12 volt tv

Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:02

ThreadID: 92808 Views:1802 Replies:4 FollowUps:3

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johno59

Hello everyone, I have a deep cycle battery that seems to provide all our lighting requirements. We use led globes sparingly. Just wondering whether a small 12 volt tv would drain the battery to much,or whether we would need to connect a solar panel to top up the battery and if so what size panels we would need. (100 120WATT??) obviously it would depend on usage.probably a couple of hrs a day at most. Thanks so much can anyone help?

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Reply By: Member - John and Val - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:11

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:11

Hi John,

In this blog here you might find the info that you are looking for.

Cheers,

Val

J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein

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Reply By: Notso - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:12

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:12

I have one and also have a 100AH battery, I've spent 4 days camping with no charge. Like you used sparingly. Probably could have done another day. Battery voltage was 11.8 on the last morning.

So go for it!

AnswerID: 481505

Reply By: LeighW - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:13

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:13

Hi,

A 12V 16" LCD draws around 40W or 3 Amp hours.

So assuming a 100AH battery you could run the TV for 23 hours.

Note TV should be unplugged when not in use if power is limited as it will still
draw a few watts in standby.

Cheers
LeighW

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Follow Up By: Allan B (Member, SunCoast) - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 15:02

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 15:02

Leigh, you can only draw about 50ah from a 100ah rated battery so with the TV drawing 3 amps the battery will be discharged after about 16 hours. Attempting to draw more than 50% from a lead-acid battery will ruin it.

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Allan

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Follow Up By: LeighW - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 15:34

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 15:34

Horses for courses, generally run my batteries down to 30% SOC have have done so for many many years and have never had a failure yet.

I do however replace my batteries every 3 - 4 years as I often travel to remote locations and reliability is much more important to me than saving a few dollars and being able to brag that my batteries have lasted for yonks.

cheers
LeighW

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Reply By: Member - John and Val - Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:22

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 at 09:22

A small LCD TV shouldn't draw more than a couple of amps, so depending on the size of your battery, shouldn't be a serious concern. It depends too on how you are charging the battery - if from the vehicle, and assuming that the battery is a decent size (say 50Ah or more), running the TV shouldn't cause any worries.

Solar? The TV will probably draw say 2 amps for 2 hours = 4 amphours. To replace that on a daily basis will take a few minutes if charged from the vehicle. A small solar panel, say 10W, will easily supply that in a day of sunshine. Before considering solar though suggest think through your whole system - do you want to charge torches, phones, laptop, etc, or maybe consider a fridge for the future? There is more to solar than simply clipping a panel onto your battery! And it can be expensive.

You may find Electricity for Camping a useful read.

Cheers

John

J and V
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
- Albert Einstein

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AnswerID: 481507