Satellite TV (Austar) on an inverter
Austar is a pay television option in Australia and New Zealand, which is delivered by satellite to a receiver dish on your roof (about 70cm diameter) to a decoder, which is connected to your TV. An Austar technician can complete the installation in about 1-hour.
The 'basic' service gives you some 29 channels including ABC & SBS plus 25 radio channels. I believe it is similar (identical?) to FOX TV. The reception/picture and sound quality on all channels can only be described as 'perfect' - no snow, waves, shadows etc!
Well, now that I have the ad out of the way - lets look at the electrical requirements! If my TV is the only load on my SA22 Selectronic 1600W inverter, it draws 3.6A @ 25 volts and 3.8A with the Austar decoder on. When measured with a 30A resistive load on the inverter, the TV on its own draws 3.0A and 4.0A with the Austar decoder on. When the wattage of the decoder is measured on the AC side, my meter read between 10 and 12 Watts. The efficiency of the Selectronic inverter, even running at around 5% of its capacity is quite remarkable! In my case, the TV is often the only night-time load on my inverter, so the extra 0.2 amp required by the decoder is quite insignificant! Incidentally, the compliance label on the decoder suggests the maximum power is 0.35A @ 240V (84 Watts) and the label on my TV suggests 78 Watts.
Do I need an Inverter to run an LCD Television?
There is now a wide variety of televisions on the market now. The conventional television is usually referred to as a CRT (cathode ray tube). Plasma and LCD televisions are now the 'new kid on the block'!
LCD televisions have the advantage of taking up a lot less space. They are only 50-75 mm thick. Another advantage is that they use about one third less power than the same size CRT television.
A 34 cm (14") Sony CRT television was measured to use 58 Watts. I recently checked the power consumption of a 43cm (17") LCD wide screen television (NEC brand), and found that it used 53 Watts when measured on the AC side.
Interestingly, a lot of LCD televisions (including the NEC model above), work on an input of 12 Volts. One brand, Majestic, is advertised as such, and the specifications advise that it will work between 10.9 and 15.5 Volts. However, I would not advise that you attempt to run any other brand direct off the battery unless the distributor/service centre for that brand television advises that it is okay. The battery voltage on a solar system can typically range from 10.5 to 15 Volts (for a so-called 12V system). It could even operate outside of this range under certain fault conditions (eg a flat battery or say the television is running direct off the panels if the battery is disconnected.) Given the cost of an LCD television, I'd suggest is is better to be safe than sorry.
The power pack for the NEC television is rated a 5 Amps 12 Volts DC. I am not certain whether or not it would work off a modified square wave inverter as opposed to a battery quality sine wave inverter.
Run a DVD on an inverter
When "Watts" Gets Confusing!
I recently tested a 240Volt DVD Home Theatre Surround System. For those of you like myself who are still coming to grips with modern technology, this new type of sound system broadcasts the sound to six different speaker channels. This is sometimes referred to as DTS 5.1 surround sound. Gone are the days of two channel stereo sound!
These units typically boast a 200-400W sound output. However, music Watts are not the same as electrical Watts. The compliance label for my 200W unit suggested a power consumption of 72Watts. However, when measured with a Watt meter, it used 9W on standby and when playing it used about 33 Watts, occasionally peaking to 46W when playing Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' on full volume! This wattage does not include the power used by the television to broadcast the picture.
I also tested a VCR. It used 6.2W on standby and 14W when playing. The compliance label suggested 18Watts. This was a conventional unit which relied on the television to broadcast the sound. I'd suggest that a DVD player which similarly used the television speakers would also only use around 14 Watts.
Large Audio Systems & Televisions.
AUDIO & LARGE TV SYSTEMS: This month we look at some power consumption figures for the more ‘upmarket’ home entertainment gadgets.
One of our customers recently did an energy audit on his rather large and sophisticated sound system.
Generally we have found that audio equipment uses a lot less power than what the specification would have you believe. Many amplifiers use more power when the volume is turned up high.
We would suggest that you use a sine wave inverter for running your audio equipment. A modified square wave inverter often causes an unacceptable buzz or hum on audio equipment.
A battery operated radio or CD player is the most power efficient form of audio equipment if you have a limited size solar system. Power consumption of even the larger models is usually only 3 to 6 Watts. This is more efficient than running a 240 Volt unit from an inverter.
Murray measured the following power consumption's of his audio equipment. If you were running it from an inverter, you would need to add around 15% extra for inverter losses.
1. Audio Aero Capitole 24/192 CD Player. Standby; 31.6 Watts (W) Playing; 33.7 Watts (W) Not really affected by volume. Claimed Power consumption; 30 Watts
2. Opera Audio Cyber-800 Power Amps (2). Standby (on - not really standby) 165W each Playing; 165 -175W each. Not really affected by volume. Claimed Power consumption; 90W each
3. Opera Audio Consonance R1.1 Reference Preamplifier. Standby; 13.7W Playing; 14W Not really affected by volume. Claimed power consumption; 40W
4. Opera Audio Consonance C3 three channel power amp. Standby; 42W (on - not really standby) Low volume; 44W Med volume; 60W Loud volume; 100 – 130W
5. Yamaha RX-V2400 AV Receiver. Standby; 59W Low volume; 59W Med volume; 62W Loud volume; 63W Claimed power consumption; 500W - as an amplifier - I only use as a receiver.
6. Denon CDR-W1500 CD Recorder. Standby; 15.5W Playing; 20W Claimed power consumption; 29W
7. Marantz DV4300 DVD Player. Standby; 2.7W Playing; 16W Claimed power consumption; 14W
8. Panasonic DMR-E100H DVD Recorder. Standby; 4.1W Playing; 37W Claimed power usage; 45W
11. Paradigm Servo 15 powered Sub woofer. Standby; 2.3W On; 25-55W
POWER CONSUMPTION OF LARGE TELEVISIONS.
I have decided to revisit this topic as more information is now available and some LCD televisions have come down substantially in price.
For small/ medium size televisions, LCD is clearly the choice for those of you with limited power. The other great news is that they are getting cheaper as time goes on. Coles and a number of supermarkets are now selling 38 cm LCD televisions for AUD$299 (about US $220)!
All the LCD televisions (at least up to 51 cm) actually work on a 12V power supply (from a 240V plug pack).
They are incredibly efficient if you can run them direct from 12V.
I say ‘if’ because they are designed to run off a 240V- 12V regulated power supply. This is not the same as running it direct from a 12V solar system where the battery voltage can easily range from 11 to 15 volts. An even wider variance is possible with flat or failing batteries; a battery system being equalized to 15.5- 16 volts etc.
There appears to be a few brands that can definitely be run off a battery and these are marketed to the caravan and yachting market. Majestic LCD televisions will operate between 10.9 and 15.5 volts. Xien sell a range for the marine industry. Sharp televisions are also sold as ’12 volts’ but come with a $140 special 12 V lead. I suggest this has a power conditioner/ regulator on it. Dick Smith sell an AC/DC 15 inch model for about AUD$600.
Most people assume that all the brands would operate satisfactorily but we are unable to recommend this without information from the manufacturers. If any of you have information or experience in this regard, please let me know.
The power ‘saving’ of being able to run it direct is significant. From my observations, the 240 to 12V adapter supplied with the television is only about 50% efficient. By the time you then use an inverter to change your 12V to 240V, I estimate that you could be tripling your power consumption.
For those of you on 24 volts, an efficient 24 to 12V converter is a reasonable option. I tested the 15” Music TV using our 8A Voltage Reducer (APX-006) and it used a modest 1 amp on 24 volts.
For the ‘big end of town’, a consumer magazine tested 4 popular brands of large LCD and Plasma televisions for power consumption. Interestingly, the 45/ 46 inch Plasma televisions used 260 –286 Watts while the 42/ 43 inch Plasma televisions used significantly less (183- 186 watts). All four used between 0.67 and 1.4 watts on stand by.
There are three main types of televisions available now and some power consumption's that we know about are listed below:
1) Cathode Ray Television (CRT): This is the ‘old’ type that has been around for twenty odd years.
* 34 cm/ 14 “ Sony Trinitron Rated 72W Measured 28W.
* 34 cm/ 14” Daewoo measured 39W
* 51 cm/ 20” Daewoo measured 79 W
* 52 cm/ 21” Philips measured 40W
2) Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) Television:
*7 “ Xien 6W measured direct on 12 V
*8 “ Xien 8W measured direct on 12 V
*12” Xien 15W measured direct on 12 V
*15” Xien 15W measured direct on 12 V
*15” Music TV 22W measured direct on 12 V- 25W on 24V
*17” Xien 25W measured direct on 12 V
*17” NEC 53W measured with 240V adaptor
*21” Xien 48W measured direct on 12 V
*26" Samsung 95-105W Standby 0.7W
*26" Magnavox (66cm) 95W (2W on standby) measured direct on 240V
*31" JVC (80cm) 95W (164W typical measured 120W Standby 0.2W
*45” Sharp 261W measured on 240V
*46” Samsung 286W measured on 240V
Note: 17, 45 and 46” are wide screen format
The power used by LCD television varies significantly with the brightness settings (particularly the back light brightness settings).
For example the 31" JVC varied between 100W & 200W depending on how bright you set your screen.
3) Plasma Television:
*34” Panasonic 165- 200 W measured
*42” Panasonic 240W average measured
*43” Pioneer 186W measured
*42” Sony 183W measured
Note: The Panasonic models tested were 1- 2 years old. I’m not certain if their higher wattage is due to older technology or brand differences.
Conclusion: In the small/ medium size television range, LCD has the lowest power consumption; however, it is not known if all brands can be run directly from a ‘solar battery’ system. In the very large size, Plasma televisions appear to be more energy efficient than LCD. Many televisions use power on standby unless they are switched off at the power- point.
Any data that you can send us will be added to the list!
