12 volt TV at Excel

A

AOWYN

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28 Dec 2002
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www.clinksystems.com
Hope to get to Excel next weekend. Does anybody know if any exhibitors have the MEOS 12 volt TV's on display (or any other brands). With a vga input they seem to make sense as a plotter/radar repeater.

Thanks
 
Why the boat show?? Plenty of them on e bay and at computer shops. Most flat screens are 12 volt, they have a transformer for mains. Well mine has anyway.
 
being nominal 12v and powered from a stabilised mains converter doesnt mean that they will be happy running on the 11 to 15v of the boats 12v system
 
Myself and 3 other boats I can think of do exactly that - typical TV's from High street shops and run direct of 12v boat system.

Only thing that may happen occasionally if power drops below 11.x V is the Digital side may be lost for short period. Not often it happens but can. I have a Nikkai 8.4" widescreen Digital / Analogue TV ex Maplins. Guy before me had it and exactly that happened, Digital side went of. He considered it dead - gave it to me and bought another. I found later that Digital side returned. Guys a really nice guy, I told him and he said - Nige, no prob ... keep it.

The power req't of most 12v gear is happy enough with the fluctuation on board apart from when you are using same battery as when trying to start engine - then V drop will affect.
 
Another guy and I went through all this before trying to sort a PC / TV combination that would give good on-board display etc. Even with so-called Monitor standard flat screen TV's - we couldn't get a decent resolution. The text was unreadable, only thing that was good was TV / Video stuff.
Best we found was to think of a PC flat screen as small as you can get, lose the 12V transformer and connect direct on board. PC with TV card and if you want radar / plotter etc. - then NMEA into PC ...

Any cheapo Notebook PC will do it. But you will still have lack of water-proofing ...
 
I have recently tested both the Lava Flexline and the Avtex 12v machines. There are subtle differences but both do an excellent job from 12v, have very good screens and can take VGA in.
 
To add another to your list


<span class="small">click for link</span>

Though I bought an B stock item (ex display from the looks for almost half this price.

Very happy with it after a year and it is designed to run off batteries etc.
 
Did you check the power useage? Lava say 60W (say 5A) whereas Avtex claim 3.25A in use. It is unclear to me if this is max (DVD running etc) or average or what. This is for 19" screens

MD
 
Sorry, no I did not. I have 100ah batteries and a 4kw generator so it was not a priority.

The main difference I found was that the Avtex has the ability to do sound output via FM. Like an I-trip this means you can wirelessly play your DVD's back over the stereo.
 
I had same on shopping list for LBS but can't find supplier having trawled the exhibitor listing. Was intersted in the TV Freeview/analogue TV with DVD Combo.
Will revert to Amazon - Auagust 12v DA110BD seems to have best rating and is a UK product as far as I can see. Also low consumption at 15W.
Will gladly welcome any other comments.
 
if you want a combo COSTCO are selling some nice ones, one is a ceiling mount.

3 yr no quibble warranty on electrical, worth a look I think.
 
I bought a 15", 12v TV/DVD/Combo unit on e bay, 199 quid, it is an excellent unit and runs happily on 13.8 volts, which is the output from my 24-12v converter.
Been running now for 2 years. I t also has VGA input, in fact damn near everything input, includiing scart.
 
I suggest you extend your choice to domestic models and consider powering it from an inverter. You could buy a small inverter dedicated to that one function or keep a larger one running when at sea. A pure sine wave is far better and safer; I won't use 'modified sine' or square wave inverters on electronics, now.

I would power from an inverter through the manufacturer's supply even if the supply is quoted as being "12V" unless the "12V" is clearly stated to be a vehicle battery (10.5V - 15.5V). Not everyone would design the TV to run from that wide supply range unless it was intended to be battery operated because it costs a lot more. If it doesn't state that it is suitable for direct connection to a car supply, I would not do it. It might be fine....but it might not.
 
Dear Jackho, thanks for your help, I won't spend time looking at the Show. A pity really because I have yet to find an e-bay seller, or Amazon, who willk let me handle and try a product before I part with my money, which is why I wanted to see one at the show, take it over to the Garmin stand and plug in the VGA to see what quality of display it gave.

I bet that you always did well in your school exams because you remembered the rule about "Always read the question" .

To all the other posters, thanks as well.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Dear Jackho, thanks for your help, I won't spend time looking at the Show. A pity really because I have yet to find an e-bay seller, or Amazon, who willk let me handle and try a product before I part with my money, which is why I wanted to see one at the show, take it over to the Garmin stand and plug in the VGA to see what quality of display it gave.

I bet that you always did well in your school exams because you remembered the rule about "Always read the question" .

To all the other posters, thanks as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you go back to my previuos post - you'll see I answered directly your VGA and plotter parts. Basically you'll be dissapointed.
 
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