# lcd tv



## julie798 (Jun 13, 2007)

I have just bought a 15 inch lcd tv from Asda for our van, can someone tell me were I buy the voltage stabiliser (if that is what we need )
I saw a post on here, but cant find it now, and i don't want to blow up the electrics
Thanks


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes (Jul 21, 2007)

julie798 said:


> I have just bought a 15 inch lcd tv from Asda for our van, can someone tell me were I buy the voltage stabiliser (if that is what we need )
> I saw a post on here, but cant find it now, and i don't want to blow up the electrics
> Thanks


If it has a 12v supply, just wire it into the leisure battery side, you then wont have that problem and TV when your not on hook up

Regards


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

JohnsCrossMotorHomes said:


> If it has a 12v supply, just wire it into the leisure battery side


Is this wise? Some domestic TVs are deisgned to work off a stable 12V supply (which they get with their mains adapter). If you happen to leave the TV plugged in when you hook up, you could subject it to more than the 12V dc it uses.

Some people do this anyway, and have no problems. However, I wouldn't like to guarantee that it will be OK.

The 'proper' leisure TVs have a much wider voltage range, which is why they're more expensive.

There's tons of threads on here about using domestic 12V TVs in a motorhome. Some have even blown them up, and then returned them as faulty to the shop.

Gerald


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## julie798 (Jun 13, 2007)

*tv*

The tv has a 3 pin plug and a box, transformer i pressume, so do we buy another lead, I dont know what you mean wire it to the battery, do you mean change the plug to a cig type plug in.
I wished i had never got this van, its going to cause a divorce LOL, OR MAYBE I SHOULD SWOP THE HUSBAND FOR A ELECTRICIAN


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes (Jul 21, 2007)

geraldandannie said:


> JohnsCrossMotorHomes said:
> 
> 
> > If it has a 12v supply, just wire it into the leisure battery side
> ...


If it has a 12v supply it will have a mains adaptor anyway, so use that instead of a surge limiter.

I have a standard Philips LCD on boat and thats supplied by the leisure side 12v and I have a 'hook up' mains shore supply and never had a problem.


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

Your 3 pin plug presumably is a normal mains plug.
Plug it into the mains (EHU) and the power goes to the 'box' in the cable which reduces it to 12 volts (do check the boxes 'output').
For a direct link to your 12 volt supply in the MH there is normally a 12 volt socket near the aerial connection. You then need the appropriate lead.
HTH.


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## dbh1961 (Apr 13, 2007)

Hang on

Julie never mentioned 12V.

All she wants, is a spike/surge protector, on the 240V circuit.

Julie, try any of the big supermarkets - they usually have them with the computer bits and pieces. If no luck, PC World / Currys will sell you one.


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

"Julie never mentioned 12V."
Correct!!!!!

I just plug in!


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

If you need the 12volt stabilizer lead go to Amperor on line.
Alternatively buy a 150watt inverter and use the 13amp plug to get power from the 12volt 'van electrics. If you want to use it on mains electric any mains socket will do.
That just about covers all eventualities.


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## julie798 (Jun 13, 2007)

*tv*

I probably never mentioned what I mean, because I don't even know what I am talking about, so I will try to explain what i mean, we have bought a normal tv from Asda, it has a 3 pin plug for use in the house, but it also has a small black box inline on the lead to the plug, what I want to do, is use the tv in the van when wild/free camping, so from the solar power and battery, so what I am asking is what do I need to buy to be able to do this, i have read on here that you need to fit some type of something to it, i went in Maplin and the chap said i had to go and buy a camping tv from the camping shop, not very helpful, but as I know other people use a normal tv, i thought I would too, sorry its so long winded


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## johng1974 (Jan 17, 2007)

hi Julie, in your case I think you need an inverter as mentioned..

this plugs into your cig lighter and gives you a virtual 240 socket, plug the tv into this and all is well.. your running on batteries/solar panels..

the inverter will need to be powerful enough for the tv.. eg 100watts..

this has the added advantage that other low power 240V household devices can be plugged into the inverter when your wildcamping, eg phone charger, tablelight and so on..

on the other hand :

the black box in the mains lead for the tv, may convert household 240V into 12V (as smaller flatscreen tv's dont need lots of voltage) , so what some people do is the plug a 12V stabilised supply in where that lead plugged in to back of TV..

but you need to look at the black box and tell us what numbers are written on it..

the inverter route is sure fire to work anyway.. 

final final edit..

the cig lighter you use for this needs to be one connected to the leisure side of the van, not the engine side, as you will be willd camping a long time in this case


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes (Jul 21, 2007)

EJB said:


> "Julie never mentioned 12V."
> Correct!!!!!
> 
> I just plug in!


I must have been a thought reader, she wants 12v !!


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## wakk44 (Jun 15, 2006)

Spacerunner said:


> If you need the 12volt stabilizer lead go to Amperor on line.
> Alternatively buy a 150watt inverter and use the 13amp plug to get power from the 12volt 'van electrics. If you want to use it on mains electric any mains socket will do.
> That just about covers all eventualities.


Agreed,

your lcd is designed to run on mains with a transformer in line to take it down to 12 volts,there are some exceptions,I nearly bought a Sony but then found it ran on 18 volts.If you want to use the tv without a hookup then you need one of these--

Amperor Stabiliser

you can check compatibility by filling in the details of your make and model.Alternatively use an inverter as Spacerunner says above.I would not recommend wiring direct to the battery,lcd tv's can be sensitive to over voltage and could be damaged.

Steve


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## slamdunk69 (Apr 16, 2006)

Hi
We bought a "Vistron Luna" LCD tv from Ebuyer. uses 240v stepped down to 12v with an in-line transformer.
I wired up a hella plug lead and plugged it in direct into the van electrics, bypassing the need for 240v hookup.

This works perfectly, camping wild, on hookup, whatever. So successful in fact that I did the same with a phillips freeview box which works equally well. 

The voltage variation is anything from 12v to 14.2v and none of the items I've so fitted have had any of the problems described in the forum.

My brother was so impressed he got me to do the same for his van and he lives in his vehicle using the tv every day.

Don't know whether it was luck, or I think more likely that the electronics are built to withstand a certain amount of voltage variation, since without surge protectors on all the devices in the home they are subject to power surges and blips under normal operating conditions and must be able to withstand these variations without going pop.

Hope that helps

Dunk

You're only young once, but you can remain immature indefinately


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## betsy (Oct 8, 2007)

Hello Julie

Have a look at this site

https://shop.eurobatteries.com/index.php?cPath=45_68&kw=inverter&fl=213143&ci=
1051938844&network=s&gclid=CL-E6JWEnJECFSCHMAodXRXftw

- seems this is what you need - 150watts at a good price. You can also use it for mains powered equipment providing it is of low wattage.

Colin

_Mod edit: URL shortened _


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## julie798 (Jun 13, 2007)

*tv*

Thank-you everybody, at last I understand :idea:

I do feel stupid having to ask these questions, for some reason, I can not get my head around this 12 volt malarky, anyway, thanks all for not making me feel stupid  
, so kind


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## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi julie sorry to be late on this one heres a simple guide
SIMPLE GUIDE TO 12 VOLT LCD TV FOR MOTORHOMES
LOTS OF TVS WORK OFF 12V---ASDA, TESCO, COMET, CURRYS ETC.
MAKE SURE IT SAYS 12V ON THE BACK
MAKE SURE IT HAS A PLUG TYPE AS IN PICTURE not four pin etc,


THESE PLUGS ARE READYLY AVILABABLE OFF GAMES CONSOLES ETC,
YOU CAN USE YOUR 240 LEAD ON HOOKUP OR MAKE UP A LEAD FOR 12V VIA CIG LIGHTER OR CROC CLIPS (PORTECT WITH IN LINE FUSE)
OR WIRE TO YOUR ARIEL PLUG

IDENTIFY POSS AND NEG THEN MAKE UP YOUR LEAD
IF YOU WANT TO YOU CAN PROTECT WITH A VOLTAGE STABILIZER
OR AS IN MY CASE JUST WIRED DIRECT TO ARIEL PLUG.
IF USING VOLTAGE STABILISER YOU MAY FIND THAT IF VOLTAGE DROPS TO 11.5V IT WILL NOT WORK, BUT IF NONE USED YOUR TV MAY WORK AS LOW AS 10.5 V (LONGER)
AS VOLTAGE DROPS THE PICTURE WILL GO OFF BUT STILL HAVE SOUND, SO PLENTY OF WARNING TO CHARGE YOUR BATTERY BEFORE ANY DAMAGE OCURS.
terry


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## G2EWS (May 1, 2006)

Hi Julie,

You seem to have a lot of information to go on, but one thing that would be useful for all of us to help you is printed on the black box you mention.

This box is the device or transformer that takes the 240v AC(Alternating Current - as supplied from the 13Amp sockets in your house) to a DC (Direct Current - like a battery) voltage required to power your TV.

On this black box it will have something along the lines of:

Input: 100 - 240 V ~ 50/60 Hz 1A
Output: + 12 V DC 1.5A

Can you check and confirm what the output is?

Regards

Chris


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## julie798 (Jun 13, 2007)

*box*

Hi Chris

I took a look on the black box it says

input 240v 50/60 hz 1.5 a

output 12v-50a


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## blackbirdbiker (Mar 12, 2007)

Just for the record........I have just checked the 'regulated' voltage on my 15" LCD tv
using a Hameg 204 osilliscope.......I got 12.87 volts DC.  
In the past I answered the same question and in my experience (as a repair engineer) 14 volts will not harm an LCD tv....they are regulated inside on the main PCBs.
That is 3.3 volts for the scaler chip, 5 or 3.3 volts for the main proccessor and A to D converters........the inverter using the 12 volts will kick start at 1.5 KV for the florecent tubes then settle down to about 500 volts regulated by the brightness control.
Use your battery to power the tv and don't worry.  

Keith


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## johng1974 (Jan 17, 2007)

Keith off topic but there is an article in one of this months mags on the Blackbird..

John


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## blackbirdbiker (Mar 12, 2007)

Ahaa, now your talking John...thanks for the info :wink: 

Keith.


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