Mains TV for us all the time had ours for the last 4years it's been shaken dropped once or twice its been in the caravan all year round no problem . We do not go anywhere off the grid always on hookup so yeh mains tv all the time.
Hi Dan, we brought a mains/12volt TV fros Aldi 4 years ago for £120.00 a fantastic little TV, the only down side is you have to get the viewing angle just right, but it has never given us any problems and stays in the caravan all year round, Keep up the videos Dan.
Helpful vid Dan, we have normal TV in our van but have been considering changing to a 12v TV. I need to do more research first so looking forward to the rest of your TV series. Cheers Martin 👍
Like you, we opted for the Avtex tv. Along with that we also purchased the Avtex Snipe 2 satellite receiver. We find the compact, and the many functions of the Avtex tv, simply caters for all our needs, when we are away in the caravan. Together, they give a simply stunning picture viewing experience, both with tv and dvd. Have to be honest, we do not have a sound bar. Perhaps you could go into the reasons as to why you prefer one. Did we look at a “normal” 240 mains type tv, no we did not. We travel all over the UK, and down through France, Spain and Portugal, so we spend quite a bit of time in assorted spots with no mains hookup. Using inverters, generators just add to out towing weight, with the caravan coming in close to two tons, extra weight we do not require. Are there other 12 volt tv’s out, I assume there may well be, but we did not look for them. I’m really looking forward to the next video blog.
As you said two minds think a like. The 12 volt cello I reviewed is a great Tv if you are on a budget. Thanks for sharing look forward to the rest of the series. Phil:)
Hi Dan, enjoyed this vlog and looking forward to the follow up ones , when we started last year we nearly got the avtex, but thought we would save some money and bought a 24” 12v tv/dvd from Aldi for £134 , really pleased with it as it has free view too. Only downside is the sound, bit tinny, got over that by using a separate speaker, all sorted. But if it don’t last long will probably go to the Avtex. 👍🏼👍🏼
Good video. We currently have a small normal TV. We have never been off grid caravanning yet. So for the same money am a 12v TV I could get a power inverter, projector and screen. Have a 100" screen in my awning. Which is rather tempting.
Don't want to poach Dan's thread, but you can use a chrome cast or a Firestick both slot into the HDMI on the Avtex, tethered through wifi to your mimo box, then you can stream netflix through the sim card in the mimo , sim card unlimited data about £20 a month. giff gaff for the sim. or just plug in a satelite dish and tripod and connect directly bit of a faf getting positioning on arrival but no data cost.
Very useful video. Thank you. My one tip would be too check the current (amps) the TV is drawing. These days, as most lights are LED, the TV will be the second highest consumption device after the refrigerator
Interesting stuff Dan, we’ve always used a normal mains tv our current is a Samsung. We never go off grid, Karen likes her home comforts too much and we never leave the tv in the caravan we always bring it home. Cheers Jon
Great vid very clear. Yes it would be great for you to do videos on using Netflix and Amazon Prime in the van., particularly saving programs to play back later, saving other programs to media to play back on the TV. It would be interesting to see/hear a review of the soundbar, as its possible to just use any extra speaker - but whats the connection advantages and importantly -whats the sound like to warrant the price to make it worthwhile overall if it does. Thanks again Dan for the time and EFFORT you put in to making these videos.
Hi there. Great reasons to buy a 12v tv👍maybe you could let people know about the tv that is also available that I have. It’s a cello 12v with a battery pack of its own on the back. It can be charged by 12v whilst driving or at home by 240. It can be watched for 6/8 hours on a single charge. It can stay plugged into your cigarette lighter socket or if on hook up at a site. And if you think to yourself. Well I haven’t Finished my holidays i think I might go wild camping for a day or two the tv is all set with power in it’s own little battery pack😁happy days 😎🤩😁👍fantastic bit of kit👍
I bought a cheap 12 v portable from Aldi, don't need a sound bar, just plug it into the aux on the radio and listen to it through the caravan speakers, everything is awesome
Great video. I use a Cello Traveller 12 volt TV, has many of the feature of the Avtex but a lot less money. Cello are now releasing a 12 volt Smart TV for just £199 which is a great price. Mine works well with an Amazon fire stick for Netflix etc.
You should have a look at the little SOYAR 9" portable TV, It has a built in battery that lasts for 3 hours and it will run off of the Cigar Lighter Socket and it comes with a mains adapter and an Antenna and some other leads, Mine will pick up 174 Freeview Channels from the little Antenna and the picture Is extremely high quality, I bought it from Amazon for around £62 or £64.00 But the best part about it is IT's power consumption, It uses between 6.4 to 8.4 Watts and it is idea for off grid use where you don't have 240 hook up, A single 100Ah battery will power it for over 10 - 12 days running it for 16 hours a day and it will still keep going for even longer if you let it. I find this little TV a joy to use that I stopped using my 48" flat screen, It is the second best thing I have bought next to my 4x4 Fridge Freezers.
We have changed from a 240v house type tv and changed to a 12v Celo complete with dvd and satellite socket so no box required its great @ around 22 inch £140 against the cost of Avtex. liked the advice on the apps as just purchased a satellite dish set up from Germany for £46 went for quality set up will be good for Europe in the summer Mrs still see her soaps.
Hi Dan. Good vid as always. It’s true that the Avtex TVs are more expensive that a cheap basic tv from the likes of Currys but they are good quality. On a cheap set it is not unusual for the picture to be really unwatchable unless you are sitting directly in front of it. The Avtex sets can be viewed at an angle without losing picture quality. Useful in a caravan. I look forward to your future videos. Steve
I've got a 50" Samsung ultra HD at home and that doesn't get hot. LED tv's don't get hot. don't forget that 99% of tv's have a transformer/resistors built in to take voltage down to 12v even if you can only plug into 240v.
While we've only used our tv twice due to rain and cold this winter normally outside watching natures tv in the new forest. When at home on my desktop pc, i use an AUX cable to run my phone to the bose speakers so used that idea for the van as the tv speakers were rubbish and had a headphone port on the TV and an AUX socket in the caravans built in radio, so run a 2m AUX cable from one to the other and boom great crystal clear basey sound for the cost of a 2m AUX cable £3. We use a 12v Avtex that came with the van but i think it draws more amps than a normal tv so i guess it could be limiting in that way if you are already running close to the EHU [point limit but that also includes the running of a dvd player. What i did use my tv for this week just gone was for a fire place DVD running on loop as i say we are normally outside when away but was quite cosy in the van playing $GREED dice game(Oh OH OH idea you got to do reviews on caravan games that'll go down a storm!) $GREED, Yahtzee, UNO, rummy, shit head. When we need to escape from life (Happens often) we go to the storage yard get the kettle and heating on close the blinds then we could be anywhere and play some games. Anyway thanks for another great video!
MOST if not all 24" TVs are 12v as they are tested on a 12v rig before leaving the factory.....you just need to open up the tv back find the 12v socket and extend that to the side of the tv with an added Din socket....job done
Hi Dan, as usual, great stuff. Can you cover Satellite systems, European coverage, Auto vs Manual set ups, weights on the roof, What's the reality of having a Sat dish? Myths, what do you really get and don't you get??? Cheers
Only wanted to know if it was cheaper to run with 12v transformer, or stick with mains tv for home ?????? BASICALLY which is most cost saving on electricity ?????( as I've already seen these advertised for " in home " too ! . NOT really any help !🤔😒
We looked at Avtex but decided that for what they were they were too expensive. Our 5+ year old standard Samsung tv travels all over the UK in the same box it shipped from where it was made, half way around the world Samsung has an enviable quality reputation and ships to many places with high humidity. It's internals are therefore highly protected against humidity damage. It has a USB input and two HDMI inputs, as well as an antenna input It runs once set up connected to both the external antenna and shares its 12v supply with a 4GEE mobile router (with its own mimo external antenna) and an i7 8th Gen 12v DC PC ...... so everything runs on 12v without requiring external 220v EHU hook up
If you consider what you use a television for, the two main points you should use to judge are picture quality first and sound quality second. From that point of view alone whether it's 12 V or 24 vaults comes further down the line. The reason I bought an Avtex 21inch television/DVD for the caravan was purely and simply the picture quality that it gave. Of all the flatscreen televisionsI have, I still find it hard to find a unit that gives decent sound quality. You can buy a Chinese manufactured sound bar on Amazon for around £34 which gives you excellent sound quality when connected to the Avtex and they are compact and the same width as the TV screen. The other thing that people neglect when buying a television is the correct size for the space available. For a normal size caravan a 20 to 22 inch unit is perfectly suited to the usual lounge layout. Some people make the big mistake that the bigger the screen, the better the picture. This is not the case. Flat screen televisions are designed to be used at specific viewing distances to suit the size of the screen. If you get this correct you will enjoy a much sharper picture and a much more pleasant viewing experience.
We have a 12/24 Avtex TV because we like to camp off-grid where possible. However it was no use in the Outer Hebrides, and it wasn't just the beautiful scenery that prevented us wanting to use the TV, but we couldn't find a signal either. Or a mobile signal for that matter. Instead we re-learnt the art of "talking" to each other!
Another well made informative video but, have to differ on a couple of points, please don't take this as being a hater etc.. I can't accept paying a 3x premium for a TV just for the caravan, even though it does have a sat tuner built in. Quick retune button is good, but not rocket science to click into a menu & do this. I don't agree with your comments about domestic tellies not being up to the rigours of caravanning. It's not as if they still contain valves & CRT tubes. They're just a panel, PCB board & possibly a PSU board (if it doesn't have an external brick). These will happily take the trauma of a trip to site. If you get a domestic model that comes with an external mains brick, which many do, you can substitute this for a 12 volt cable for under a tenner & still run off the battery. For satellite on a budget, car boot sales are a great source of used SKY TV boxes, that will receive all the free channels. Keep up the good work...
I have not considered a 12v TV simply because we have two TV's in our caravan. One for us too watch TV and one for Mike to play xbox. I bought them second hand off a Facebook selling group and together they cost £45 for the pair. One is a Samsung 21" and one is an LG 22" and after 18 months caravanning they are still going strong. If they die I'll just pick another bargain. Some may call me tight but I prefer frugal.
Why not buy a 230v telly and an inverter for £30 or so? The trouble with dedicated caravan TVs is that demand is too little for them to be made either cheaply or with the sort of quality most people expect these days. It's a moot point for me though since I'm happier with the radio and a book.
Not too waffly at all! Great video and fantastic to hear your point of view. Cost is the big barrier for us, a 19 inch Avtex is nearly £400, whereas an Alba Combi TV/Dvd of the same size is £140. For us, at least, the undeniable benefits are not worth a 3x premium.
Hi Dan, I'd live to see a video on setting up a Mifi network in the caravan and the best deal for data. More and more of our viewing seems to be online these days.
The problem with a video on the best deal for data is that it would be out of date a week or so after it was filmed. There are plenty of websites which will do a comparison for you with the very latest data and you're really going to be better off using one of these.
Just picked up a 3 HomeFi. Unlimited data £22 a month. Comes with a mains plug.can even connect TV via ethernet to reduce number of wireless devices. The device is 12v and I have made a lead so can still use when off grid. This will be our 3rd year with this setup and have always found it great. Can use it to stream. Comes with go binge so for Netflix doesn't even use any data.
@@nabarnes I know what you mean about the deals. I was thinking more of the equipment needed and if it was better to buy an unlocked device or one where you are tied to a particular network. Thinking about it more, you are right. Dan's channel might not necessarily be the right place for that.
Hi Dan, we’re considering adding a portable satellite dish to our van. We currently only have the option to watch DVD’s, as there is no mobile phone or TV signal available at our remote seasonal pitch in the Northumberland National Park. Have you any experience or heard of any bad or good experiences. There seems to be two main manufacturers. Cheers keep up the good work.
Great vid Dan. I have an AVTEX 21" and yes use it on 12V all the time, this precludes having the large "brick" voltage adaptor sitting on the shelf etc getting in the way. Maybe worth a mention in future vids. I have also fitted a Sat Dome on my van which self tunes to 9 reprogrammed satellites, (the most popular ones) and yes as you mentioned, the AVTEX TV's have a built in tuner so no need for yet another box !!!. Don't know if these types are worth a mention in future vids but there is lots of fitting info etc on TH-cam currently which I used to research and fit mine. Nick
Hi Dan we just use a very old normal TV it's small but does the best and was free as it used to be my sister in laws old bedroom TV she gave to us. We bought a satilitte system for £20 second hand but it takes a while to find satellite so hubbies goes out side and moves the dish while I'm inside watching to see when it gets a signal. It doesn't work at every site because of obstacles like trees blocking signal but it works at our two favourite sites. We never go off grid so we are happy with our set up just would like a better satellite set up. Thanks for the great informative video.
Great video Dan! We use our tv on 12volt always because if the electric goes of the TV doesn’t and we go of Grid lots! Not being funny but how much did you pay for you TV? We fancy one for our new Unicorn. Thanks Oliver
Hi Dan. I would be very interested in your views on the Avtex sound bar. I nearly got one on Black Friday when they were going for £90 odd. I use a Bose mini speaker off my computer set up not necessarily to improve the sound of the Avtex but merely to get the sound coming from the front of the TV rather than the back. Recently I have changed to plugging a 3.5mm lead into the headphone socket of the Avtex with the other end going to the Aux socket on the caravan radio and this works quite well.
Hi Dan. The wife and I love nothing better than a good movie and a bag of popcorn. We were considering a mini/portable projector and screen for that big image cinematic experience. (With battery projectors plentiful e.g. Apeman), any thoughts?! Perhaps a future video?
We are cool with a 220V TV. Never had any problems over several years of caravanning. But then even off grid we still can run it via the inverter & duel battery system etc.
Hi, long time viewer 1st time caller :) I've been looking at changing my tv for 12v. Currently 65w TV. I have a 100W solar panel on my roof with a MPPT 20a charge controller...Reading how long you can run a 12v tv for through your battery does not seem that long. I have a 105amp leisure battery at the moment and wondered how your getting on with your 12v tv? I'm looking to use more sites without mains hook up as the cost is now approaching £50 per night for hook up,etc.. where as a site with just water and waste is roughly £10 to £12 per night....What with fuel costs being what they are as well it makes it a very expensive break when on all inclusive hook up....Thank you for all your great work over the years! P.S ...I'm also on the market for a "portable power station" and possibly an inverter pure sine wave for my existing tv
Thanks for the video. My question is about battery management. My previous Lance camper had a 12v Jensen TV. My new Rockwood has a Furrion 110v TV. The Rockwood has an inverter and TV works fine using the inverter. I would like to know which type of TV will use less of my battery, a 12V TV or a 110V TV with inverter? The RV Dealer suggests Rockwood put in 110v TV just because it is cheaper. Does it make sense to swap out the 110v TV for a 12V TV?
Just bought a 12volt TV 24" full HD British made for £119. Not 3x a house TV. Have a normal household 240volt 24" LG TV in my truck getting bounced around building sites off road everyday for 3 years it's still working fine on a cheap £15 aerial ment for flats-balcony's railing on the back of my truck cab and a aerial booster in line. It never fails and at some points my cab will be blocking the signal direction of origin . Still no problem.
Most modern LED tv's whilst they come with a 220v power brick adapter will run perfectly happily directly from 12v DC Our Samsung 22 inch standard tv runs on a 12v DC power supply with a tv plug on one end and a cigarette lighter plug on the other
I have had a caravan/motorhome for about 40 years,always used a 240volt tv never had a problem,cost of tv £60/£120 lasted for years why would I pay £4 or £500 for a 12volt tv dose not make any sense.
Camping and TV works as good as tyres and nails. What the point to go anywhere if you watching tv. Ok to have small monitor or big pad and watch movies, YT, Vimeo only when raining or dark.
I see no reason to go 12v as we never go off grid.But I see the advantage of having a sat connection if you travel abroad but then again we only tend to use it in the winter months.
If you never go "off grid" you will miss being able to camp in most of the places I go. Our TVs (there have been a few) work off 12v using a car "cigarette lighter" connection but also have had a separate 240v plug. To be honest, even if we have hook up I'd stock or on the 12v. It frres up a socket and being on hook up means the battery will be constantly recharging anyway. Of course in a farmer's field or at a THS, the solar panel means the sun provides free energy. I don't imagine, with the 120w panel, we can deplete the battery as quickly as the sun replenishes it....
great discussion Dan, currently we have 2 tv,s ( I know) in our MH, the one at the front over the dinette is the 12v avtex that came with the MH as part of the media’s pack. As we could not watch tv from the rear longe our dealer fitted a tv bracket to the wardrobe so we could watch tv in the lounge. this tv is an ordinary 20 inch mains with built in free view and dvd bought from a supermarket This tv is permanently fitted to the bracket and far it has done nearly 7000 miles of shaking, rattling and rolling and not missed a beat. Although I completely agree with your comments, the build quality of the mains tv has stood up well so far. I would say though that the picture quality on the avtex is a bit better but not by much. Looking forward to the rest of this series. Big 👍
I once bought a Cello 12v tv and unless you were sat directly in front of the screen you couldn’t see the picture and the sound was terrible. I sent it back.
So I'm a little confused. I'm under the impression that the wall plugs in a travel trailer don't have any power unless hooked up to shore power, generator, inverter. So how is the TV getting power?
Hi there, so In the UK our caravans are equipped with a leisure battery, most systems require a 12v supply to work. we also plug the caravan into a hook up once we arrive on site to run additional items and to charge the battery. if you have solar you can go "off grid" and use all the systems that run off 12volts, such as this TV. Hope that helps
I see this vid is a year old. Do you still use your tv? Or have you moved onto an iPad Pro? Sure, it might not be the size you want, but how often do you sit in your van watching tv? Genuine question? For my wife and I, the iPad Pro works perfectly for a movie in bed, and keeping the kids entertained. That’s camping with tents and a caravan....👍🏻
We have an Avtex fitted to our Autotrail. Within the first year the picture failed and it had to go back for repair and now 3 years later the DVD player won't even accept a disc. For the price, I haven't found them to be very robust and certainly wouldn't buy another. It will be mains TV from now on.
I have two new portable 24” TV’s in our MH. One is an LG LED Smart TV and the other is a Samsung curved smart TV, both bought from Curry’s. I run both from their own 12v laptop chargers (£25 each from Amazon) and they work brilliantly! I’ve had older flat screen TV’s in previous caravans for years and never had any problems.
Most people do not know that a standard TV often uses a drop down to 12V in the first place. So looking at it the other way you actually have a 12V tv with an adapter that you can plug in to the mains.
Hi just wondered what's the model numbers of the TVs you have and I'm presuming they are 12 volt with an external power supply that is 240 V just what I'm looking for.
No need to buy an expensive Avtex TV. We have a small LG TV which is powered by an external mains power "brick"that provides a nominal 14V for the TV. In the caravan I don't use the brick but plug the TV direct into a 12V socket (which is 13.6V approximately). This has worked fine for a couple of years even when "off grid".
I'll stick with my mains TV thank you. Our 20" Toshiba with built in DVD, USB sockets, radio and HDMI's cost us £129.00. We've had it 5 years, it stays in the caravan when not being used (all year round), it's been bounced in the caravan the 800 miles to France and back twice, as well as many other UK journey's. So far, we've had no issues at all. Unless you go off grid, I just can't see the point of a 12v TV, sorry.
After watching I decided to buy 12v/240v. After long search I purchased 24” Chiq tv DVD combo ( Chinese, used to be Changdong), very happy, paid $239Aus with 3 yr warranty very happy with it. Very light, good colour, easy to set up. Just needs time to prove a good buy but very good start. Thanks for help.
How about no TV and talk to one another, play some games or go for a walk in the dusk / dark? No? Eastenders will still be as moany and depressing when you get back and instead you'll have had a lovely time. We even bought a cheap bat detector - best thing ever so exciting to hear the bats you didn't know where there. How about a video on how to remove an unused caravan TV aerial? :-)
We bought a 22” mains TV. Has built in DVD, Records and play back from USB so pause live TV. Netflix and Amazon Prime are on it. Dead easy to retune. Costs about £125. If I ever felt the need I’d go for an inverter but we are very rarely off grid. I just can’t see the point in a caravan specialist tv and costs £400 or so.
Most 240v TVs that have a power block in between the TV and the plug can simply have a 12v adapter used instead of the mains. There are lots of places you can buy a 12v power supply for a 240v TV online. This might be useful if you already have a 240v TV and don't want to have to pay out for a separate 12v TV. The 240v TVs are considerably better quality than the 12v TVs and I have had no issues towing with my 26 inch Samsung TV attached to the wall to an arm on the wall, TV is sturdy enough. I also found a 12v adapter for my manhattan satellite receiver and for my Lenovo mini PC.
Good video Dan…👍 … Iv just purchased the new Avtex 21’ connected… Picture quality is brilliant & no need to record because you can go back in time with freeview… I haven’t connected the satellite part yet because it seems I always have a good picture where ever I am.… And provided you have a good phone signal (or wi-fi) then you don’t have to connect the aerial, just watch through freeview or TH-cam. Iv also believe with a later update we will also have Netflix…👍
I bought a Cello ages ago from groupon for chump money, totally oblivious to the fact it happened to be a 12v, i just wanted a cheap lightweight 32" freeview TV with built in DVD player. Works a treat offgrid, or even via 12v socket when hooked up if you have kids using every available 220v socket in the caravan!
Is the 12volts a direct feed or does it go through somekind of adapter, I saw a cello with a 12v cigarette lighter plug but was attached to an adapter?
12v TV's don't sell as well as 240v and so the price is higher, it has nothing to do with the build quality. We have one inverter that is used not just for TV but also hairdryer, Iron and charging phones etc, of course we are limited to how much we use each of these but if we're careful we can get about 4-5 days from one large battery fully charged. To summarise- the inverter does more than just power the TV, they are cheap (1500 watt around £100), are light weight and easy to install. 240v TV all the way.
How do you find the picture quality on the Avtex, especially the viewing angle and contrast? We have a three year old 24” Avtex and if it hadn’t cost so much I’d have replaced it by now. First the viewing angle. Despite many TVs being installed high up in vans this one is biased to be clearer looking DOWN at it. This is compounded by a very poor rendering of dark scenes. We set off with a box set of Game of Thrones and found it very hard to see what was going on! I certainly expected much better for the money. Is the new range any better?
Also check out Ferguson tvs which have been relaunched by UK manufacturer Cello. There is a good choice of 12v models in the range. We bought a 22 inch, full hd with 12v, dvd, satellite and digital tuners for £150. It works well, looks good and it was delivered next day free of charge.
We have just bought a Autotrail tribute with the pro/L249DRS -PRO , and I’m a green horn when it comes to setting up TV etc have you got a start to finish on this model for us cheers from NZ
An alternative very cheap option is simply purchase a small TV from fb marketplace, theres always at least 10 going for under £50. Usually people selling 12v to 240v inverters too. The wattage of most TVs is under 80W anyway
good vid as usual. cannot understand why a soundbar if don't watch much tv. We need ehu as wife disabled and watches a lot of tv as cannot just go for a walk/read a book. etc. So a 24" HD LG for £125 was better than a 21" avtex at £300 more. bought a satellite dish with auto find with the money saved.
Like your 12v telly, ours also has an inbuilt dvd player, and being 12v, the kids can watch their movies when we don't have access to a mains power supply. We also have a 12v kettle, which heats up very quickly for a quick cuppa.
Hi, great question. Yes you can. While connected to hook up, your leisure vehicle will charge the leisure battery - which your TV will use. Hope that helps.
we have a 21.5" Aldi 12v HD Telly with built in DVD which cost £119 with a 3 year warranty, one of the most important features of a flat screen TV in a caravan is the ability to see the screen at different angles. The last telly we had the screen went into black shadows if you wasn't directly sat in front of it...
Well over the last 2 years I have become a survivalist from the lockdowns in the Uk and I have been buying things like power stations solar pannels low power cooker and so on for just in case, there might be power outages in the last few months our government did say there might be such things happening and the way the next outbreak comes I want to be ready so this video helped me out a lot thank you :)
We bought a cello 22” 12v tv for around £140 which I have to say is pretty dam good my only issue is the sound isn’t great but to be honest it’s good enough for us 👌🏻
Hi Dan we don't have a 12v socket in the Caravelair so have a small panasonic which we used on the seasonal pitch luckly the pitch had its own ariel as the one on the caravan did'nt give any reception so using the site one it was fine. Now one friend has given me a 12v like yours but 15" so i will see it works with the caravan ariel using a 12v mains adaptor when we are back in March. Thanks for the info look forward to the follow up
Good video Dan. We have a Avtex because we needed 12 volt for motorhome use. Now we have caravan I would probably by mains only because very unlikely to be off grid in van. If price closer would def by 12volt tho.👍..Cheers Rob
The main reason is that a 230v tv uses more energy in operation especially considering the inverter losses aka heat. 12v TVs are also designed to be light.
Had a 12v /mains cello tv in motorhome and opted for normal TV when we went back to caravan,, had no problems with freeview on tv and we stay 99.9% on electic hook up so no brainer..
Hi Dan. Love all the videos. They are so helpful and are a great source of information. I'm in the market for a 12v tv so it would be great if you could do a review of the tv that you have. How is the caravan going for you and your family? I'm torn between Bailey and adria caravans. Thanks again.
The thing is that all t.v.'s work on 12 volt by default. By using the mains option you are using a portion of your amperage from the power input to run it, leaving less for the other more critical uses, using 12 volt doesn't! If running on battery through an inverter, the 12 volt is boosted to 220 volts mains voltage, then the transformer, either external or built in to the t.v., reducers the 220 volt down to 12 volt to run the t.v. Bearing in mind that every time the voltage changes up or down there is a loss of efficiency, through the heat generated. Go 12 volt, it will use less watts an hour and you will do your bit for the planet, it may cost you a few quid more but the Avtec t.v.'s are a suburb, quality product, I will recommend!
I am sat watching my Avtec t.v. / DVD combo. Had two, both free with new motorhomes, both superb. They have 2 HDMI, USB, the lot. Economic to run, full front pic, with only around a 15mm border all around. Great control, just like a full size t.v., tunes fast, vivid colours, comes with 12 v lead and a mains adapter. Very slim, to say there is a DVD player built in the side. The player plays copies ok, only had a couple of fails in what must be 30 dvds. They come with a stand, or they can be mounted on a standard rear mount. Personally I wouldn't have any other make now, can't fault them, worth the money! Cheers
Very interesting and informative Dan. Your set up looks good - we're not fans of a wall mounted TV in the van and putting in in the bedroom area is something we wouldn't even entertain at home. I've fiddled with DVD & satellite separate boxes previously and the attraction of having it all in one unit is high. We watch a lot of Netflix these days - we can download shows to the ipad / iPhone and watch them offline at our leisure (nearing the end of Breaking Bad as we speak!). With the Avtex, is there an option to "mirror" your Apple or Android device onto the tv and watch previously saved content? It works in various hotel rooms I;ve used over the years, but wonder if this feature could be used in a van TV? Thanks for persevering with my question, look forward to your comments Dan
Mains TV for us all the time had ours for the last 4years it's been shaken dropped once or twice its been in the caravan all year round no problem . We do not go anywhere off the grid always on hookup so yeh mains tv all the time.
Hi Dan, we brought a mains/12volt TV fros Aldi 4 years ago for £120.00 a fantastic little TV, the only down side is you have to get the viewing angle just right, but it has never given us any problems and stays in the caravan all year round, Keep up the videos Dan.
Helpful vid Dan, we have normal TV in our van but have been considering changing to a 12v TV. I need to do more research first so looking forward to the rest of your TV series. Cheers Martin 👍
Like you, we opted for the Avtex tv. Along with that we also purchased the Avtex Snipe 2 satellite receiver. We find the compact, and the many functions of the Avtex tv, simply caters for all our needs, when we are away in the caravan. Together, they give a simply stunning picture viewing experience, both with tv and dvd. Have to be honest, we do not have a sound bar. Perhaps you could go into the reasons as to why you prefer one. Did we look at a “normal” 240 mains type tv, no we did not. We travel all over the UK, and down through France, Spain and Portugal, so we spend quite a bit of time in assorted spots with no mains hookup. Using inverters, generators just add to out towing weight, with the caravan coming in close to two tons, extra weight we do not require. Are there other 12 volt tv’s out, I assume there may well be, but we did not look for them. I’m really looking forward to the next video blog.
As you said two minds think a like. The 12 volt cello I reviewed is a great Tv if you are on a budget. Thanks for sharing look forward to the rest of the series. Phil:)
Hi Dan, enjoyed this vlog and looking forward to the follow up ones , when we started last year we nearly got the avtex, but thought we would save some money and bought a 24” 12v tv/dvd from Aldi for £134 , really pleased with it as it has free view too. Only downside is the sound, bit tinny, got over that by using a separate speaker, all sorted. But if it don’t last long will probably go to the Avtex. 👍🏼👍🏼
Good video. We currently have a small normal TV. We have never been off grid caravanning yet. So for the same money am a 12v TV I could get a power inverter, projector and screen. Have a 100" screen in my awning. Which is rather tempting.
Don't want to poach Dan's thread, but you can use a chrome cast or a Firestick both slot into the HDMI on the Avtex, tethered through wifi to your mimo box, then you can stream netflix through the sim card in the mimo , sim card unlimited data about £20 a month. giff gaff for the sim. or just plug in a satelite dish and tripod and connect directly bit of a faf getting positioning on arrival but no data cost.
Very useful video. Thank you. My one tip would be too check the current (amps) the TV is drawing. These days, as most lights are LED, the TV will be the second highest consumption device after the refrigerator
my 50" Samsung HD only draws 90w.
MrSnookerballs but that is a mains TV (240 volts)
Interesting stuff Dan, we’ve always used a normal mains tv our current is a Samsung. We never go off grid, Karen likes her home comforts too much and we never leave the tv in the caravan we always bring it home.
Cheers
Jon
Great vid very clear. Yes it would be great for you to do videos on using Netflix and Amazon Prime in the van., particularly saving programs to play back later, saving other programs to media to play back on the TV. It would be interesting to see/hear a review of the soundbar, as its possible to just use any extra speaker - but whats the connection advantages and importantly -whats the sound like to warrant the price to make it worthwhile overall if it does. Thanks again Dan for the time and EFFORT you put in to making these videos.
Got A Smart Avtex , Always Use It Through 12 volt , When The Hook Up Trips , Like it Did Again Yesterday! We Still Have TV..👍
Hi there. Great reasons to buy a 12v tv👍maybe you could let people know about the tv that is also available that I have. It’s a cello 12v with a battery pack of its own on the back. It can be charged by 12v whilst driving or at home by 240. It can be watched for 6/8 hours on a single charge. It can stay plugged into your cigarette lighter socket or if on hook up at a site. And if you think to yourself. Well I haven’t Finished my holidays i think I might go wild camping for a day or two the tv is all set with power in it’s own little battery pack😁happy days 😎🤩😁👍fantastic bit of kit👍
I bought a cheap 12 v portable from Aldi, don't need a sound bar, just plug it into the aux on the radio and listen to it through the caravan speakers, everything is awesome
Great video. I use a Cello Traveller 12 volt TV, has many of the feature of the Avtex but a lot less money. Cello are now releasing a 12 volt Smart TV for just £199 which is a great price. Mine works well with an Amazon fire stick for Netflix etc.
You should have a look at the little SOYAR 9" portable TV, It has a built in battery that lasts for 3 hours and it will run off of the Cigar Lighter Socket and it comes with a mains adapter and an Antenna and some other leads, Mine will pick up 174 Freeview Channels from the little Antenna and the picture Is extremely high quality, I bought it from Amazon for around £62 or £64.00 But the best part about it is IT's power consumption, It uses between 6.4 to 8.4 Watts and it is idea for off grid use where you don't have 240 hook up, A single 100Ah battery will power it for over 10 - 12 days running it for 16 hours a day and it will still keep going for even longer if you let it. I find this little TV a joy to use that I stopped using my 48" flat screen, It is the second best thing I have bought next to my 4x4 Fridge Freezers.
We have changed from a 240v house type tv and changed to a 12v Celo complete with dvd and satellite socket so no box required its great @ around 22 inch £140 against the cost of Avtex. liked the advice on the apps as just purchased a satellite dish set up from Germany for £46 went for quality set up will be good for Europe in the summer Mrs still see her soaps.
Hi Dan. Good vid as always. It’s true that the Avtex TVs are more expensive that a cheap basic tv from the likes of Currys but they are good quality. On a cheap set it is not unusual for the picture to be really unwatchable unless you are sitting directly in front of it. The Avtex sets can be viewed at an angle without losing picture quality. Useful in a caravan. I look forward to your future videos. Steve
Thank you for this video and a very knowledgeable explanation
Well done Dan another great video. But also remember 12v tv don’t get as hot as a mains and the chance of electric shocks is reduced. Colin Mew
I've got a 50" Samsung ultra HD at home and that doesn't get hot. LED tv's don't get hot. don't forget that 99% of tv's have a transformer/resistors built in to take voltage down to 12v even if you can only plug into 240v.
Thanks well demonstrated and practical, cheers and have a great day
While we've only used our tv twice due to rain and cold this winter normally outside watching natures tv in the new forest. When at home on my desktop pc, i use an AUX cable to run my phone to the bose speakers so used that idea for the van as the tv speakers were rubbish and had a headphone port on the TV and an AUX socket in the caravans built in radio, so run a 2m AUX cable from one to the other and boom great crystal clear basey sound for the cost of a 2m AUX cable £3. We use a 12v Avtex that came with the van but i think it draws more amps than a normal tv so i guess it could be limiting in that way if you are already running close to the EHU [point limit but that also includes the running of a dvd player. What i did use my tv for this week just gone was for a fire place DVD running on loop as i say we are normally outside when away but was quite cosy in the van playing $GREED dice game(Oh OH OH idea you got to do reviews on caravan games that'll go down a storm!) $GREED, Yahtzee, UNO, rummy, shit head. When we need to escape from life (Happens often) we go to the storage yard get the kettle and heating on close the blinds then we could be anywhere and play some games.
Anyway thanks for another great video!
Lots of smaller TVs are 12v anyway, they work off a transformer. So you just to buy an adapter lead.
MOST if not all 24" TVs are 12v as they are tested on a 12v rig before leaving the factory.....you just need to open up the tv back find the 12v socket and extend that to the side of the tv with an added Din socket....job done
Hi Dan, as usual, great stuff. Can you cover Satellite systems, European coverage, Auto vs Manual set ups, weights on the roof, What's the reality of having a Sat dish? Myths, what do you really get and don't you get??? Cheers
Only wanted to know if it was cheaper to run with 12v transformer, or stick with mains tv for home ?????? BASICALLY which is most cost saving on electricity ?????( as I've already seen these advertised for " in home " too ! . NOT really any help !🤔😒
We looked at Avtex but decided that for what they were they were too expensive. Our 5+ year old standard Samsung tv travels all over the UK in the same box it shipped from where it was made, half way around the world
Samsung has an enviable quality reputation and ships to many places with high humidity. It's internals are therefore highly protected against humidity damage. It has a USB input and two HDMI inputs, as well as an antenna input
It runs once set up connected to both the external antenna and shares its 12v supply with a 4GEE mobile router (with its own mimo external antenna) and an i7 8th Gen 12v DC PC ...... so everything runs on 12v without requiring external 220v EHU hook up
If you consider what you use a television for, the two main points you should use to judge are picture quality first and sound quality second. From that point of view alone whether it's 12 V or 24 vaults comes further down the line. The reason I bought an Avtex 21inch television/DVD for the caravan was purely and simply the picture quality that it gave. Of all the flatscreen televisionsI have, I still find it hard to find a unit that gives decent sound quality. You can buy a Chinese manufactured sound bar on Amazon for around £34 which gives you excellent sound quality when connected to the Avtex and they are compact and the same width as the TV screen. The other thing that people neglect when buying a television is the correct size for the space available. For a normal size caravan a 20 to 22 inch unit is perfectly suited to the usual lounge layout. Some people make the big mistake that the bigger the screen, the better the picture. This is not the case. Flat screen televisions are designed to be used at specific viewing distances to suit the size of the screen. If you get this correct you will enjoy a much sharper picture and a much more pleasant viewing experience.
We have a 12/24 Avtex TV because we like to camp off-grid where possible. However it was no use in the Outer Hebrides, and it wasn't just the beautiful scenery that prevented us wanting to use the TV, but we couldn't find a signal either. Or a mobile signal for that matter. Instead we re-learnt the art of "talking" to each other!
I like your video very much. It's really great. I'll keep an eye on your channel. I am your fan and I will support you.
Fantastic clear advice 😊
Another well made informative video but, have to differ on a couple of points, please don't take this as being a hater etc..
I can't accept paying a 3x premium for a TV just for the caravan, even though it does have a sat tuner built in. Quick retune button is good, but not rocket science to click into a menu & do this.
I don't agree with your comments about domestic tellies not being up to the rigours of caravanning. It's not as if they still contain valves & CRT tubes. They're just a panel, PCB board & possibly a PSU board (if it doesn't have an external brick). These will happily take the trauma of a trip to site. If you get a domestic model that comes with an external mains brick, which many do, you can substitute this for a 12 volt cable for under a tenner & still run off the battery.
For satellite on a budget, car boot sales are a great source of used SKY TV boxes, that will receive all the free channels.
Keep up the good work...
I have not considered a 12v TV simply because we have two TV's in our caravan. One for us too watch TV and one for Mike to play xbox. I bought them second hand off a Facebook selling group and together they cost £45 for the pair. One is a Samsung 21" and one is an LG 22" and after 18 months caravanning they are still going strong. If they die I'll just pick another bargain. Some may call me tight but I prefer frugal.
Why not buy a 230v telly and an inverter for £30 or so?
The trouble with dedicated caravan TVs is that demand is too little for them to be made either cheaply or with the sort of quality most people expect these days.
It's a moot point for me though since I'm happier with the radio and a book.
Good vid, we have an Aldi 12v/mains tv, no problems at all, but a big red button on the Avtex is a good idea.
Because I'm in deep stealth and off grid mode quite a lot a 12v TV is a must .. thanks Dan 👍
Not too waffly at all! Great video and fantastic to hear your point of view. Cost is the big barrier for us, a 19 inch Avtex is nearly £400, whereas an Alba Combi TV/Dvd of the same size is £140. For us, at least, the undeniable benefits are not worth a 3x premium.
And if you do break the Alba, you can buy another and still have spent less than on one Avtex.
Nicholas Barnes And then another, and then another , and then another..........oh wait??
@@nabarnes totally get this,we've had two mains electric 23 inch tvs in our caravan for coming up five years, and both still work absolutely fine. 🤔
Hi Dan, I'd live to see a video on setting up a Mifi network in the caravan and the best deal for data. More and more of our viewing seems to be online these days.
The problem with a video on the best deal for data is that it would be out of date a week or so after it was filmed.
There are plenty of websites which will do a comparison for you with the very latest data and you're really going to be better off using one of these.
Just picked up a 3 HomeFi. Unlimited data £22 a month. Comes with a mains plug.can even connect TV via ethernet to reduce number of wireless devices. The device is 12v and I have made a lead so can still use when off grid. This will be our 3rd year with this setup and have always found it great. Can use it to stream. Comes with go binge so for Netflix doesn't even use any data.
@@nabarnes I know what you mean about the deals. I was thinking more of the equipment needed and if it was better to buy an unlocked device or one where you are tied to a particular network. Thinking about it more, you are right. Dan's channel might not necessarily be the right place for that.
@@thejnremeryfamily1978 do you use that at home too? I begrudge paying for two modems 😖
Hi, great video. My 12v cello tv does not have a satellite connector, how would I connect a satellite dish to my TV?
Thanks for sharing Dan.
Happy 3 year anniversary Dave (wink, wink)
LOL thanks Dan :-)
just brought one and it is amazing !! yes it cost £400 but it is definitely a higher quality build .
Hi Dan, we’re considering adding a portable satellite dish to our van. We currently only have the option to watch DVD’s, as there is no mobile phone or TV signal available at our remote seasonal pitch in the Northumberland National Park. Have you any experience or heard of any bad or good experiences. There seems to be two main manufacturers. Cheers keep up the good work.
Great vid Dan. I have an AVTEX 21" and yes use it on 12V all the time, this precludes having the large "brick" voltage adaptor sitting on the shelf etc getting in the way. Maybe worth a mention in future vids. I have also fitted a Sat Dome on my van which self tunes to 9 reprogrammed satellites, (the most popular ones) and yes as you mentioned, the AVTEX TV's have a built in tuner so no need for yet another box !!!. Don't know if these types are worth a mention in future vids but there is lots of fitting info etc on TH-cam currently which I used to research and fit mine. Nick
I know size doesn't matter, but sometimes.... what size TV would you recommend to the L2H1 Renault Trafic?
Personally I would think 18 or 21 inch. I’ve never been a fan of massive TVs even at home we only gave s 37”
The Mobile Features and ruggedness make it worthwhile. Good to the point presentation!!
Hi Dan we just use a very old normal TV it's small but does the best and was free as it used to be my sister in laws old bedroom TV she gave to us. We bought a satilitte system for £20 second hand but it takes a while to find satellite so hubbies goes out side and moves the dish while I'm inside watching to see when it gets a signal. It doesn't work at every site because of obstacles like trees blocking signal but it works at our two favourite sites. We never go off grid so we are happy with our set up just would like a better satellite set up. Thanks for the great informative video.
Great video Dan! We use our tv on 12volt always because if the electric goes of the TV doesn’t and we go of Grid lots! Not being funny but how much did you pay for you TV? We fancy one for our new Unicorn. Thanks Oliver
Hi Dan. I would be very interested in your views on the Avtex sound bar. I nearly got one on Black Friday when they were going for £90 odd. I use a Bose mini speaker off my computer set up not necessarily to improve the sound of the Avtex but merely to get the sound coming from the front of the TV rather than the back. Recently I have changed to plugging a 3.5mm lead into the headphone socket of the Avtex with the other end going to the Aux socket on the caravan radio and this works quite well.
Hi Dan. The wife and I love nothing better than a good movie and a bag of popcorn. We were considering a mini/portable projector and screen for that big image cinematic experience. (With battery projectors plentiful e.g. Apeman), any thoughts?! Perhaps a future video?
Any info on smart caravan TV, s E.g getting Netflix on it
HI, have a look here - we use the Roku and it has been brilliant for Netflix / BBC iPlayer.
th-cam.com/video/g7tvrW_f-cg/w-d-xo.html
We are cool with a 220V TV. Never had any problems over several years of caravanning. But then even off grid we still can run it via the inverter & duel battery system etc.
Hi, long time viewer 1st time caller :) I've been looking at changing my tv for 12v. Currently 65w TV. I have a 100W solar panel on my roof with a MPPT 20a charge controller...Reading how long you can run a 12v tv for through your battery does not seem that long. I have a 105amp leisure battery at the moment and wondered how your getting on with your 12v tv? I'm looking to use more sites without mains hook up as the cost is now approaching £50 per night for hook up,etc.. where as a site with just water and waste is roughly £10 to £12 per night....What with fuel costs being what they are as well it makes it a very expensive break when on all inclusive hook up....Thank you for all your great work over the years!
P.S ...I'm also on the market for a "portable power station" and possibly an inverter pure sine wave for my existing tv
Thanks for the video. My question is about battery management. My previous Lance camper had a 12v Jensen TV. My new Rockwood has a Furrion 110v TV. The Rockwood has an inverter and TV works fine using the inverter. I would like to know which type of TV will use less of my battery, a 12V TV or a 110V TV with inverter? The RV Dealer suggests Rockwood put in 110v TV just because it is cheaper. Does it make sense to swap out the 110v TV for a 12V TV?
Just bought a 12volt TV 24" full HD British made for £119. Not 3x a house TV. Have a normal household 240volt 24" LG TV in my truck getting bounced around building sites off road everyday for 3 years it's still working fine on a cheap £15 aerial ment for flats-balcony's railing on the back of my truck cab and a aerial booster in line. It never fails and at some points my cab will be blocking the signal direction of origin . Still no problem.
Most modern LED tv's whilst they come with a 220v power brick adapter will run perfectly happily directly from 12v DC
Our Samsung 22 inch standard tv runs on a 12v DC power supply with a tv plug on one end and a cigarette lighter plug on the other
I have had a caravan/motorhome for about 40 years,always used a 240volt tv never had a problem,cost of tv £60/£120 lasted for years why would I pay £4 or £500 for a 12volt tv dose not make any sense.
Camping and TV works as good as tyres and nails. What the point to go anywhere if you watching tv. Ok to have small monitor or big pad and watch movies, YT, Vimeo only when raining or dark.
I see no reason to go 12v as we never go off grid.But I see the advantage of having a sat connection if you travel abroad but then again we only tend to use it in the winter months.
If you never go "off grid" you will miss being able to camp in most of the places I go. Our TVs (there have been a few) work off 12v using a car "cigarette lighter" connection but also have had a separate 240v plug. To be honest, even if we have hook up I'd stock or on the 12v. It frres up a socket and being on hook up means the battery will be constantly recharging anyway.
Of course in a farmer's field or at a THS, the solar panel means the sun provides free energy. I don't imagine, with the 120w panel, we can deplete the battery as quickly as the sun replenishes it....
I use a ESTAR TV 12v and works well on my solar panel 200 watts with firestick. Will have to make a channel about my motorhome.
Nice one look forward to the follow up of the TV set up cheers .kev
great discussion Dan, currently we have 2 tv,s ( I know) in our MH, the one at the front over the dinette is the 12v avtex that came with the MH as part of the media’s pack. As we could not watch tv from the rear longe our dealer fitted a tv bracket to the wardrobe so we could watch tv in the lounge. this tv is an ordinary 20 inch mains with built in free view and dvd bought from a supermarket This tv is permanently fitted to the bracket and far it has done nearly 7000 miles of shaking, rattling and rolling and not missed a beat. Although I completely agree with your comments, the build quality of the mains tv has stood up well so far.
I would say though that the picture quality on the avtex is a bit better but not by much. Looking forward to the rest of this series. Big 👍
buy one of each then your ok lon electric and no grid...simple.
I just purchased a 12v 20” led cello tv with built in freeview for only £119 of ebay so they aren’t necessarily even that expensive 👍
I once bought a Cello 12v tv and unless you were sat directly in front of the screen you couldn’t see the picture and the sound was terrible. I sent it back.
Looking forward to the video on setting the TV for satellite.
Great video very informative thanks
So I'm a little confused. I'm under the impression that the wall plugs in a travel trailer don't have any power unless hooked up to shore power, generator, inverter. So how is the TV getting power?
Hi there, so In the UK our caravans are equipped with a leisure battery, most systems require a 12v supply to work. we also plug the caravan into a hook up once we arrive on site to run additional items and to charge the battery. if you have solar you can go "off grid" and use all the systems that run off 12volts, such as this TV.
Hope that helps
I see this vid is a year old. Do you still use your tv? Or have you moved onto an iPad Pro? Sure, it might not be the size you want, but how often do you sit in your van watching tv? Genuine question? For my wife and I, the iPad Pro works perfectly for a movie in bed, and keeping the kids entertained. That’s camping with tents and a caravan....👍🏻
Yep, still use the same TV, the same Roku stick - in fact nothing has changed on this front at all..
We have an Avtex fitted to our Autotrail. Within the first year the picture failed and it had to go back for repair and now 3 years later the DVD player won't even accept a disc. For the price, I haven't found them to be very robust and certainly wouldn't buy another. It will be mains TV from now on.
lol perfect timing for me
I have two new portable 24” TV’s in our MH. One is an LG LED Smart TV and the other is a Samsung curved smart TV, both bought from Curry’s. I run both from their own 12v laptop chargers (£25 each from Amazon) and they work brilliantly! I’ve had older flat screen TV’s in previous caravans for years and never had any problems.
Most people do not know that a standard TV often uses a drop down to 12V in the first place. So looking at it the other way you actually have a 12V tv with an adapter that you can plug in to the mains.
Hi just wondered what's the model numbers of the TVs you have and I'm presuming they are 12 volt with an external power supply that is 240 V just what I'm looking for.
No need to buy an expensive Avtex TV. We have a small LG TV which is powered by an external mains power "brick"that provides a nominal 14V for the TV. In the caravan I don't use the brick but plug the TV direct into a 12V socket (which is 13.6V approximately). This has worked fine for a couple of years even when "off grid".
12v TV ideal but the cost is not viable
I'll stick with my mains TV thank you. Our 20" Toshiba with built in DVD, USB sockets, radio and HDMI's cost us £129.00. We've had it 5 years, it stays in the caravan when not being used (all year round), it's been bounced in the caravan the 800 miles to France and back twice, as well as many other UK journey's. So far, we've had no issues at all. Unless you go off grid, I just can't see the point of a 12v TV, sorry.
After watching I decided to buy 12v/240v. After long search I purchased 24” Chiq tv DVD combo ( Chinese, used to be Changdong), very happy, paid $239Aus with 3 yr warranty very happy with it. Very light, good colour, easy to set up. Just needs time to prove a good buy but very good start. Thanks for help.
How about no TV and talk to one another, play some games or go for a walk in the dusk / dark? No? Eastenders will still be as moany and depressing when you get back and instead you'll have had a lovely time. We even bought a cheap bat detector - best thing ever so exciting to hear the bats you didn't know where there. How about a video on how to remove an unused caravan TV aerial? :-)
We bought a 22” mains TV. Has built in DVD, Records and play back from USB so pause live TV. Netflix and Amazon Prime are on it. Dead easy to retune. Costs about £125. If I ever felt the need I’d go for an inverter but we are very rarely off grid. I just can’t see the point in a caravan specialist tv and costs £400 or so.
Most 240v TVs that have a power block in between the TV and the plug can simply have a 12v adapter used instead of the mains. There are lots of places you can buy a 12v power supply for a 240v TV online. This might be useful if you already have a 240v TV and don't want to have to pay out for a separate 12v TV. The 240v TVs are considerably better quality than the 12v TVs and I have had no issues towing with my 26 inch Samsung TV attached to the wall to an arm on the wall, TV is sturdy enough. I also found a 12v adapter for my manhattan satellite receiver and for my Lenovo mini PC.
Good video Dan…👍 … Iv just purchased the new Avtex 21’ connected… Picture quality is brilliant & no need to record because you can go back in time with freeview… I haven’t connected the satellite part yet because it seems I always have a good picture where ever I am.… And provided you have a good phone signal (or wi-fi) then you don’t have to connect the aerial, just watch through freeview or TH-cam. Iv also believe with a later update we will also have Netflix…👍
I bought a Cello ages ago from groupon for chump money, totally oblivious to the fact it happened to be a 12v, i just wanted a cheap lightweight 32" freeview TV with built in DVD player. Works a treat offgrid, or even via 12v socket when hooked up if you have kids using every available 220v socket in the caravan!
Is the 12volts a direct feed or does it go through somekind of adapter, I saw a cello with a 12v cigarette lighter plug but was attached to an adapter?
Hi Simon, 12v direct into the TV via a cigarette socket.
12v TV's don't sell as well as 240v and so the price is higher, it has nothing to do with the build quality. We have one inverter that is used not just for TV but also hairdryer, Iron and charging phones etc, of course we are limited to how much we use each of these but if we're careful we can get about 4-5 days from one large battery fully charged. To summarise- the inverter does more than just power the TV, they are cheap (1500 watt around £100), are light weight and easy to install. 240v TV all the way.
How do you find the picture quality on the Avtex, especially the viewing angle and contrast? We have a three year old 24” Avtex and if it hadn’t cost so much I’d have replaced it by now.
First the viewing angle. Despite many TVs being installed high up in vans this one is biased to be clearer looking DOWN at it.
This is compounded by a very poor rendering of dark scenes. We set off with a box set of Game of Thrones and found it very hard to see what was going on!
I certainly expected much better for the money. Is the new range any better?
Also check out Ferguson tvs which have been relaunched by UK manufacturer Cello. There is a good choice of 12v models in the range. We bought a 22 inch, full hd with 12v, dvd, satellite and digital tuners for £150. It works well, looks good and it was delivered next day free of charge.
We have just bought a Autotrail tribute with the pro/L249DRS -PRO , and I’m a green horn when it comes to setting up TV etc have you got a start to finish on this model for us cheers from NZ
An alternative very cheap option is simply purchase a small TV from fb marketplace, theres always at least 10 going for under £50. Usually people selling 12v to 240v inverters too. The wattage of most TVs is under 80W anyway
good vid as usual. cannot understand why a soundbar if don't watch much tv. We need ehu as wife disabled and watches a lot of tv as cannot just go for a walk/read a book. etc. So a 24" HD LG for £125 was better than a 21" avtex at £300 more. bought a satellite dish with auto find with the money saved.
Does it use less power than a regular tv?
Some displays use 12v volts,
Like your 12v telly, ours also has an inbuilt dvd player, and being 12v, the kids can watch their movies when we don't have access to a mains power supply. We also have a 12v kettle, which heats up very quickly for a quick cuppa.
Maybe a stupid question but can you use a 12v TV while connected to a electric hook up?
Hi, great question. Yes you can. While connected to hook up, your leisure vehicle will charge the leisure battery - which your TV will use.
Hope that helps.
Nice informative video sir!!
we have a 21.5" Aldi 12v HD Telly with built in DVD which cost £119 with a 3 year warranty, one of the most important features of a flat screen TV in a caravan is the ability to see the screen at different angles. The last telly we had the screen went into black shadows if you wasn't directly sat in front of it...
I would never buy a tv for my caravan. The iPad is the best option for me. Most of the time i watch TH-cam, Netflix, prime, ...
Well over the last 2 years I have become a survivalist from the lockdowns in the Uk and I have been buying things like power stations solar pannels low power cooker and so on for just in case, there might be power outages in the last few months our government did say there might be such things happening and the way the next outbreak comes I want to be ready so this video helped me out a lot thank you :)
We bought a cello 22” 12v tv for around £140 which I have to say is pretty dam good my only issue is the sound isn’t great but to be honest it’s good enough for us 👌🏻
Hi Dan we don't have a 12v socket in the Caravelair so have a small panasonic which we used on the seasonal pitch luckly the pitch had its own ariel as the one on the caravan did'nt give any reception so using the site one it was fine. Now one friend has given me a 12v like yours but 15" so i will see it works with the caravan ariel using a 12v mains adaptor when we are back in March. Thanks for the info look forward to the follow up
Good video Dan. We have a Avtex because we needed 12 volt for motorhome use. Now we have caravan I would probably by mains only because very unlikely to be off grid in van. If price closer would def by 12volt tho.👍..Cheers Rob
The main reason is that a 230v tv uses more energy in operation especially considering the inverter losses aka heat. 12v TVs are also designed to be light.
Had a 12v /mains cello tv in motorhome and opted for normal TV when we went back to caravan,, had no problems with freeview on tv and we stay 99.9% on electic hook up so no brainer..
Hi Dan. Love all the videos. They are so helpful and are a great source of information. I'm in the market for a 12v tv so it would be great if you could do a review of the tv that you have. How is the caravan going for you and your family? I'm torn between Bailey and adria caravans. Thanks again.
The thing is that all t.v.'s work on 12 volt by default. By using the mains option you are using a portion of your amperage from the power input to run it, leaving less for the other more critical uses, using 12 volt doesn't!
If running on battery through an inverter, the 12 volt is boosted to 220 volts mains voltage, then the transformer, either external or built in to the t.v., reducers the 220 volt down to 12 volt to run the t.v. Bearing in mind that every time the voltage changes up or down there is a loss of efficiency, through the heat generated. Go 12 volt, it will use less watts an hour and you will do your bit for the planet, it may cost you a few quid more but the Avtec t.v.'s are a suburb, quality product, I will recommend!
@@PatJackson178 Thanks for the advice 👍
I am sat watching my Avtec t.v. / DVD combo. Had two, both free with new motorhomes, both superb. They have 2 HDMI, USB, the lot. Economic to run, full front pic, with only around a 15mm border all around. Great control, just like a full size t.v., tunes fast, vivid colours, comes with 12 v lead and a mains adapter. Very slim, to say there is a DVD player built in the side. The player plays copies ok, only had a couple of fails in what must be 30 dvds.
They come with a stand, or they can be mounted on a standard rear mount.
Personally I wouldn't have any other make now, can't fault them, worth the money!
Cheers
Very interesting and informative Dan. Your set up looks good - we're not fans of a wall mounted TV in the van and putting in in the bedroom area is something we wouldn't even entertain at home. I've fiddled with DVD & satellite separate boxes previously and the attraction of having it all in one unit is high. We watch a lot of Netflix these days - we can download shows to the ipad / iPhone and watch them offline at our leisure (nearing the end of Breaking Bad as we speak!). With the Avtex, is there an option to "mirror" your Apple or Android device onto the tv and watch previously saved content? It works in various hotel rooms I;ve used over the years, but wonder if this feature could be used in a van TV?
Thanks for persevering with my question, look forward to your comments Dan