Quent,
I made a voltage regulator from Radio Shack parts (<$5) back in the 80s.
I’m not an electronics expert, so I used a circuit design in the 12V
Doctor’s Project Book. I doubt that book is still in print, but you might
be able to find it on eBay. That is the one of his books I do not have
onboard. I must have loaned it to a “friend”. I checked on Amazon.com and
they do not have it.
The voltage regulator I built will do what you asked for, but it may not do
everything you need. That is it will maintain 12v output as long as the
input voltage is 12v or higher. When the input voltage drops below 12v so
does the output. You might contact Lind Electronics to see if they have
some thing that will work for you. They primarily make DC power adapters
for laptops (e.g., 12v to 18v), but they might have something that just does
12v-12v.
There is always the option of running it off an inverter.

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 10:39 AM, quent <> wrote:

Folks, this is a request for help from the electronics experts in the
group.
I just found at HH Greg some combination 13″ ED TV/ DVD players with all
the bells and whistles like PC input for $100. The power supply is a
converter that provides 12v DC @ 3 amps. I’d like to power them off the
boat batteries, but I’m a little worried that the charging voltage (14.4v)
might be too high. Manufacturer (Curtis) was not helpful.
Can someone tell me where to get or how to make a device that will limit DC
power to 12 volts?
Thanks!
Quent

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—
Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
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To my experience, the power bricks do not provide a high degree of
regulation and where that higher degree of regulation is required, that
regulation is provided within the TV. I run my LCD TV on the boat
directly from the house 12V and have had no problem.

Pete

On 8/19/2010 8:39 AM, quent wrote:

Folks, this is a request for help from the electronics experts in the group.
I just found at HH Greg some combination 13″ ED TV/ DVD players with all the bells and whistles like PC input for $100. The power supply is a converter that provides 12v DC @ 3 amps. I’d like to power them off the boat batteries, but I’m a little worried that the charging voltage (14.4v) might be too high. Manufacturer (Curtis) was not helpful.
Can someone tell me where to get or how to make a device that will limit DC power to 12 volts?
Thanks!
Quent

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That’s probably good advice. If the voltage is too high, the power supply in the TV set might get hot. My guess is they’ve designed in enough margin to handle a higher voltage. Try it when your engine is running and your batteries are 14.4v. If the TV doesn’t get hot, you’re OK.

Rich

Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

There are a lot of good instructions on how to build these on the
internets.
http://www.google.com/search?q=make+DC+voltage+regulator&btnG=Search&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS359US359&sa=2

<http://www.google.com/search?q=make+DC+voltage+regulator&btnG=Search&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS359US359&sa=2>They
look pretty easy and might be fun to do.

Another alternative for “perfect” power is look into the DC to DC power
supplies that the mobile auto computer kids are using:
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/.f
http://store.mp3car.com/Power_Products_s/2.htm

-p
<http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/.f>
—
s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 8:04 AM, John Stevenson <>wrote:

Quent,
I made a voltage regulator from Radio Shack parts (<$5) back in the 80s.
I’m not an electronics expert, so I used a circuit design in the 12V
Doctor’s Project Book. I doubt that book is still in print, but you might
be able to find it on eBay. That is the one of his books I do not have
onboard. I must have loaned it to a “friend”. I checked on Amazon.com and
they do not have it.
The voltage regulator I built will do what you asked for, but it may not do
everything you need. That is it will maintain 12v output as long as the
input voltage is 12v or higher. When the input voltage drops below 12v so
does the output. You might contact Lind Electronics to see if they have
some thing that will work for you. They primarily make DC power adapters
for laptops (e.g., 12v to 18v), but they might have something that just
does
12v-12v.
There is always the option of running it off an inverter.

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 10:39 AM, quent <> wrote:

Folks, this is a request for help from the electronics experts in the
group.
I just found at HH Greg some combination 13″ ED TV/ DVD players with all
the bells and whistles like PC input for $100. The power supply is a
converter that provides 12v DC @ 3 amps. I’d like to power them off the
boat batteries, but I’m a little worried that the charging voltage

(14.4v)

might be too high. Manufacturer (Curtis) was not helpful.
Can someone tell me where to get or how to make a device that will limit

DC

power to 12 volts?
Thanks!
Quent

_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

—
Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

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Those 80 watt or larger dc-dc supplies would do the job. Very nice.
Good find Patrick.

Would want to check the RFI on these (put a handheld scanner next to it
and see where it interferes).

Pete

On 8/19/2010 1:15 PM, Patrick “Peaboy” Walters wrote:

There are a lot of good instructions on how to build these on the
internets.
http://www.google.com/search?q=make+DC+voltage+regulator&btnG=Search&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS359US359&sa=2

<http://www.google.com/search?q=make+DC+voltage+regulator&btnG=Search&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS359US359&sa=2>They
look pretty easy and might be fun to do.

Another alternative for “perfect” power is look into the DC to DC power
supplies that the mobile auto computer kids are using:
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/.f
http://store.mp3car.com/Power_Products_s/2.htm

-p
<http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/.f>
—
s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 8:04 AM, John Stevenson<>wrote:

Quent,
I made a voltage regulator from Radio Shack parts (<$5) back in the 80s.
I’m not an electronics expert, so I used a circuit design in the 12V
Doctor’s Project Book. I doubt that book is still in print, but you might
be able to find it on eBay. That is the one of his books I do not have
onboard. I must have loaned it to a “friend”. I checked on Amazon.com and
they do not have it.
The voltage regulator I built will do what you asked for, but it may not do
everything you need. That is it will maintain 12v output as long as the
input voltage is 12v or higher. When the input voltage drops below 12v so
does the output. You might contact Lind Electronics to see if they have
some thing that will work for you. They primarily make DC power adapters
for laptops (e.g., 12v to 18v), but they might have something that just
does
12v-12v.
There is always the option of running it off an inverter.

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 10:39 AM, quent<> wrote:

Folks, this is a request for help from the electronics experts in the
group.
I just found at HH Greg some combination 13″ ED TV/ DVD players with all
the bells and whistles like PC input for $100. The power supply is a
converter that provides 12v DC @ 3 amps. I’d like to power them off the
boat batteries, but I’m a little worried that the charging voltage

(14.4v)

might be too high. Manufacturer (Curtis) was not helpful.
Can someone tell me where to get or how to make a device that will limit

DC

power to 12 volts?
Thanks!
Quent

_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

—
Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

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I’ve been a doing a lot of low power fanless DC powered PC research to use a
navigation and comm (hooked to the SSB) computer, that’s how I stumbled on
that.
—
s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 12:37 PM, Pete Dubler <> wrote:

Those 80 watt or larger dc-dc supplies would do the job. Very nice. Good
find Patrick.

Would want to check the RFI on these (put a handheld scanner next to it and
see where it interferes).

Pete

On 8/19/2010 1:15 PM, Patrick “Peaboy” Walters wrote:

There are a lot of good instructions on how to build these on the
internets.

http://www.google.com/search?q=make+DC+voltage+regulator&btnG=Search&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS359US359&sa=2

<
http://www.google.com/search?q=make+DC+voltage+regulator&btnG=Search&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS359US359&sa=2

They

look pretty easy and might be fun to do.

Another alternative for “perfect” power is look into the DC to DC power
supplies that the mobile auto computer kids are using:
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/.f
http://store.mp3car.com/Power_Products_s/2.htm

-p
<http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/.f>
—
s/v Deep Playa | Pearson 424 Hull #152 | http://www.DeepPlaya.com

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 8:04 AM, John Stevenson<

wrote:

Quent,
I made a voltage regulator from Radio Shack parts (<$5) back in the 80s.
I’m not an electronics expert, so I used a circuit design in the 12V
Doctor’s Project Book. I doubt that book is still in print, but you
might
be able to find it on eBay. That is the one of his books I do not have
onboard. I must have loaned it to a “friend”. I checked on Amazon.com
and
they do not have it.
The voltage regulator I built will do what you asked for, but it may not
do
everything you need. That is it will maintain 12v output as long as the
input voltage is 12v or higher. When the input voltage drops below 12v
so
does the output. You might contact Lind Electronics to see if they have
some thing that will work for you. They primarily make DC power adapters
for laptops (e.g., 12v to 18v), but they might have something that just
does
12v-12v.
There is always the option of running it off an inverter.

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 10:39 AM, quent<> wrote:

Folks, this is a request for help from the electronics experts in the
group.
I just found at HH Greg some combination 13″ ED TV/ DVD players with all
the bells and whistles like PC input for $100. The power supply is a
converter that provides 12v DC @ 3 amps. I’d like to power them off the
boat batteries, but I’m a little worried that the charging voltage

(14.4v)

might be too high. Manufacturer (Curtis) was not helpful.
Can someone tell me where to get or how to make a device that will limit

DC

power to 12 volts?
Thanks!
Quent

_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

—
Regards,
John Stevenson
http://www.svsarah.com
_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

_______________________________________________
maillist mailing list

https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

_______________________________________________
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https://pearson424.org/mailman/listinfo/maillist_pearson424.org

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Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum

That book is kinda old. You can get “LDO” (low drop out) regulators
today that are able to work with 0.3V or less of margin.

On 8/19/2010 1:08 PM, quent wrote:

Thanks, guys. You are all very helpful. I looked at 12 Volt Doctor book and as John suspected, the input voltage has to be 2 volts higher than the regulated voltage. I guess I could build one and connect it with a relay to a voltage sensing switch, but first I’ll just try the TV on 14 volts as Pete and Rich suggest. Besides, watching TV with the engine running would be unpleasant anyway. Might never happen.
Quent

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