Any Good Small Portable RV Inverters To Run TV Only?

I am curious if anyone has found a good portable inverter that is powerful enough to run the television without creating lines in the TV screen.I am also concerned about battery voltage drop.

Camping World has a Xantrex XPower Digital Micro 400 which uses a modified sine wave.It's description says it is capable of running a TV .There are mixed reviews on these units.

From what I understand,the "Pure Sine Wave" units are the best available.Better for sensitive electronics and better TV picture quality.I don't know if these are available in a "Portable Design".

I usually camp with hookups,so an inverter is not totally necessary.I DO NOT want to mount a permanent one in my TM.The TV is the only item that I care to use an inverter for.

Any feedback will be appreciated!

[ShrimpBurrito]

Yes, there are portable pure sine wave inverters. Here is an example of one:

http://www.amazon.com/Wagan-EL2200-E.../dp/B003INJ3VI

I just searched for "pure sine wave inverter".

Dave

[B_and_D]

We've always had a 12 volt TV, that way we don't need an inverter to run the TV. From what I've read, it's more efficient to run a 12 volt appliance than to run both an inverter and a 120 volt appliance. I recently purchased a 12 volt digital TV. It has a nice picture, but it doesn't work nearly as well at pulling in the digital TV stations as did our previous TV combined with a separate RCA converter (which we still have, but the TV has issues, it's 7 years old).

We have 3 inverters ranging from 100W to 1000W, but we rarely use them.

[Wavery]

We should trade TVs.

I have a 22" Polaroid LED TV in our bedroom that works off of 12V DC. It has a 110V AC to 12V DC adapter in the power cord.

We don't use a TV in the camper. Sometimes we will bring a movie and play it on my laptop.

[B_and_D]

We also have a portable Sony DVD player that we hook into the TV, it is supposed to last for 6 hours on a charge. We like to watch the news and the weather, just in case something weird happens; I don't want to be caught unaware in these uncertain times.

[Bill]

From what I've read, it's more efficient to run a 12 volt appliance than to run both an inverter and a 120 volt appliance.

In my opinion, B_and_D have the right answer. Almost any small electronic appliance, including TVs, DVD players, and so forth, can be found in a version that can be powered directly from 12 volt DC. For a dry-camping application, this approach is much better than buying an inverter for an AC-only TV.

In a small AC-only TV, the first thing that happens in the TV is that the AC power is converted into a low DC voltage, which operates the circuits within the TV. So it seems kind of silly to take 12VDC battery power, convert it up to high-voltage AC power in the inverter, feed it to the TV, and then let the TV convert it back to a low voltage DC. That dual conversion is where the inefficiency / wasted power is.

Amazon.com quickly brings up almost a hundred 12-volt TVs.

Bill

Originally Posted by TrailGuy77

I am curious if anyone has found a good portable inverter that is powerful enough to run the television without creating lines in the TV screen.I am also concerned about battery voltage drop.

Camping World has a Xantrex XPower Digital Micro 400 which uses a modified sine wave.It's description says it is capable of running a TV .There are mixed reviews on these units.

From what I understand,the "Pure Sine Wave" units are the best available.Better for sensitive electronics and better TV picture quality.I don't know if these are available in a "Portable Design".

I usually camp with hookups,so an inverter is not totally necessary.I DO NOT want to mount a permanent one in my TM.The TV is the only item that I care to use an inverter for.

Any feedback will be appreciated!

I have the Xantrex ProWatt SW 1000w inverter and run a 32" Panasonic LCD with no problem. The TV draws about 6.5 Amps. This TV is a new model, light weight, lower power with very good viewing angel in image quality.

So I would assume an inverter that can provide about 7 Amps should be able to power an RV sized LCD.

I've dealt with a few inverters and they can be extremely frustrating. Some have low voltage alarms which are calibrated for basically a full battery, so if you watch a movie, even though your battery is still charged enough for camping, you could hear the alarm or it will simply shut off. So a model that is actually designed for deep cycle use with a discharge curve would be ideal. Don't know if such a spec exists - hence my trials.

Your best bet is to buy local with a return policy. You don't want to be stuck with one that doesn't work. Here's how to tell if you need a pure sine version. Plug your Tele into a standard MSW inverter and turn on a show. Does it have snow or static? If not, then no PSW needed. I've heard a lot of people claim that their TV runs fine with MSW. Not my experience, YMMV.

Fortunately the new model TVs are quite power efficient so the consumption diff between direct DC plug or 120VAC are nominal - you just have more options at 120V.

A laptop with a TV tuner and a 12v adapter are nice :-) So is a Kindle. Two weeks without a charge and better "programming".

Originally Posted by Bill

In my opinion, B_and_D have the right answer. Almost any small electronic appliance, including TVs, DVD players, and so forth, can be found in a version that can be powered directly from 12 volt DC. For a dry-camping application, this approach is much better than buying an inverter for an AC-only TV.

In a small AC-only TV, the first thing that happens in the TV is that the AC power is converted into a low DC voltage, which operates the circuits within the TV. So it seems kind of silly to take 12VDC battery power, convert it up to high-voltage AC power in the inverter, feed it to the TV, and then let the TV convert it back to a low voltage DC. That dual conversion is where the inefficiency / wasted power is.

Amazon.com quickly brings up almost a hundred 12-volt TVs.

Bill

This makes sense to me too. But TrailManor is putting AC only TeeVees in their trailers (or Elkmonts at least). Guess they figure the batteries in the trailers are not really big enough to cope with a TV, so they go with AC only. Too bad. Nonetheless, the AC-TV in our Elkmont seems to be pretty good quality with good HiDef reception.

Anybody know the current draw for typical 12V TV ?

[Barb&Tim]

Anybody know the current draw for typical 12V TV ?

We have a 22" vizio flatscreen that we are using in our TM. The Ac-Dc powerpack that plugs into the television is rated at (output) 12vDc @ 4.58A.

Tim