replied:

G'Day Pete,

Suggest something rated above 900 watts peak, Guessing the T.V. would use about 500 watts and the DVD play 200 watts.

Have found from experience if you load the inverter to maximum it often splutters low battery and turns the T.V. off.

You can run some LCD's and DVD players straight off 12 volt, just need to check

Regards

Rolande

Nick R (VIC) replied:

I have a 300w inverter and it runs my 17 or 19 inch telly well, not sure about a dvd

LGen1 replied:

I run my 12volt 17 in LCD TV & DVD off the battery

nickoff replied:

I would have a look at the plate on the back of the LCD TV and DVD player and check out the WATTS rating. LCD TV 39Cm should be less that 100w and DVD player abouy 25w or so.

Add a couple of low power fluros etc, about 300w inverter should cover it

Nick

kampenman replied:

thank you everyone,
a great help . is some thing like what was floating around my head.
Pete

David from EAC Supplies replied:

Yes we would say check your rating of your two devices and add maybe 20% for safety so it does not cut out!

disco1942 replied:

When you operate equipment off a battery you should do everything you can to reduce losses. Most small consumer devices operate from 12V or similar voltages. Some of these have an external power brick and some of them have internal power supplies that convert the 240V mains power to the lower working level. These power supplies introduce power losses into the system. If you run 240V appliances through an inverter you introduce further losses, the larger the inverter you use the higher these losses are.

If you are running a TV set through an inverter you can be loosing 1/3 of the power you are drawing due to the losses in the inverter and the power supply. To put this in its true perspective - when running the TV through the inverter you are using 50% more battery power than if you run it directly from the battery.

Most of the "12V equipment" you see in shops is just 240V equipment that is also supplied with 12V power lead and has an inflated price. A cheaper way to acquire 12V equipment is to select equipment that is powered from the mains via a 12V power brick. Construct (or have someone else construct) or purchase a separate 12V power lead. This can be a much cheaper way to go.

PeterD

Mainey (WA) replied:

All Inverters loose some current as a percentage of their total output, however the better quality Inverters loose under 10%, like anything you can buy cheap elcrappo products - but you get relevant results.

This loss does NOT effect the running of the 240v product it is running.

The 'loss' is only counted as a loss in the battery consumption numbers, so it's only minuscule when compared to the consumption of the product, eg TV

That's why a "quality" Aux battery system is used to counter ALL the power consumption (loss's) from ALL accessories, including the fridge, lights & inverter etc.

Example:
OUTPUT POWER: 200W continuous - 600W surge
OUTPUT VOLTAGE: 240VAC +/- 2% ( PURE SINE WAVE )
EFFICIENCY : 96 %
Price: $264 delivered

These Inverters provides clean, silent 240V AC power for your mains appliances from 12 volt battery power and provides a PURE sine-wave output, which is the cleanest power available for those applications that require the very cleanest & purest in power. They are microprocessor controlled and have full electronic fault protection. They also have LED indicators to indicate Power and Fault conditions. The unit also features a very low standby current to save power.