TV and DVD installation feedback problem

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Jan 22, 2008
9
Hunter 40.5 Chatham MA
I put this up on the Hunter forum and got a few helpful responces, but have not solved the problem. I hope someone can help me with this.
I need help with a installation I am doing on my Hunter 40.5 sailboat. Over this winter I decided to put a TV on board with a DVD player. I purchased a LED TV as they are very power miserly and the thin screen can be mounted close to the wall (taking up less space). I also purchased a 12 volt DVD player. The LED TV runs on 110 volt AC ,but has a transformer in the cord that converts it to 19 volt DC. I purchased a 12 volt DC to 19 volt DC converter to power the unit on the boat. I have all the parts set up at home to bench test them together. I am using a 12 battery as a power supply, when I wire the TV up thought the DC converter the TV works fine and to my amazement only draws 2.3 amps at 12 volts, great. My problem occurs when I wire up the 12 volt DVD player. I wire the player to the battery and use phono plugs to the video input on the TV. What I get is bands of “noise” on the screen and a hum out of the speakers. I have been told that this is a ground loop problem, or a 60 cycle feedback. Does anyone know how to eliminate it?
I have tried using a different 12 volt battery to power each device, that will work fine (no feedback), however when I put a jumper wire to both negative terminals of the 2 batteries ( duplicating the boat’s common ground) then the feedback returns. The other thing I have done is use a small inverter instead of the DC converter, so powering the TV though it’s normal 110 volt plug and transformer and having that connected to the same battery as the 12 DVD player. This works fine ( no feedback ), however it now draws 3.6 amps 12 DC. I would like to go the DC converter route as the amp draw is considerably less.
Help

I have tried these suggestions from the Hunter Forum, first I connected the TV to a wall outlet and left the DC to DC converter connected to the battery with the 12 volt DVD player. With this combination the TV played DVDs fine no feedback. I then re wired the TV though the DC to DC converter and installed a ferrite choke on the 12 volt input to DC converter, no help. Next I put the choke on the output of the converter, again no help. I next tried it in the 12 volt input to the DVD player, no help. I then tried the choke in the output phono plugs to the TV from the DVD, no help.

I then put a capacitor electrolytic, 35V, 1,000 microfarad on the converter output again no improvement.

The last thing I tried was installing a wire from the chassis of the TV to the DVD player chassis, no change, and then to the DC to DC converter chassis, no change, then to the negative post of the battery, no change. There must be something I am missing.

Jon
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
El, Have you tried using the TV with a video player at home to eliminate the possibility of the TV audio-in jacks being defective? The same for the DVD player- used some other TV?
 
Feb 26, 2004
23,362
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Ron's idea is very good.

Also, is there another way to connect the DVD player to the TV without the use of phone plugs? Are these the standard RCA type plugs? Is there and S video plug available on either unit? Any other way to get the signals from the DVD player to the TV?

Could you share with us the particular equipment you do have? Make and model.
 
Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
Also, we'd be curious to know the cost of the 12v TV's incase we want to follow in your footsteps.

Does your boat stereo have a mini jack input- like for an Ipod? I have a gadget that connects to audio outputs and can send the signal to the boat stereo/radio. Though it normally plugs into a headset jact, I'd think it would work off your audio RCA outputs?
 
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JMM

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Feb 9, 2011
34
Hughes H40 Semiahmoo,WA
Do you have other connection options between the DVD and TV? It really sounds like the DC-DC converter is the culprit -- it could be defective or not spec'd properly for the TV.
 
Dec 11, 2008
1,338
catalina C27 stillwater
I will chime in and recommend that the DC-DC converter is the culprit as well... I would have recommended all the common filter remedies with chokes and caps too, but those don't seem to help, per your posts regarding your attempts at solving it.

The one thing I do not see mentioned is taking both the DVD player and the TV to the DC-DC converter. I have a hunch that powering both with the same voltage source will remove the problem.

Barring that, I have had good luck and success and know of OEM installs that have had similar good results with the Skyworth brand. You can buy a TV/DVD combo for not a lot of money right from several on-line retailers including Target.com. I personally installed the SLC-1971A-3 for my boat and really like it. The Target price for this item is $270.59 The nice thing is that with the built-in DVD you get true HD at 720 or better. Using a standard video input results in 420 at best, and most people will see the blurring these days... We have become accustomed to an HD signal.

Otherwise, consider buying a different brand DVD player; one that will accept your 12-volts as delivered from your house bank, the same power source as the TV. Get rid of the DC - DC converter. This will also get rid of the video noise. Make sure that you find a player with HDMI output so that you get take advantage of the HD quality that the TV can reproduce.
 
Dec 11, 2008
1,338
catalina C27 stillwater
One other thought...

You get the step-up voltage from 12 to 19 by using a switching power supply in your DC-DC converter. You have to make AC first to get a transfomer to step a voltage up. Technically your DC-DC converter uses a DC-AC switching power supply then a transformer steps up the voltage to 19, and then you have a rectifier and hopefully some filtering to smooth the output of 19 volts DC (???).

Many times these devices have a large capacitor on the front end to help out with buffiering prior to the switching device, but if not the noise you are seing on the TV may be coming from the DC-DC converter's INPUT side, with artifacts of the swithing device ending up modulated on your whole boat's 12-volt primary wiring. The fact that you can power the system with two separate batteries tends to support this theory; on two separate batteries the TV doesn't see the noise on its input power wiring. Consider taking that capacitor you already bought and placing it on the input power wiring for your converter; if the noise is "leaking" out the front side of the converter, this may fix it.

BTW, for filtering of this type, it is usually better to use a non-polar capacitor, as the noise has voltage that can swing both ways, (it also is dummy proof, as it cannot be installed backwards).A polar cap installed properly in proper polarity might get all of the noise, or it might get just half. A polar cap installed backwards will get rid of none...

Hope my two posts shed some light and hopefully help!
 
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