What's easiest way to power TV when not on shore power?

[mfMcFroggierPod]

I used a Go-Power brand SW inverter.
Direct Wired 300 or 600 watt unit.


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[desant89]

Ok, seems related so I will ask here. I have read this entire thread. I pickup my Rig on Wednesday (Georgetown xl377ts). It has an inverter for the fridge on board. I noticed that inverter does not power up the TV outlet. I am wondering how the kids are supposed to watch TV while we are on the road? Not sure what my options are here (other than generator). Wonder if I can tap off the current inverter or if that would be too much of a pain to do or too much of a load on it along with the fridge. I guess I am used to the Class C I had using 12v tvs which was no issue. Just makes no sense to me to have to run a generator while driving for the kids to be able to watch tv. Thanks in advance!

[markb422]

This is what I do. Samlex PST-120-12 Pure Sine Wave Inverter. I plug it in at the ant. booster 12 volt outlet. A 120 watt inverter from you 12 volt booster acc. outlet is no problem but I would not go much bigger. Works great. It was about $100 on Amazon. My 32" Furrion Tele and Directv Rec. draw about 80 to 90 watts together.
Another option if you do not want to deal with inverters is to swap your television for one that runs on 12 volt. A lot of the Jensen, Furrion, Skyworth Televisions are 12 volt and are built for RV, marine and mobile use.

[desant89]

Originally Posted by markb422

This is what I do. Samlex PST-120-12 Pure Sine Wave Inverter. I plug it in at the ant. booster 12 volt outlet. A 120 watt inverter from you 12 volt booster acc. outlet is no problem but I would not go much bigger. Works great. It was about $100 on Amazon. My 32" Furrion Tele and Directv Rec. draw about 80 to 90 watts together.
Another option if you do not want to deal with inverters is to swap your television for one that runs on 12 volt. A lot of the Jensen, Furrion, Skyworth Televisions are 12 volt and are built for RV, marine and mobile use.

Do you think it would be extremely difficult to Wire the TV outlet to the existing inverter? Obviously the perfect solution would be to have the TV run on the inverter like the fridge does. I cannot think of a scenario where I would want the TV to be on, and not the Fridge.

As for the antenna booster 12v outlet, where is that located? I would be searching right now but I do not pickup the rig until Wedensday. Thanks!

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by desant89

Do you think it would be extremely difficult to Wire the TV outlet to the existing inverter?...

Yes there is, but it depends on what kind of RV you have and how it is setup. I couldn't find this in your profile, so any other ideas would only be a guess. You can get an additional automatic transfer switch and plug it into the second outlet on the inverter and then cut it into the power circuit to the TV.

Now that assumes that you have a Xantrex inverter, which offers a duplex outlet and the reefer has a Xantrex auto transfer switch wired to the reefer.

[desant89]

Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein

Yes there is, but it depends on what kind of RV you have and how it is setup. I couldn't find this in your profile, so any other ideas would only be a guess. You can get an additional automatic transfer switch and plug it into the second outlet on the inverter and then cut it into the power circuit to the TV.

Now that assumes that you have a Xantrex inverter, which offers a duplex outlet and the reefer has a Xantrex auto transfer switch wired to the reefer.

Sorry, I forgot to update my profile. I am picking up the rig on Wednesday. I did post it earlier in this thread, although not the easiest to find. It is a GT xl 377ts. Once I pick it up, I can answer more questions. This is very new to me.

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by desant89

It is a GT xl 377ts...

From what I can see, it is laid out like my 335DS and has a Xantrex on the refrigerator. Should be a xantrex 1800 Watt continuous duty unit and the reefer takes something like 900 to 1000 watts. That leaves plenty for your TVs, even if they are running at the same time as the reefer. You will need a good 12 gauge extension cord, an additional Xantrex Transfer switch, some wire, an electrical box and a little electrical knowledge, but it can be done cleanly, conform to electrical code and once installed, require no additional cords or switches inside the coach...just like the factory did it! May not be the easiest, but it is by far the best.

I am assuming that you have a rear power bay on the drivers side, but you can figure that out when you get it.

Now, like me, you will have to get the courage to make some changes to your brand new coach, or get someone else to do it for you, but at least you will know that it has been done before.

Personally I could never stand to run a 5,000 watt generator to watch a 90 watt television.

You can PM me if you need more information.

[desant89]

Originally Posted by ScottBrownstein

From what I can see, it is laid out like my 335DS and has a Xantrex on the refrigerator. Should be a xantrex 1800 Watt continuous duty unit and the reefer takes something like 900 to 1000 watts. That leaves plenty for your TVs, even if they are running at the same time as the reefer. You will need a good 12 gauge extension cord, an additional Xantrex Transfer switch, some wire, an electrical box and a little electrical knowledge, but it can be done cleanly, conform to electrical code and once installed, require no additional cords or switches inside the coach...just like the factory did it! May not be the easiest, but it is by far the best.

I am assuming that you have a rear power bay on the drivers side, but you can figure that out when you get it.

Now, like me, you will have to get the courage to make some changes to your brand new coach, or get someone else to do it for you, but at least you will know that it has been done before.

Personally I could never stand to run a 5,000 watt generator to watch a 90 watt television.

You can PM me if you need more information.

Thanks again. I am pretty knowledgeable with electric, and installing in cars so I am thinking it should not be too difficult. I'd like to wire right to the current outlet that the TV is plugged into. I actually thought maybe it can piggyback off of the transfer box that the fridge uses. Is that not possible? In essence tapping right into the inverter wires that power the fridge outlet, and run those wires right to the existing TV outlet.

[ScottBrownstein]

desant89, sent you a PM.

[markb422]

Originally Posted by desant89

Do you think it would be extremely difficult to Wire the TV outlet to the existing inverter? Obviously the perfect solution would be to have the TV run on the inverter like the fridge does. I cannot think of a scenario where I would want the TV to be on, and not the Fridge.

As for the antenna booster 12v outlet, where is that located? I would be searching right now but I do not pickup the rig until Wedensday. Thanks!

Should be very close to the tele.
Actually the perfect solution would be to have a 12 volt tele. Adding a second inverter is okay but when you think about it, it seems weird that on shore or generator power the converter changes 120 volt to 12 volt to charge the battery then the inverter changes the 12 volt back to 120 volt. If it seems inefiecient it is. Although most decent inverters have an effiecency rating of 80 to 90 percent it is still wasting power. Not that important for hooked up but for boondocking it is a concern.

[ScottBrownstein]

Agreed, a 12V TV is a solution, but my DirecTv box won't work that way nor will my laptop and cell phone chargers, CPAP and such. If I didn't have a residential reefer your solution might be OK, but I do and it's really hungry and I might as well add the additional load to the system. Besides, the big TVs that come in class A's don't support 12 volt input. Shame, since I know that they probably only us 12 v inside, as does my CPAP, but that would be a lot of converters (and 12 volt connections which are hard to make high current.) The cigar lighter connections are pretty useless at more than 5 amps or so (60 watts.)

But, it is an option.

[markb422]

My Directv receiver requires 120 volt also, otherwise I may have chose to switch out my tele to a 12 volt model. The 12 volt outlet on the booster is fused at 10 amp so it should have no problem with the 120 watt pure sine wave inverter.