Powering my LCD direct off the battery – No Hookup

The Meerkat

Guest
As the caption goes and as the price of “lecy” is on the rise I’m looking to get the most out of my 12 volts and was looking to power my Mikomi LCD via this method – Two options would be the inverter approach but I have been told this isn’t very efficient or powering it with a 12v cigar lead, I have a standard 99p one would this do the trick just as good or would the voltage have to be regulated?

Managed to find a voltage regulator from a company called Amperor, does anyone have one and know if they are any good?

Any suggestions/tips or where I can find a suitable product are most welcome :eek::eek:
 
As the caption goes and as the price of “lecy” is on the rise I’m looking to get the most out of my 12 volts and was looking to power my Mikomi LCD via this method – Two options would be the inverter approach but I have been told this isn’t very efficient or powering it with a 12v cigar lead, I have a standard 99p one would this do the trick just as good or would the voltage have to be regulated?

Managed to find a voltage regulator from a company called Amperor, does anyone have one and know if they are any good?

Any suggestions/tips or where I can find a suitable product are most welcome :eek::eek:

Hi Meerkat,
I used to use an Amperor regulator with a Sharp Lcd, but this was a 240v to12vdc inverter, recommended and sold by Sharp with the TV. Very Good, but expensive, I think it was around £45.

I now run a 240v/12v 19" Lcd TV direct from the leisure battery via a two pin caravan socket, and plugged into this is a cigarette type plug with 5amp fuse inside, all cabling out of sight. A solar panel trickle charges the battery, so no pay for "lecy".

Happy Camping:)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your help guys

I purchased the Amperor stabiliser last week with the 4 pin connector block, tried it over the weekend there and it is working a treat!! :):)
 
I find the Amperor a great piece of kit. Can be used in the van or lorry and the price is small compared to buying a 12-230v telly. Another good thing about them is when something else is switched on, i.e. the water pump, my telly does not go on standby because of the Amperors wide input voltage range. Highly recommended.P.S. The pin for my tellies is a round one and is the same size as a few other 12v chargers I have so I can use them in the truck - 24v.
 
Last edited:
"derekfaeberwick: I find the Amperor a great piece of kit."
But very pricey compared to the item I posted which covers 9-25v input!:D
 
"derekfaeberwick: I find the Amperor a great piece of kit."
But very pricey compared to the item I posted which covers 9-25v input!:D

Good price but I'm not that handy with a soldering iron. 25 v would be marginal in the truck, especially when the motor is going for the a/c, not that it has been needed too much the last couple of years though! ;) :D
 
A lot of tv's these days seem to be 12v with box of tricks attached.
 
Bought a new one for my van 2 weeks ago asked the technical guy at Tesco if there lcd tv's worked on 12 volt dc shrugged his shoulders never been asked that one before.sorry don't know.So ended up at Asda purchased one of their own brand onn 19"tv/dvd with built in freeview for £150,bargain:)Andy.
 
if you look on the black box that plugs into the back of the tv it will tell you what voltage input the tv needs then all you need to do is set the voltage regulator and away you go.
 
I've been running a kenmark/Comet 15" LCD TV with DVD straight off the leisure battery since the day we bought it 2 1/2yrs ago with no problems, sometimes 'wild' and sometimes on hook-up with the on board Zig type charger topping up the battery.
 
hi im new to motorhoming and just got my van last week,
any how i haven't been out over night yet so ive just been playing with things in the drive before i hit the road,
Ive just got a 20" meos 12 volt tv and was interested as to how long it would run on the leisure battery having no experience of leisure batteries i thought if im lucky ill get about 4 hours (how pleased am i!!) i switched the tv on the other morning at 9.30am and it was still running at 11.30pm 14 hours later, im amazed!! if i leave the cd player on in my old work van for longer than 10 minutes it flattens the battery,
iv a generator for the motor home but if the leisure battery is that good i dont think ill need to use it that often. :)
 
Word of warning.

If you use the generator,start if up and let it stabalize before you plug into the camper or you may damage the internal electrics.
Your new tv will have the power consumption on a label in watts (20-50 ish).Divide it by your voltage (12 ish)that will give your amps consumption.Take about 1/2 your battery ah rating and divide by your amps consumption. This will give you a rough idea of how long a film to watch.

40/12 = 3.3 amps
1/2 100ah battery =50 ah
50/3.3 =15 hours of telly If you start with a full battery (another full
topic)
Enjoy your new toy,there's lots to learn.
 
Last edited:
I think that all of the flat screen tv,s are 12 volt but they do need a voltage stabilizer to run efficiently direct from a battery:)

Not the case but they used to be in the majority for 15" sets.They are becoming a rare breed nowadays. Unfortunately.
sad-smiley-043.gif
 
I think I might have said before on these posts, we use a laptop as our TV. It made sense to me not to carry more than one screen. I have a usb video / audio gadget to take a feed from the satalitte dish and a usb digital tv gadget just in case we can't get satalite.

The laptop is great it will last 2-3 hours on its own battery anyway and I bought a cigarette ligter charger so that it will charge when we are on the move. If we plug the cigarette charger into the leisure battery it seems to last for ages. I left it turned on for 2 days at home and got bored waiting for it to run out. If we use the inverter to charge it the same thing it goes on for ever or at least until I get bored waiting for it to run out.

I plugged it directly into the solar panel when it was sunny and it showed as charging the laptop, not sure how well it was charging but in the summer I will see how long it takes to recharge if from zero using sunshine :)
 
I think that all of the flat screen tv,s are 12 volt but they do need a voltage stabilizer to run efficiently direct from a battery:)

I think thats right, I know that my Dell 14" LCD monitor that I want to stick in my van is 12vDC and the electrics in the back of it take it from 240vAC to 12vDC.

I just can't seem to work out what bits of the PCB are supplying the signal and where I could tap in with a regulated 12vDC supply :(

(I have some high res pics of the PCB if anyone thinks they be able to help?)

Sean
 
I have a small 15" lcd in the MH, which is 240v down to 12v. To run it direct from the 12v socket i will need to make up a cable (possibly cut the output cable in half and fit with female to male conector). How can I find out which wire goes to which pin in the 4pin socket that goes into the back of the tele?

Cheers

Andy
 
I have a small 15" lcd in the MH, which is 240v down to 12v. To run it direct from the 12v socket i will need to make up a cable (possibly cut the output cable in half and fit with female to male conector). How can I find out which wire goes to which pin in the 4pin socket that goes into the back of the tele?

Cheers

Andy

Easiest thing would be to buy a voltage stabiliser,this would protect the LCD TV from over voltage and also have the correct end fitted to the cable into the TV.

The other end is a cigar lighter type.
Try giving http://http://www.amperordirect.co.uk/ a ring.

If you tell them the details of your make and model they will send you the correct stabiliser for your TV,I have used them and found them to be very helpful and efficient.
 
hi olpoll, i also have a 20" meos 12 volt tv mine was on for 4hrs and the battery was still full charged , also has a good pic..



dunk
 

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top