# Morrison's TV's



## fofeg101 (May 14, 2011)

I was just surfing 12v TV's and picked up this thread on the CaravanTalk site:

Cheap 12v Tv/dvd Combi £99 At Morrisons - Caravan Talk

presumably I'd have to make up some kind of lead to get from my flat pin 12v socket to the TV....any ideas please?


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## kenjones (May 14, 2011)

fofeg101 said:


> I was just surfing 12v TV's and picked up this thread on the CaravanTalk site:
> 
> Cheap 12v Tv/dvd Combi £99 At Morrisons - Caravan Talk
> 
> presumably I'd have to make up some kind of lead to get from my flat pin 12v socket to the TV....any ideas please?



Our TV has a Mains to 12v transformer. 
I use a 12v flat pin plug which is readily available from caravan shops and the cable to the set should have a standard plug which you will find at Maplin or maybe the caravan shop.
Mine works so well that I don't often use the mains transformer.


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## frogdude (May 14, 2011)

I've got one i bought from Asda a few years ago. I use a lead from Halfords that goes into a cigarette lighter socket, and has a dial on the top to select voltage. Came with a variety of plugs at the other end to go into the TV. Cost me about 8 quid.


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## fofeg101 (May 14, 2011)

We went into Morrison's, the 15.6" TV/DVD £99 offer is over but the 19" TV/DVD is only £119.....I'm pondering.


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## Byronic (May 14, 2011)

The nominal 12v from your battery may well be up to13.8v or 14.4v at times (full charge or being charged). Your TV may not be able to tolerate the higher charge at least not for long. Best if you buy a regulator to maintain a steady 12v. Maplins sell them, look on your TV for power consumption. You'll have to cut off the supplied cig. lighter plug and replace with the flat pin type plug. 
Having said that some people reckon they've run their LCDs straight off the batts no problems.


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## Nosha (May 14, 2011)

Just don't buy a Lowrey!!! It was the worst picture I've ever seen!!!!!!! Blocky movement, colours that changed with movement... TERRIBLE!

Took it back after 3 days, as soon as I told the manager the make he offered a full refund! Went to Tesco and bought their Technika TV with a Samsung panel - Perfect and only £5 more! (This was a 22" for the bedroom)


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## peanut (May 16, 2011)

yes Noshas right. You need to look at the viewing angle for the set and the frame refresh rate etc. The LCD tv we bought with our van is c**p . It has zero viewing angle which means unless you are sitting directly in front of it the screen is imopossible to watch. Just blocky pixelated colours .

I would suggest you look at Ebuyer if you want a good cheap tv combo and read their user reviews.
Televisions, LCD TV and HD TVs | Ebuyer.com


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## Nosha (May 16, 2011)

Ah yes peanut, I forgot about viewing angles! Our cheapo Kenmark from Comet is not too bad, left to right is good so we both get a good picture sat in the front seats swiveled, but you can't view it laying down in bed (have to sit up - was never a problem with the old CRT set).

So as well as looking round the back of a set to see if it runs on a 12v adapter - have a look at it off centre!!


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## peanut (May 16, 2011)

I've been thinking about fixing our tv on a swivel from the ceiling so we can adjust the angle. Like you we intend to sit in the front swivel seats (when they arrive and get fitted eventually !)
Must look into getting a sky setup too, as the aerial is pants . We mostly use a small portable DVD player or feed the tv from one of our netbooks and stream BBC /ITVI Player when we can get a WiFi connection


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## wee bopper (May 17, 2011)

19" flat screen LED LCD Tv/Dvd use thro inverter mounted on removeable swivel mount works great uses very little power due to being LED


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## peanut (May 18, 2011)

thats a great idea Wee Bopper. I'd forgotten my DC/AC converter. Using that allows you to use the much cheaper 230v LCD TV's


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## fofeg101 (May 18, 2011)

wee bopper said:


> 19" flat screen LED LCD Tv/Dvd use thro inverter mounted on removeable swivel mount works great uses very little power due to being LED


Which is easiest on battery drain, using an Inverter or running a TV on 12 volts direct from battery, or no difference?


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## Byronic (May 18, 2011)

More efficient to run direct from battery, inverters are about 90% efficient and most of them run an energy sapping cooling fan, I found I had to look around a bit to get an LCD TV running directly from 12v.


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## peanut (May 18, 2011)

Byronic said:


> More efficient to run direct from battery, inverters are about 90% efficient and most of them run an energy sapping cooling fan, I found I had to look around a bit to get an LCD TV running directly from 12v.


 
it is true that 12v TV will be slightly less costly to run but its not a huge saving. Far more important in my view is that 12v tv's have by and large poor quality viewing characteristics and cost more that twice as much as a 230v tv .

There are thousands of 230v tv's tv/dvd combos but the number of 12v tv's you can count on one hand.

We attempted to watch the 12v tv which came with our campervan  last month and it was completely unwatchable. The definition was c**p and the viewing angle was 0 degrees .If you were not directly in front of it all you saw was highly pixelated colour blocks !.We turned it off and are looking to buy a 20" 230v tv DVDcombo for around £90 which has wide viewing angles and high definition.

Lets face it if you are primarily camping wild, then battery life is very important. It takes a several hour drive to recharge a flat battery. Considering we mostly have 2+x batteries that need charging this makes electric loading very a important consideration. Personally we are looking to get a small generater which can run our electrics comfortably and charge our batteries whilst we free-camp. 

Up until now we have had hookup for our first few nights camping until we get used to everything. With hookup the cost of the electricity is included in the site fee and therefore you can run anything you want up to the max amperage ie 10A,12A, 16A.

I would recommend the total likely electrical load in amps-per-hour rate  is worked out for all the electrical appliances and lights that you have and that will tell you  how many  electrical appliances you can have on at once and for how long
http://powerstuff.co.za/battery-size-calculator/


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## mikeandhismotorhome (May 18, 2011)

Not cheap but the Avtex TVs are the best I have ever seen in terms of picture quality and ultra wide viewing angle. We mucked around with Kenmark tvs in the past and i wish I had not wasted my money and gone straight for the Avtex.


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## Byronic (May 18, 2011)

peanut said:


> it is true that 12v TV will be slightly less costly to run but its not a huge saving.
> 
> I didn't make mention of cost saving, just what is the likely way to be most efficient. TVs are relatively low energy consumers (exception made for giant plasmas) Providing you don't spend an exorbitant amount extra, then !2v direct is preferable. Any power saving is worthwhile when wild camping.
> The choice is limited compared to 240v which is why I said I had to shop around, mine cost only £95,viewing angles not brilliant but nor are most cheap 230v models. Don't forget once the current gets into the TV its all much thes same voltages and the same cheap screen is likely to be found in both 12v and 230v TVs.


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## peanut (May 18, 2011)

Byronic said:


> peanut said:
> 
> 
> > it is true that 12v TV will be slightly less costly to run but its not a huge saving.
> ...


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## wee bopper (May 18, 2011)

mine is a 19" ferguson LED backlit TV which uses 20 to 30% less power than a normal LCD TV and is much thinner so it is lighter


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## Byronic (May 18, 2011)

When  I say any "power savings are worthwhile when wild camping" obviously it would mean electrical power and not the cost. Didn't think I'd have to dot the i's and cross the t's by way of explanation. 
My 12v TV uses 20Watts ie less than 2amps its a 15.6"screen, I consider 20Watts to be relatively low consumption when compared with other electrical appliances. How long you keep the TV on.... well how long is a piece of string?
Voltage drop of 1.5V is entirely dependent on battery capacity, if you have a large battery capacity such as I have then it would take about 100 hours and costs nothing because I rely on solar panels to recharge. 
Would only cost about 20p to run 20Watt TV on 240V mains for 100 hours.


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## Lorry Ball (May 19, 2011)

Why not use your Laptop as a TV, recorder, DVD player, Media player 
"USB TV dongles" don't cost that much, from £10 on ebay
+ your laptop has battery backup....
+ plug a mini FM transmitter into the headphone socket and have full volume from the campers own speakers (this would also work with a normal LED TV...)

Lorry   :drive:


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## Kontiki (May 19, 2011)

As someone said just because it has a transformer with a 12 volt input it doesn't mean you can run it direct off your battery. I use an amperor voltage stabiliser to give me a regulated 12 volts, sometimes my battery can be over 14 volts. A TV made for running in a caravan/motorhome probably has some type of voltage stabiliser built in. For this they charge far too much, I made an adapter for my amperor that converts the plug at the end into a triple cigarette socket block.

That said many people get away with running them direct from the 12 volts with no problems.


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## Byronic (May 19, 2011)

Lorry Ball said:


> Why not use your Laptop as a TV, recorder, DVD player, Media player
> 
> 
> Lorry   :drive:


 
Thats what I do for 5 winter months in Southern Med. However when I only want the TV on I revert to the standalone flat panel because of its 20Watt power useage. The computer uses up to 90Watts due to start up of Media Centre etc even though all I want on is the TV facility.


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## peanut (May 20, 2011)

Byronic said:


> The computer uses up to 90Watts due to start up of Media Centre etc even though all I want on is the TV facility.



thats why Mrs P and I use the latest HP Mini 110 3800 netbooks for travelling. Ours have a 10 hour battery  which is perfect for streaming BBC I Player tv programmes or running DVD's through our TV . They can also be used stand alone of course and the 10" screens are adequate for viewing at normal netbook distance. On charge they consume 40w 

The best use though is watching movies, surfing the net or listening to music with an earpiece or headphones when one of us can't sleep and we don't want to disturb our  partner 
Samsung N110 Netbook Review | Netbook Review - Acer, Asus Netbook Review


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## Byronic (May 20, 2011)

peanut....... I've have/take a netbook as well. I suspect it consumes a bit more than 15Watts, so might as well use the flat panel TV. I use the netbook to connect to unsecured wifi networks or hotspots MacDonalds etc. overseas.
Its a fairly cheap Advent,(the Samsung was considered a better machine) but I bought it because it has an unlocked built in dongle (sim card reader), very useful. I'm using it at the moment in the car using "free" o2UK access.
In 3 years it's been perfect on XP Home., can't say the same for the £1200 laptop.
Shame BBC iPlayer isn't available overseas... maybe one day?
Anyway this is all another thread really.


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## Bigpeetee (May 20, 2011)

If you use a proxy server, you can watch BBC iplayer.

One example is: BBC iPlayer Abroad


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## Byronic (May 20, 2011)

Somebody did suggest using Proxy Server last winter season overseas but when using wifi I would always be in a place just to read and send emails etc not the situation to watch/ download TV,and more often than not connection speed was slow.
I should of course have written in my previous post "sim card modem" not sim card reader.


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