 10v to about 15v depending on the state of the battery, what else is drawing current and whether or not the battery is being charged. If the device comes with a 12v cigar lighter type lead, its clear that the voltage regulation within the device itself is good enough for the manufacturer to supply a 12v lead. Most of those with a non-standard 12v plug that come only with a regulated mains power supply, and many others that do not come with the 12v lead in the box, need a stable 12v supply or you will a) fry the electronics, and b) see real problems (often switching off) when the voltage goes low. Its the former that causing all sorts of problems with suppliers refusing to honour warranties.

The answer is a regulated 12 volt supply from someone like Amperor. There are however not cheap but then replacing a device every few months is not either. If you buy the version with the multiple connectors, you can use it for all sorts of electronic gear that needs a stabilised supply. You can also use it on a 24v supply to drive 12v equipment.

So like all 'choice' issues above, you have a choice whether to try just connecting a 12v supply or go for the safer option.

and, of course, you pay a large premium for this internal voltage regulation.

ie...Avtex

it should also be pointed out that a domestic tv was NOT designed to run on a 12v battery but only through the supplied 230v / 12v power transformer which is, in itself, a stabilized 12v power supply.
 
Last edited:
I presume the Akura has a regulayed 12volt supply as they provide a 12 volt lead as an optional extra. The MEOS has definitely got a regulated supply


Link Removed


and is about £150 cheaper than the overpriced Avtex.
 
we got ours from comet a kenmark 15" with freeveiw,dvd and hd ready £134.99 and its 12v
 
Hi.



The answer is a regulated 12 volt supply from someone like Amperor. There are however not cheap but then replacing a device every few months is not either. If you buy the version with the multiple connectors, you can use it for all sorts of electronic gear that needs a stabilised supply. You can also use it on a 24v supply to drive 12v equipment.

It's only the salesmen at the shows that think you need a regulated supply .A 30 - 40 -£50,0000 van will have its 12v supply regulated . If the supply is direct off the batterry then no , but still should not be too much of a problem . If off the cab Bat then yes as you got surges from the alternator .I still run my TVs without a regulator have done for years with no problems .:thumb:
 
we got ours from comet a kenmark 15" with freeveiw,dvd and hd ready £134.99 and its 12v

It's a Kenmark I bought but 19" with f/view ,dvd .Fitted a 12v lead and works great .£180:thumb:The salesman could see me looking at the back of all the sets and asked ,is it for a Motorhome, and he went on to say that he sells a lot for that purpose.:thumb:
 
This must by now be getting quite confusing for the o.p.

if you are buying a tv to use on a 12v supply make sure that it has a designated 12v supply lead with it as well as the normal 230v to 12v plug.
Most tvs actually have a transformer when on 230 because they run on 12v hence the oblong box halfway down the lead, the amperor is a similar unit to the 230 transformer in as much as it stabelizes the current.

If you buy a tv and make your own 12v lead to run it and it goes faulty even if in warrenty the manufacturer will not replace/repair it.

If you buy a tv with a designated 12v lead, the manufacturer will replace/repair it if it should go faulty
 
This must by now be getting quite confusing for the o.p.

If you buy a tv and make your own 12v lead to run it and it goes faulty even if in warrenty the manufacturer will not replace/repair it.

If that was the case I wouldn't tell them I made a 12v lead.

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Trolled through all the replies and there is one very important bit of info missing..
You should check what current the unit you are thinking of buying will draw.

A person who I know bought a 19" 12/240v unit from a well known supermarket
The thing draws 8 amps on 12v !!!!!

I shopped around and found a 15" on fleabay that has freeview, dvd, card ready built in, draws 3.2 amps and was £149.00 inc delivery

If you are always on hook up then the current draw matters not.. if you are contemplating running off the LB then think carefully about how long you intend using it for. You could end up with a very flat battery in a very short time !!:Eeek:
 
A g/tee is a g/tee :thumb: they are transformed down to 12v and as such should work from a 12v supply :thumb: Of course if you are going to tell them you blew the telly up by sticking a supply unit in not provided by them they are going to blame you :thumb: but as you probably not a tv engineer how do you know you blew up the tv ? BTW TV etc are g/teed for 2 yrs regardless of what the shop tells you :Eeek::Eeek:
terry
The battery will act as a pretty good stabiliser so if you use this method make sure you turn off the tv before unplugging leccy or starting the engine giving you extra protection
 
Last edited:
Terry. The whole poin t is that a 12volt battery supplied by a vehicle is NOT stable. It can deliover up to 14.4 volts and in this case the TV would be fried. That is why a TV that has not got an inbuilt volatge stabiliser needs to run through an Amperor. So I repeat TVs not built for the camper market need to be stabilised with an Amperor.
 
Sorry to disagree on this but 14.4 v will not fry most tv (they are pretty tolerant ) and the voltage from the battery is pretty stable - it acts as one-I have been running several tvs over the last 8 yrs all wired direct to the tv Ariel plug through a in line fuse without a problem
terry
 
I may be odd, but I can't understand why people must have a TV in their motorhome?? I like to get away from TV's and mobiles for a bit of peace and quiet!!

I've seen people inside a motorhome on a beautiful sunny afternoon, watching the TV. Why?? You can do that at home!!

I take my laptop, and a USB internet dongle. I can, if I absolutely have to, catch the news, or a 'dare not miss' on iPlayer.

Believe it or not, a laptop on the internet, is a damn sight cheaper than a TV and satellite dish.

Well its 9pm on a late October evening. Its cold and dark out and I can hear the rain battering down on the roof of the bus. Had enough of reading the book so I may just like to CHOOSE to watch telly for an hour before going to bed.

After all SWMBO CHOSE to watch Emmerdale and Corry since 7pm.

Maybe if it stays light and warm until past 5pm tonight we will CHOOSE to wander off for a walk.

Mind you I dont think that will happen do you

Jim
:Wink:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Back
Top