21 - The 12v 32" TV/DVD

We wanted a 12v TV. You can use a regular 110v AC TV with an inverter, but we didn't want to mess with an inverter. A TV designed to run on 12v is way more efficient. I had done research before on a 12v TV option for my boat. I remembered reading about TV's sold in Walmart that were built to run on 12v DC current. They had a regular wall plug and were not advertised as being 12v, but they were. I checked out Walmart, and none of the TV's they had were 12v anymore. One of the brands that sold these secret 12v TV's was Insignia. I occasionally checked Craigslist for anyone selling an older Insignia TV. Sure enough, I found a 32" Insignia TV with the bonus of a built-in DVD player. They only wanted $40 because they did not have the power adapter. The fact that it was a separate power adapter and not a "built-in" type plug was good news because that's how the 12v TV's are set up. We drove to Jacksonville to check it out. Sure enough, it was a coveted 12v model! We were not able to test it without the plug, but the seller assured us it would work. For that price, we were willing to risk it. I found a plug on Ebay for that model TV, sure enough it was really just a 12v adapter.
I bought the stuff to make my own 12v cigarette-type adapter for when we are not plugged in so we will have both options.
It's a fairly large TV for our little RV. We decided to mount the wall bracket (just a regular wall bracket that came with the TV) to the wall area above the fridge. This is actually the vent or chimney for the fridge and is pretty solid. We cut a piece of 3/4" ply to fit that area and screwed it into the vent/chimney on the stronger outside edges or joints of it. We then screwed in the TV bracket to this plywood. Very sturdy. We made it so that the weight of the TV is shared between the bracket and the pool noodle that we stuck below the bottom edge of the TV.

Adam cut a piece of 3/4" to fit the area, attaching it only on the side edges, the strongest part:

Then I painted the piece black to match

The next day, Adam mounted the TV up there:

Here is the model and serial of the TV in case anyone else is looking for something like this:

The replacement wall adapter I bought shows that the TV runs on 12v current.

We never even tested it before we went to the trouble of mounting it. Luckily it works! We picked up 25 over the air channels. I'll do a post on our antenna system sometime soon.

We'll be able to fold it back closer to the wall for travel, keeping the piece of pool noodle under it to support it and soften the bumps.