Enjoying TV in Your Camper Without An Antenna - Going Down the Road

The TV rides in its own cabinet. It slides out for viewing.

Four things I love to do - 

1. Spending time with Lulu

2. Traveling

3. Surfing the Internet

4. Watching Directv and our DVR

Lulu and I have been married 42 years. That sure is a long time. We have a lot of common interests - things that we both sincerely like to do. 

We recently bought a Roadtrek. It is a camper van that has everything - kitchen - bathroom - shower - beds - you name it. But one of the things we like - when camping at some obscure parking meter or Walmart lot - is television. Our last camper had one of those satellite dishes in a dome. It was good - but you could not use it on the road. You had to park and aim to the satellite in the sky. You had to know the exact direction and elevation - just like dialing in a cannon. The satellite dome added another foot to the top of your camper. 

Yesterday - for a measly $8 - I have gotten the connection that allows Lulu to watch TV in the back while I drive down the road. It is a composite AV cable that goes from your iPhone to the TV. It is that simple to hook up.

Our camper has a 17 inch LED Toshiba TV. It had a DVD player built into it. You can plug it into a 100 volt outlet or use a small inverter to change 12 volt DC to 110 volt AC. Since this TV only draws 38 watts - you only need a tiny inverter - in my case it is a 95 watt inverter. 

At home with have Directv - the satellite service that also has a DVR - digital video recorder. We hook the Directv unit up to the internet using a Slingbox - that cost about $100. We have had that setup for years. It has allowed us to watch television in London over the internet on our computers. It also allows me to see directv on my iPhone.  

The composite AV cable plugs one end into you iphone and the other into the back of the TV. As long as we are in an area that has ATT phone service - we can see our Directv DVR. Bot only can we see it - we can control it. This cost nothing extra - no per minute charge - no monthly fee.

We this little $8 gadget - it is like taking our home along with us. Lulu would have loved it when she used to use our motor home to go to St Johns in NYC - 10 year ago. It almost makes you want to plan a camping trip just to see how it works on the road and parked in the field. 

Nothing feels like home than watching the local Tallahassee news - live - while parked in Pennsylvania. 

The TV in the camper sits on a little sliding shelf. That is my iPhone in the foreground. The white wire goes to the back of the TV.

It uses the standard - yellow - white - red - connections. There is a 5th USB plug that allows the iPhone  to charge while you are watching TV. 

The Toshiba 17 inch LCD TV only draws 38 watts - much less than a light bulb. With the big battery in our camper - it could run for days. Also the camper has a generator that keeps the battery charged and allows you to run the air conditioner and the microwave oven.

The Tv is plugged into a small inverter - which it plugged into a standard 12 volt lighter outlet.