12V/240V Televisions.

[ QUOTE ]
People who are aurally impaired may well find that being able to see a forecast is helpful.


[/ QUOTE ]

Now you are having a joke! I am neither aurally nor visually impaired and television forecasts have been dumbed down to the point of being not just unhelpful but almost a hindrance. Get a Navtex if you want weather.
 
Personally, I take a couple of books, but have found that one of those small, portable DVD players is good for keeping the kids amused. They are cheap(ish) and obviously don't suffer from reception issues- but you do have to take a selection of DVDs! If i wanted a TV, I think I would go the laptop route, as it's better value than a dedicated flat-screen TV.
 
I still remain a bit baffled by what I would need to run TV via my lap top whilst o/board.

I know you have this issue sewn up! Can you help me a list of the bits I need? If I have the TV card do I still need an aerial or does the TV card pick up the transmission its self?

Thanks Nick
 
Do a google for dmtech, they do loads of 12v lcd tv/dvd/freeview combis which also run from 240v, supposed to be made by samsung as well.
 
Bob

you do not have to justify having a tv aboard

my boat contains

TV, 12V & mains
2 DVD's (portable)
1 Gameboy advance SP
1 Gameboy DS
& laptop when I get my G3

all required in the name of chilling out

and another thing - have you seen the plasmas that come with the 40 footers & over
 
Presumably you have a pcmcia card that is the TV card. If this is analogue only, I would recommend that you purchase a digital card, as the reception is much better, and you get more channels.

USB cards require USB 2.0 £30 from here

You then need an aerial and an aerial amplifier. I get by in the solent (but dont receive all the channels) with an indoor £10 from maplin but for longer term use I would install a proper omni aerial at top of the mast - but not the cheap one - Most people buy the glomex or stratus at less than £100, but spending more will significantly increase the reception. Outside solent you will probably need a better aerial than my indoor job, and might consider a directional one.

You will also need an aerial amp driven from 12v-15vDC. I use the Vision plus signal booster £20 see here
 
At a slight tangent - but not thread drift, honest - I have been giving some thought to fitting a flat screen display on the saloon forward bulkhead linked to a forward facing camera mounted on the mast. If I understand correctly, a (perhaps secondhand) laptop would give the cheapest display and if was fitted with one of these TV cards could be driven from a camera?

Two reasons for wanting to do this: with no forward windows I get twitchy if under way I'm below for more than a very few minutes without sticking my head out, and for parking it would be nice to see over the bow.
 
I strongly suggest that you forget the requirement for 12V supply and look at mains sets and buy a sine wave inverter. You will probably save enough on the set to pay for the inverter which will have other uses. You will also get a better set and a wider choice. Please, a sine wave inverter, not modified sine or square.
 
Just about to say the same thing. My father used to run a narrow-boat hire business, and used to equip them with 12v CRT tellys. Not only were they expensive, but they proved un-reliable. He briefly switched to 12v LCD, which proved even more expensive / less reliable (not sure they could cope with boat electrics / alternator charging voltages, etc.), and ended up a few years ago running the cheapest Tesco / Makro / Argos / etc. 240v LCD tellys on £ 20 inverters (I'm sure sine wave would have been a safer bet, but these worked) which was not only much cheaper, but has worked a treat.

Take your pick.

Andy
 
I have a 300w modified sinewave and a 100w modified sinewave can inverter - with 3 laptops to choose from some of the powerpacks would work on the 100w but not on the 300w (just whistled and ticked) - so it does help if you can marry up the powerpack to the inverter.... or afford (or justify the expense of) a pure sinewave .... alternatively a DC2DC jobbie from Maplin should help provide a stabalised voltage.
 
Some equipment does not like to be driven by anything but a pure sine wave. Sometimes things work but fail prematurely due to excessive heating of the power supply, sometimes they blow up almost right away. Some equiment works fine. It's a lottery that I prefer not to enter.

Square and modified sine is fine for lamps, fans and vibrators. It's actually ideal for the latter /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif For the price of a meal out you can get a nice sine wave inverter and not have any worries.
 
You may wish to explain how a typical notebook charger (say) which is itself a switch mode device is worried much about a semi sinusoidal input to it when the first thing it does is chops that ac input up into square waves? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif.

You are strangely alarmist over this matter and I suspect that you have either had some very el cheapo rough invertors or else just have bad luck with electronics and electrical items. I suspect the latter as everyone else has no problems at all with reasonable quality semi sinusiodal inverters running TV's, computers (notebooks and desktop), laser printers, power tools, houshold appliances, microwaves, etc, etc.

John
 
Perhaps he just owns (or has financial interest) in a pure sinewave invertor company /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif .... only kidding!

The powerpacks are generally designed with a reasonably pure sinewave supply in mind ... so I can see the logic in replicating that on the boat if possible.

150w pure sinewave ~ £100
150w stepped ~ £35 ....

300w pure sinewave ~ £130
300w stepped ~ £45 ....

go figure why I chose the 150w stepped one! ... hmm ... now what shall I spend the £65 on ?
 
No, John, I am not going to explain this to you yet again. I have already explained it to you in some detail at least twice in the last year and the laws of physics have not changed in the meantime /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Your understanding of these power supplies is superficial and over-simplistic. I have designed such supplies (albeit in the past) and I can assure you that it is unwise to use anything but pure sine wave inverters unless the manufacturer of the TV says different. It might work, it might fail to work, it might blow up immediately, or prematurely. But it is a risk. The same applies to all mains-powered electronic equipment.

Tell you what, since you are telling everyone that they need not buy a pure sine wave inverter, you will reimburse them if it damages their equipment. Fair enough? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
laws of physics have not changed in the meantime

[/ QUOTE ]

They have - T B Liar passed a bill last week ... as from the 1st Nov:
Gravity will be switched off in a bid to relieve some of the burden on landfill sites
Power will = VA/2 in a bid to save burning so many fossil fuels and
The speed of light will be slowly reduced to 1/3rd it's current speed to give us longer days
 
Yes, I wouldn't waste my money either.

Have used a number of quasi ones over the years (but all quality makes) and run everything imaginable on them with never a problem. Our current boat we have had a Heart Interface (now Xantrex) one on board for 10 years and it has run a wide variety of computers/VDU's and printers, small chargers/supplies, tv's, hi fi's, appliances (including a vacuum cleaner that draws 1200 watts - inverter is 1000), power tools, radio transceivers, etc, etc with no issues whatsoever, which experience seems to parallel that of most others.

John
 
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