I purchased a 19" 12 volt capable LED TV/DVD player for the bedroom TV cabinet in my 1999 Four Winds Hurricane 30Q. It turns out that there is only a 110 outlet in the cabinet. I purchased a 12 volt outlet to install, but am wondering where I should "tap in" to the 12 volt system to get juice to the outlet.
The cabinet is in the corner with one wall being the external wall, and the other backs up to the bathroom.
Anyone have any good (IE SAFE and Reliable) ideas on how and where to tap into the 12 volt system to get this up and running? Thanks in advance for your insight and advice. :-)
First we need to know where the 12 volt wires are, what do you need to go through to get the wire where you want it. Stay on the inside wall as they are normally hollow, where as the outside is insulated. On mine, and I don't know if this applies to yours, I had a padded beam covering part of the structure, I removed it, drilled a hole large enough for a fishing weight right over the receptacle that I was taping in to, removed that plug in, and dropped the weight down to where I could reach it, taped the wires and pulled the back up, did the same where I wanted the wire to come out, hid the wire behind the padded beam reinstalled everything, job done........ Don't know if this helped or not, a little more info could get us headed in the right direction.........
Rodger & Teri
1985 Sportcoach / crosscountry
1983 Camaro / 1971 Chevy 4x4
chessie's named sonny & choc and a red setter named star
http://sportcoach.blogspot.com/
Thanks grousehunter 61.
That does help a bit.
I wish I had a schematic so that I knew where the 12 volt wires were. I am pretty sure that there are some that run to the tail lights somewhere in there, but that circut would only be live while the headlights are on. Possibly the circut that runs to the bathroom lights woudl be an option, but I am wondering if that circut (if I can even find it) would be able to handle the TV and the bathroom lights. The specs on the TV say that it uses "about" 4amps and I have no idea what the lights use....
I am wondering if there is a good (non-invasive) way to find where the wiring is routed.
A second way to go is under the coach, probably not the best way but workable. Tap in somewhere in your elect supply for 12 volt, cover the wires in a small plastic tube ( flexible water line )drill where you want the wire to come up, leave a small wire down the hole so you can find it under the coach, then come up the wall as I stated in my last post. Find a fused wire to tap into, or place an in-line fuse where you can get to it. I have a couple of 110 lines run like that in mine, just make sure they are fused.........
First check how many amps the TV needs and if the circuit/length of wire can supply enough. Voltage drop because of the length of wire can be a problem.
2000 Sea Breeze F53 V10 - CR-V Toad
Some RV batteries live a long and useful life, some are murdered. Get a Digital Multimeter and Learn How to Use It
Thanks again grousehunter and the rest who have replied.
I would like to avoid (if possible) running under the coach (exposure) and tapping a new line from the fuse box (would have to run the length of the coach bringing into play the voltage drop possible issue). I don't want to use a transformer (the TV is capable of 12 volt or 110volt) so that I can use it when dry camping off the coach batteries.
Thanks again for the great input guys!!
garym114 - What would be a good way to determine the voltage drop to wire length? Is it a computation considering the wire guage?
garym114 wrote: First check how many amps the TV needs and if the circuit/length of wire can supply enough. Voltage drop because of the length of wire can be a problem.
X2. I learned this the hard way with our previous rig. Installed a 12V outlet to run DW's CPAP machine when we arent hooked up to 110V. Couldnt get the thing to work, it kept cutting out every time ANY other 12V appliance was turned on.
Come to find out, CPAP machine was very sensitive to voltage drops. The way I had wired it, it was sharing that wire with several other 12V appliances. Any of them came on, voltage dropped just enough to shut off CPAP machine.
Per suggestions from the great folks here at RV.net, I ended up having to put in a separate, individual wire directly from 12V outlet I installed directly to the batteries (fused of course). Problem solved. Here is the thread where we discussed it.
If you go through main fuse box, you definitely need to do some testing, make sure that other 12V things coming on (lights, fan, furnace, etc) won't cause the TV to shut off.
Oh, this reminds me, I now have to do this same mod (add 12V outlet wired directly to battery) to our new MH. My plan was to do similar to the previous poster mentioned, running a wire across underneath the MH, then come up near where I need it inside. Connecting to fuse box would be very easy as its right there where I need the outlet, but will definitely have to do some testing before I try that, based on lesson learned from last time.
Will & Angela
2 children that love camping, Stephen & Allison
2012 FR Georgetown 351DS on F53 (V10) Chassis Our Rig
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