The write-up of this little project has been as long in the pipeline as actually finding out how best to travel with the TV in our Swift van. It’s a cold morning here in Spain so the perfect opportunity to catch up with some notes. The TV was an impulse buy back in 2018 so Joe could watch the world cup. And then he found the local pub in the Peak district more welcoming!
Meanwhile for the last 4 or 5 years the wretched TV has travelled around with us. Always in the way – no matter which locker it’s stored in; and bulky too, with its dedicated padded bag.
Finally Joe devoted some time to sort out this little dilemma – problems of a first world order!
Our caravan is a Swift Sterling Eccles Ruby SE, manufactured in 2015. It doesn’t come with anywhere to mount a TV. I think it’s supposed to sit on the worktop opposite the sink, next to the bedroom / lounge dividing partition. There are no mount points for it and this worktop is a useful food preparation area – as well as drinks storage area.
This is the finished article. Cheers!
Moe made this custom cover for the TV for when it’s not in use. It’s a pillow case adapted with velcro and buttons to keep the unit clean and to stop wires swinging around when we are travelling.
Shopping list:
- A TV. This LG TV purchased in 2018 has an external power supply providing a 19v output to the TV from a little in-line computer like transformer
- A padded bag from Bags4Everything.co.uk (now redundant)
- Buck converter
- TV Bracket
- mate-n-lok two pin connectors
- Pieces of wood to strengthen the attachments
The TV was chosen specifically for it’s external power adapter. This means it should be adaptable to run from the caravan 12v circuitry, although in this instance the transformer indicated an output of 19v.
Whilst it is true some of these 19v TVs will run quite happily from a 12v supply, this one wouldn’t. It seems that the LG Smart TVs are a little bit more demanding of the correct voltage. I solved this by buying a 12v to 19v buck converter from eBay. I chopped the cable from the transformer to the 19v plug and using the mate’n’lok connectors, I can either connect the original transformer or the output from the Buck converter to the TV. This means the TV is fully available for use when off-grid.
Some of my pictures here aren’t great but in the shot below you can just see the aluminium box of the buck converter and the two-way mate-n-lok connectors. The buck converter is stuck to the back of the tape with 3M VHB tape.
I also bought a Vision Plus TV Bracket – Triple Arm 07 5170/20 Caravan/Motorhome TV Bracket – from eBay too.
This consists of an adjustable arm and a locking bracket for travel. I mocked up a variety of mounting points and in the end, opted for mounting the TV on the bed side of the partition, behind the cable and conduit box which runs up the side of the partition and has all the 240v, aerial and 12v sockets.
I dismantled this concealing box by removing the L shape vertical cosmetic corner cover and then removing the screws, hidden behind the plastic covers. Once I had access to the inside of this box I glued small strips of wood to the places where the brackets would be mounted. This is important as it spreads the load and provides far more purchase for the screws than the flimsy caravan mdf board (or maybe it was plyboard?).
Below you can see the arm of the TV arm attached to the MDF screen between lounge and bedroom. Counter battens are glued onto the other side of this in the conduit box.
The travel bracket fixed on one of the other sides of this boxed-in area. I wanted this to be really secure so I added a “plate” of plywood from worktop to bracket to distribute the load and to rest on the worktop. You can see that in the picture below.
Here is a photo of the completed bracket assembly with annotations. Note the mounting arm allows for removal of the TV using a “quick-release” mechanism.
Blue circle – main bracket attached to dividing partition and counter battens added on the other side (in the conduit box).
Green circle – Secure travel bracket. Again using a counter batten and exterior piece of strengthening ply.
Purple circle – 12v to 19v buck converter
Red circle – mate-n-lok connectors
Yellow circle – USB Signal booster
The caravan has it’s own built-in signal amplifier so you may wonder why the additional USB powered one. Well, the caravan also has an external F-type coax connector which allows the connection of an external satellite dish or aerial. This connects directly to one of the aerial sockets next to the TV and doesn’t go via the main caravan signal amplifier. Hence this additional one.
A lot of work and a neat solution – to a problem which never existed, given the tiny amount of time we spend watching television!