Our “New to Us” Mirada came with two LCD TVs, one in the bedroom and one in the trucks center hump. Neither one had a CD player. They were both digital, but the front one was an older model that had separate Analog and Digital antenna inputs. Both TVs were powered by 110 volts ac. I prefer the TVs to run off of 12 volts, that way I don’t need shore power or run the generator or inverter to watch TV.
Time for an upgrade.
BEDROOM TV
The small TV in the Bedroom was mounted in the corner near ceiling. It was a reasonably modern digital TV powered by 110 volts AC.
When I looked at the TV closely, I was happy to see it was powered by one of those little plug in power supplies, AND, the output of the power supply was, YES – 12 volts.
This was an easy conversion. I simply ran a 12 volt line from my “Phantom Switchable” circuit back to the TV, cut the plug off the power supply and wired it directly to the 12 volt. We were in business. 🙂
FRONT ROOM TV
At some point a previous owner had replaced the original TV with a large LCD. The TV was an early model digital, cumbersome to search channels, and it operated on 110 volt AC only. We had to tie it in place with a strap, otherwise it would swing over and interfere with the driver seat. This had to go…. 🙁
We searched around and found a small 20inch digital TV that had a built in CD player at Walmart. The TV operated on 110 volts ac. However, it used one of those wall plug power supplies. When I looked at the power supply, its output was 12 volts, YES, we are in business.. 🙂
Most TV wall brackets are designed to swivel sideways. We found one that if we tightened the bolts a little, we could use it to swivel the TV up and down. The TV doesn’t weigh much so this shouldn’t be a problem.
This was going to work out perfectly, the TV could be wired to 12 volts, would fit nicely in the opening, AND, it could swivel up and out for better viewing when parked.
I mounted the swivel bracket and TV in the front opening. The TV was wired into the “Phantom Switchable” 12 volt circuit so power can be completely switch off when not in use for long periods, the antenna was hooked up and its time for a test drive.
The top photo shows the TV folded into the center hump, This is secure for traveling and can be viewed while traveling.
The bottom photo shows the TV is swiveled out and up for better viewing while parked.
The front TV can also act as a monitor, I can connect a backup camera, my laptop, or even a built in computer to display GPS.
If you look carefully in the bottom of the TV opening, you’ll notice a brown outlet on the left and a gray outlet on the right.
The brown outlet is a standard 110 volt AC outlet that is powered by shore or generator.
The gray outlet is powered by a small 400 watt inverter. We use this occasionally when traveling and need 100 volts, but don’t want to run the generator, i.e. recharging a cell phone while traveling down the road.
We just bought a 2000 Coachmen Mirada and I plan on doing this same thing, if you have them available I’d be interested I the brand and model of mount and TV you used in the front, thanks!
It was one of the inexpensive ones that I mounted sideways so it swivel up/down instead of side to side.