dry camping and television

[PhilFromMaine]

Originally Posted by boondocking

The easiest way would be post #13 seeing as the OP is a bit confused about the inverter.

Agreed. Although that will cost the OP plenty of money.


Kindly said, the OP needs to "bone up" on his or her "electricity 101" knowledge for any of this to make sense.

[swj]

saw post 10, thxs, looks like there is always power to the antenna booster, runs off shore power and runs off batteries when dry camping and generator is off. How do you tie in the current ac outlet to the power line powering the antenna?

[Capacitor]

Buy inverter, plug inverter into round 12 volt, plug tv into inverter. Done.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by swj

saw post 10, thxs, looks like there is always power to the antenna booster, runs off shore power and runs off batteries when dry camping and generator is off. How do you tie in the current ac outlet to the power line powering the antenna?

You don't.
You have to buy and then power an inverter (via its input power wires) to the antenna booster circuit and then plug your tv into the inverter.

[boondocking]

"How do you tie in the current ac outlet to the power line powering the antenna?"

Originally Posted by 5picker

You don't.
You have to buy and then power an inverter (via its input power wires) to the antenna booster circuit and then plug your tv into the inverter.

As stated in post #2

[5picker]

Originally Posted by boondocking

As stated in post #2

I can read and I'm not saying you didn't already give that advice (as did a few others) but the OP seems to be having a hard time understanding the way to get 120v AC from 12v DC so I thought I'd reiterate that again.

Sorry, I'm out now since you want all the credit.

[boondocking]

Originally Posted by 5picker

I can read and I'm not saying you didn't already give that advice (as did a few others) but the OP seems to be having a hard time understanding the way to get 120v AC from 12v DC so I thought I'd reiterate that again.

Sorry, I'm out now since you want all the credit.

Sorry to ruffle your feathers, but that statement was meant for the OP not you.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by boondocking

Sorry to ruffle your feathers, but that statement was meant for the OP not you.

Well you quoted my post so what was I to think and then edited your post later to include something from the OP.
Doesn't matter.

I hope the OP can get a better understanding of the two systems in their R/V and that everything that can be run on shore power isn't always available on 12v/solar without some work and/or compromise.

[boondocking]

Yes, hopefully the OP figures it out.
Seems to be quite confused.

[Backcountryboondocker]

Swj; Do you have something like this on the ceiling? The female portion of it, or do you have just a normal 120 volt ac plug-in there? If you have the round female plug-in receptacle that is 12volt and is powered by your 12 volt system and batteries. With that all you need to do is buy a small inverter like the one in post #10 and plug it in to the female receptacle and it will give you 120v ac power with the inverter.

If you don’t have the round female receptacle, then you would need to find 12v wiring (your antenna booster?) and splice in a 12v female receptacle to it, OR splice in the inverter wires to it for a fixed (non-removable) inverter.

[swj]

see attached pic. The grey cap is the antenna booster. It is always on if you push the grey cap. There is no round socket. Satellite and antenna coaxial and antenna push cap.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by swj

see attached pic. The grey cap is the antenna booster. It is always on if you push the grey cap. There is no round socket. Satellite and antenna coaxial and antenna push cap.

If there is no round 12v socket in that plate or nearby, then you can install one and tap power off the antenna booster.
I installed something similar to what backcountry boondocker pictured. I used power from the antenna booster to provide power.

[Capacitor]

Bikendan has the solution. Are you able to do wiring work and drill a hole for the 12 volt receptacle?

[swj]

yes, if I tie in/splice in to antenna booster, will antenna and TV work at the same time?

[Capacitor]

Yes

[Aussieguy]

a lot of TV's have a 120v power brick,
look on the brick it tells you how many volts DC ....mostly they are 19v

you can get a 12v -19v DC Buck boost converter ... $20.00

existing wiring should handle that.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
if you are looking at using a inverter.... it needs to be installed as close to battery as possible so the 12v wires are short. Then run an extension cord to the appliance you want to use .... the tv or coffee pot etc

I would not attempt to run a small inverter on any 12v socket that is far away from the battery.


--------- Alternate TV's------------------
I use an Ipad for TV big enough screen for camping use
plenty of free Internet based TV content ... all I need is a phone signal .
Use my phone as a hotspot to the Ipad.


no fighting on what to watch ...
my hearing aids work with the Ipad , great sound and no disturbing the others.

[boondocking]

A small inverter is no problem far away from the battery.
My 600 watt inverter is wired to an existing 12v source 18 feet from the battery.
I run it at times close to the max and have no problems.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by NJKris

I actually tried that. Apparently the USB port does not provide the current needed for the FireStick, it kept malfunctioning until I plugged it into the wall wart it came with. Good idea though, great minds think alike!

Interesting. Now you have me curious, as all my firesticks run from the TV USB, some are type 2 and some are type 3 (blue inside). Wonder if it has anything to do with 12v vs 120v? Defective port or firestick dongle? Something for me to research further when I'm bored

[Paul B.]

Originally Posted by swj

" On my Surveyor there is a 12v socket on the ceiling next to the antenna booster, which is intended for a 12volt tv to be used. "

I have the same 12v socket, problem is this socket/ac outlet is dead when there no shore power/generator power, I'm trying to find a way to run TV off the batteries. The sound bar below TV works on batteries...

The TV booster button/switch runs off the batteries. Is there away to use this power supply to power TV. Seems like FRiver would add the TV to the list of stuff that runs off the batteries and/or shore power when available .

I have a 2010 surveyor SP-275 ecolite, and upgraded to help with boondocking (motivated by a National Park Stay this summer).

I didn't have any 12v socket in my trailer. Like you, my antenna booster is 12v and is live whether hooked to shore power or not. I added a 12V power outlet (mine has a voltage meter, 12V socket, and a USB-A and USB-C charging ports in it). I did NOT splice into the antenna booster, however, but added the 12V receptical as described below.

In my trailer, my TV counter is next to the same bench seat as the Main power center. My power center had a couple of empty 12V curcuit/fuse locations where I could add new 12v circuits, so I added a specific cirucit for the 12V socket by grabbing one of the two open 12V locations in the power center. My 12V socket is rated for 10A max, so I used a 10A fuse, and made sure that the wiring I used could handle a 10A current draw. I actually just mounted my 12V power in the bench seat next to the main power center.

Then as others have said, I use an inverter to convert the 12V DC volrtage to the 120V AC voltage for the TV. My TV is around 20 inches, and draws a max of 45W - so, 45w/12v meand it draws approvimately 4 Amps from my battery, or 4Amp Hours (AH) of my battery capacity every hour. It's almost assuredly less, but I still plan for the 4AH draw when boondocking.

Your question: Can you splice into the power for the antenna booster? It depends on the size wire going to the booster (I have never looked at mine to see what size wire they use, and if it is spliced from the same draw, as say the power board for my RV fridge mounted right next to the TV cabinet). The wire to the booster would need to be a large enough guage to handle the current draw for both the antenna booster, and the tv usage. If I actually spliced in a 12v socket, I would fear you (or another) hooking something way past the current carrying capacity, so would make sure that I clearly labeled the socket with a max wattage/current draw.

Another possibility maybe. Can you trace where your 12V socket returns to the power center, and maybe change where it hooks into the power center to be live all the time? I have no idea how your power center is set up, so just throwing that out there.

You mentioned that your 12V receptical is dead when not hooked to shore power; is it live when plugged in? If not, check fuses. And, I know some of the travel trailers that have limited solar built in, operate differently while boondocking when battery voltages drop below a certain threshold. Could that be happeneing to you, where your trailer cuts off power to the ceiling r12V receptical when the batteries drop below a certain threshold (and are maybe, below 50% charge state)? I have no idea how your trailer power is set up, so just throwing that out there. If you make sure your battery is fully charged up, you can test if this is happeneing.

Maybe someone with more experience could chime in, in case I'm giving bad information. Good luck!

[swj]

Gonna call an electrician or RV Dealer and have them convert existing AC outlet above the TV, that runs on shorepower/generator only to a AC outlet that runs on shorepower and battery only power. If the sound bar/water pump and other stuff is wired that way...