I'm looking to make my h26 more "kid-friendly" by installing a TV/VCR or portable DVD together with Nintendo or something similar. My question involves the relative merits of buying 12v adaptable appliances vs installing a power inverter and using 120v appliances. I realize 120v gives many more options, but I'm concerned mostly about power depletion and running short while on a cruise (ours are mostly day cruises). Regular charging isn't a problem since I have electricity at my slip. I currently have a single battery and prefer to keep things simple whenever possible. Any thoughts on this?
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Paul
mini - inverters
For the needs you describe there are mini-inverters that plug into cigarette lighter adapters and can make 300-400 watts. Have a look at the pocket inverters at the West Marine site and you'll see what I mean. Most of these little inverters make lousy AC. Your TV should be able to handle it OK, but I'd worry about the Nintendo game until I tried it. Remember that you lose about 20% of the power just converting DC to AC, so watch your charge levels. A 300 watt inverter pulls about 4 amps from you battery at max output. If you limited its use to 4 hours per night, you would use 16 ampere-hours. That's at least 20% of your battery's total capacity. Paul sv Escape Artist h336
For the needs you describe there are mini-inverters that plug into cigarette lighter adapters and can make 300-400 watts. Have a look at the pocket inverters at the West Marine site and you'll see what I mean. Most of these little inverters make lousy AC. Your TV should be able to handle it OK, but I'd worry about the Nintendo game until I tried it. Remember that you lose about 20% of the power just converting DC to AC, so watch your charge levels. A 300 watt inverter pulls about 4 amps from you battery at max output. If you limited its use to 4 hours per night, you would use 16 ampere-hours. That's at least 20% of your battery's total capacity. Paul sv Escape Artist h336
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Jay Meyer
When all else fails - put a movie on
We know where you are comming from. When our 5yr old is tired and does not want to "learn about the fine points of seamanship" we let him rest with a movie. Works great and gives Mom and Dad a chance to sail a little longer. Here is what I would do: Option #1 (read less expensive) Go to the "Car Toys" type shop and look at thier 12v packages that include an 7" TV with a DVD player in a handy canvas bag that fits on the back of the front seat of you car. With this you can have a mobile unit that would work in both places. I guess you could plug some game controler into if needed but would have to use an inverter for that appliance. I sure would add a second "starting" type battery for safty. Option #2 This is the setup we have on an larger boat. Inverter with house bank. We built in a 15" TV DVD VCP and run it from the inverter. This works very well and allows us to also use a Micro wave oven and any other appliance on a limited basis. You can purchase a smaller inverter that has only enough power to run your TV for a lot less mula. I still would purchase a second Batt for your house bank. Good luck. Jay
We know where you are comming from. When our 5yr old is tired and does not want to "learn about the fine points of seamanship" we let him rest with a movie. Works great and gives Mom and Dad a chance to sail a little longer. Here is what I would do: Option #1 (read less expensive) Go to the "Car Toys" type shop and look at thier 12v packages that include an 7" TV with a DVD player in a handy canvas bag that fits on the back of the front seat of you car. With this you can have a mobile unit that would work in both places. I guess you could plug some game controler into if needed but would have to use an inverter for that appliance. I sure would add a second "starting" type battery for safty. Option #2 This is the setup we have on an larger boat. Inverter with house bank. We built in a 15" TV DVD VCP and run it from the inverter. This works very well and allows us to also use a Micro wave oven and any other appliance on a limited basis. You can purchase a smaller inverter that has only enough power to run your TV for a lot less mula. I still would purchase a second Batt for your house bank. Good luck. Jay
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Ned Strain
100 Watt Inverter on Sale
The link below describes a $300 1000 watt inverter for $100! Hard to beat that deal. Ned and Tani Strain s/v Family Therapy 1995 h336 Chicago
The link below describes a $300 1000 watt inverter for $100! Hard to beat that deal. Ned and Tani Strain s/v Family Therapy 1995 h336 Chicago
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Crazy Dave Condon
Second battery
Jay summed it up. 12 volt appliances of any nature will drain a battery quickly for example a cell phone. Suggest a second battery or at least carry one for back up. If you get caught coming in at dark and your battery is dead and you do not have an electric start engine that usaully has an alternator to charge the battery, then the situation can be very dangeruow without you nav lights on. I know of what that can do when a bass boat hit a sailboat on a dark pitch night as the sailboat did not have lights working. There was a death. Crazy Dave Condon
Jay summed it up. 12 volt appliances of any nature will drain a battery quickly for example a cell phone. Suggest a second battery or at least carry one for back up. If you get caught coming in at dark and your battery is dead and you do not have an electric start engine that usaully has an alternator to charge the battery, then the situation can be very dangeruow without you nav lights on. I know of what that can do when a bass boat hit a sailboat on a dark pitch night as the sailboat did not have lights working. There was a death. Crazy Dave Condon
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Al
How about an all-in-one unit?
I've been thinking of getting an all-in-one compact and portable unit (e.g. the xPower 300, $130, see link) "that combines a 300 watt inverter with 21 amp-hour battery and charger." Has anyone had experience with such units? It's seems as though it might be what you are looking for as well.
I've been thinking of getting an all-in-one compact and portable unit (e.g. the xPower 300, $130, see link) "that combines a 300 watt inverter with 21 amp-hour battery and charger." Has anyone had experience with such units? It's seems as though it might be what you are looking for as well.
21 AMP?
Al: I do not think that 21 amps are going to do to much good. When you consider that you can only use about 50% of this. I doubt that one of these units would even kick over my 2GM20F (not sure). I think for Tim's situation, I'd go with another battery and a decent charger. Once the juice runs out, the kids will just have to go to sleep <g> !!
Al: I do not think that 21 amps are going to do to much good. When you consider that you can only use about 50% of this. I doubt that one of these units would even kick over my 2GM20F (not sure). I think for Tim's situation, I'd go with another battery and a decent charger. Once the juice runs out, the kids will just have to go to sleep <g> !!
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Gerard
What we did
We have a 95 h26 with one battery, a 12 volt cigarette lighter type plug and a motor with electric start and alternator. We bought a small inverter (I'm not sure which size, it's at the boat) which was rated plenty high enough to operate a 13" combo tv/vcr. As Paul said, the AC from these things is not very good and the tv worked badly. We switched to a 13" tv/vcr combo that ran on AC or DC and we plug it into the 12 volt plug and it works very well. We only take it on long (5 hour +) trips and only use it when all else has failed to keep the kids happy. When we have used the tv we've monitored battery level. The longest use it's had is about 2 hours, which had little effect on the battery. If we had to run it longer, we'd run the motor. Our real life saver is Gameboy...a mini Nintendo that runs on two AA batteries. It takes up no space, each of our two kids have their own so they don't fight over which game to play, and no battery depletion. We did buy stock in Eveready though! Good luck...
We have a 95 h26 with one battery, a 12 volt cigarette lighter type plug and a motor with electric start and alternator. We bought a small inverter (I'm not sure which size, it's at the boat) which was rated plenty high enough to operate a 13" combo tv/vcr. As Paul said, the AC from these things is not very good and the tv worked badly. We switched to a 13" tv/vcr combo that ran on AC or DC and we plug it into the 12 volt plug and it works very well. We only take it on long (5 hour +) trips and only use it when all else has failed to keep the kids happy. When we have used the tv we've monitored battery level. The longest use it's had is about 2 hours, which had little effect on the battery. If we had to run it longer, we'd run the motor. Our real life saver is Gameboy...a mini Nintendo that runs on two AA batteries. It takes up no space, each of our two kids have their own so they don't fight over which game to play, and no battery depletion. We did buy stock in Eveready though! Good luck...
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Sean Coerse
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Steve
Portable DVD
My wife and I recently purchased an Audiovox portable DVD player at Circuit City ($400). It's powered by a 12v cigarette lighter adapter. A 120V adapter is also provided, but we used the 12V. We used it for the first time last week-end. We watched 1 1/2 movies while anchoring out for the night with the anchor lights on and some cabin light usage. Our boat is a 23.5. The battery was fully charged when we left the dock on Sat. morning. Sun. morning, the battery was still at 75% power. We have another battery on boadr for the motor, so we wern't very concerned about runnig out of power. The picture quality of the unit was good, even though the screen is small. Overall, we are very satisfied with this setup.
My wife and I recently purchased an Audiovox portable DVD player at Circuit City ($400). It's powered by a 12v cigarette lighter adapter. A 120V adapter is also provided, but we used the 12V. We used it for the first time last week-end. We watched 1 1/2 movies while anchoring out for the night with the anchor lights on and some cabin light usage. Our boat is a 23.5. The battery was fully charged when we left the dock on Sat. morning. Sun. morning, the battery was still at 75% power. We have another battery on boadr for the motor, so we wern't very concerned about runnig out of power. The picture quality of the unit was good, even though the screen is small. Overall, we are very satisfied with this setup.
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Tim Paul
Thanks
Thanks for the excellent ideas. It sounds like sticking with 12v appliances is simpler and cleaner. I've seen those portable DVD players and I think that's the route I'll take too.
Thanks for the excellent ideas. It sounds like sticking with 12v appliances is simpler and cleaner. I've seen those portable DVD players and I think that's the route I'll take too.
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Chris
Go for the inverter!
I have a 12/110 V TV/VCR combo unit. I've ran it on both the AC and DC power. It runs very well on the inverter (300 W) as long as you get good power to it. (runs fine on the boat, will usually not run in a car unless the engine is running - wire size!) I disagree that its cheaper to go with 12V appliances. ALL 12V models are WAAAY more expensive. My 300W inverter cost $50 at West Marine. A 12V TV/VCR combo usually runs from $200-300 for a 9" model. A larger (I think they are 15")combo 110 V only is about $150. You can buy a DVD player for $100, plus a small color TV for less than $150, the inverter for $50. You will end up with a GOOD SIZE TV for less about$300, plus the ability to run other 110 appliances. A TINY 12V DVD combo runs at least $400. I've used my inverter to run the TV/VCR combo, a home stereo system, charge my cell phone, my camcorder and my digital camera batteries. No problems. How much is it going to cost you to get the 12V chargers for everything. To me, the iverter wins hands down. Good Luck, Chris
I have a 12/110 V TV/VCR combo unit. I've ran it on both the AC and DC power. It runs very well on the inverter (300 W) as long as you get good power to it. (runs fine on the boat, will usually not run in a car unless the engine is running - wire size!) I disagree that its cheaper to go with 12V appliances. ALL 12V models are WAAAY more expensive. My 300W inverter cost $50 at West Marine. A 12V TV/VCR combo usually runs from $200-300 for a 9" model. A larger (I think they are 15")combo 110 V only is about $150. You can buy a DVD player for $100, plus a small color TV for less than $150, the inverter for $50. You will end up with a GOOD SIZE TV for less about$300, plus the ability to run other 110 appliances. A TINY 12V DVD combo runs at least $400. I've used my inverter to run the TV/VCR combo, a home stereo system, charge my cell phone, my camcorder and my digital camera batteries. No problems. How much is it going to cost you to get the 12V chargers for everything. To me, the iverter wins hands down. Good Luck, Chris
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Frank Ladd
Game Boy and others!!
We have a battery charger that uses 12volts and charges aa batteries. The palm pilots also have games available, but I use my mostly for note taking and the tide tool for route planning. I reviewed the options of a new TV/vcr dvd for the boat and my boys wanted to spend the money on an X box instead. They even have a cable to play two player gameboy games. For children under 6 I still think having a way to play a movie at night gives the parrents some adult time in the cockpit. Don't forget to bring books too!
We have a battery charger that uses 12volts and charges aa batteries. The palm pilots also have games available, but I use my mostly for note taking and the tide tool for route planning. I reviewed the options of a new TV/vcr dvd for the boat and my boys wanted to spend the money on an X box instead. They even have a cable to play two player gameboy games. For children under 6 I still think having a way to play a movie at night gives the parrents some adult time in the cockpit. Don't forget to bring books too!
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