TV viewing

Goldie 

It might be worth having a look at this thread about surviving on non electric sites. I would imagine that you would need a solar panel to keep the leisure battery charged. If it's just for a TV it might be cheaper to buy a 12v one as you could then bypass the inverter. 

David

Thanks David

I've looked at the Off Grid thread, and I'm still unsure about an inverter. When I Googled "inverter" some looked so cheap I knew they were wrong. We're probably going going to do without the television unless we are on hook up. Our existing caravan TV is perfect for EHU (built in DVD player, classic IPOd dock, HDMI etc) so don't want to change (and not at great expense!). 

Our first (amd maybe others) trip out is down our fields so we have to be totally self sufficient. But hopefully it will be hot and sunny and we'll be just relaxing outside, with the pile of books we've been saving up.

Suitcase Solar Panel arriving today, and OH is going to add 12v USB sockets tomorrow.

If the solar panel is 100w or more Goldie you will manage OK without an inverter. We've got a small one but I can't remember using it. The USB converters are very useful. Our TV can run on 12v and we might watch an hour per day, news and weather etc if we're away. Most of our lights are LED which also helps the drain on power. We have some battery lights too.

The serious off EHU users are on the thread David suggested but we're casual users. 

Fitting an inverter is not a very efficient way to watch TV. Better to either buy a 12V one, no dearer than buying an inverter, or perhaps modify exisiting one to take a 12V input. 

You can look at most services on a phone, pad or whatever so charging is probably the most important thing. I've got a couple of small solar chargers to add to the "power" bank.

My thoughts, If I was to replace my cureent TV, an old 12v Avtex with a sat decoder and DVD player, I would buy a 12 volt smart model with WiFi and a built in sat TV decoder because it would give a good choice of options for program reception. Given a resonable 4G signal or even 5G, streaming programs from catchup TV, Netflix or Prime should not be a problem using the hotspot function of  a smart phone having a subscription offering a generous data usage. A DVD option might not be so useful any more in the UK but when on the Continent it may well be a worthwhile option.

peedee

Goldie

I noticed in the new C&CC magazine they have a datasheet on inverters, www.myccc.co.uk/datasheets I managed to get in without logging in so hopefully it works OK for you. Just enter inverters in the search box. It might provide you with a bit more information.

David

Thank you everyone for the advice. For our first trip out I think we will stick with solar panel, new USB sockets (12 volt), Ipad, Bluetooth speaker, and a selection of power banks. 

We've always used gas for heating, cooking, kettle and toast, so there should be plenty of reserves in the battery (hopefully kept topped up by the solar panel that's just arrived).

And who needs televison anyway? Lately we've been watching a lot of Iplayer and YouTube (and online concerts on various social media). If we sit close together the Ipad screen is big enough.

Plan B - win the lottery and buy a top of the range caravan with all these fancy power gizmos built in.

We have one from there - it’s a great tv (Bauhn) with DVD, works on 240/12v, good viewing angle and sound.  Can’t fault it and was only £129 for 24”.   We used to keep in in the van, but now use it in the house as well since the Logic one gave up the ghost!   

Additionally we use Netflix by attaching to our phone hotspot if no site WiFi.    

+1 found this TV very good, has received signal everywhere we've been. I believe that the early models were more problematic but the recent ones are excellent value.