12 Volt Caravan
TV and Video

If you are like us and try to camp in the bush as much as possible you soon start to experience news and sport withdrawal blues if you are away from home for an extended period. One would think that buying a small tele for your van would just be a matter of popping down the shop and handing over your plastic. Well it's not! First up the range is very limited. We are talking 12 volt DC here - there are dozens of 240 volt units out there. The main advice we can give is don't rush in, think about warranty and service and most of all remember you will probably be using the set in fringe areas. Some of you may well be thinking - hey why don't they buy an inverter from Dick Smith for $99? Been there, done that! A TV can take up to seven times the normal operating wattage to start - called inrush current. On the other hand a video draws around 20 watts and has no high inrush current demands, so it works fine on a "Tricky Dicky". The old saying that there is" No such thing as a free lunch" applies to inverters. They are ALL only 90% efficient and therefore waste power as they create heat during normal operation.

TEAC Televideo combination

This is the popular Digitor 25 cms 12 volt TV

 Teac have several models, but we have had some bad experiences with the Teac brand and we could find no one in Brisbane with them on display. Carac in Melbourne have the best set up we have seen in that you can see each set working and hook up different videos. They were the only ones with the Toyoda video at $420.The display at the Brisbane Camec store was awful! You couldn't test the aerials either. So this project went into the too hard basket. One day we were shopping in Myers on the Gold Coast and came across a Televideo unit. made by Orion in Japan. Could that be the same Orion who make high end Hi-Fi? Myers didn't know, so home to the internet for some very heavy research. We learnt years ago not to buy on impulse! Yes it's the same people. We also found that overseas Panasonic, Sanyo and Hyundai - all have eminently suitable units - most are a very trendy white. We emailed them all and got the same big NO to the question "can we get it in Australia?". We then found that Bunnings Hardware have hundreds of larger Orion's running day in day out on advertising videos - a pretty dirty environment to expect a video to work in.

Back to Myers armed with known quality videos of our own to put it through its paces. It is quite stressful trying to test one TV with 30 others all bopping away by in the background by the way. After much haggling we got one for $799.00. (RRP $899) It came with a set of rabbits ears, a remote with batteries and a very substantial 12 volt DC lead. It all worked straight out of the box without too much head scratching and reading of the manual which was incidentally 100% in English.

We have now had the set almost 12 months. During that time we did require a minor service. It couldn't find the video channel if an external set was connected. We do this quite a bit to check digital images. At the same time it decided not to go into search mode when moving to a different area. We are pleased to advise that Castle Electronics in Melbourne were excellent and rang us within 24 hours of us emailing them our problem. We took the set to the Brisbane repairers and they had it five days and it came back working perfectly. Siggy and Heather Nowak bought one at the same time as us and have had zero problems. The warranty by the way is two years on the TV section and twelve months on the video section.

Don't be put off by the 12" screen as it is absolutely perfect for a Chalet or A'van when placed on top of the drawer unit. Don't forget if you are ordering your first van to make sure you specify at least one power point in that same area and with Chalet specify that you would like the TV outlet in the same spot. The unit comes with an excellent remote control with some units glowing in the dark so it is easier to find.

Digitor set up for in bed viewing in an A'van

Digitor set up for at table viewing in an A'van

The most important feature in any TV set bought for use travelling around Australia is that of auto tuning. If you haven't got this feature you do get a bit stressed fiddling with manual tuning particularly if you haven't a clue where the local stations are. Oddly too very parks bother to give you a hand out with this info onboard. The Orion is a delight to tune. Just turn on and using the remote pop into search mode and put the kettle on! It starts showing a picture as soon as it has done its business. Channel 2 will usually be on button 1, then 7 on button 2 etc.

Pros:-

• Very good video and off air quality

• Strong robust build

• Remote control

• Works on 12 volt or 240 volt

• Compact with no extra cables

• Front and rear AV inputs 

• Sleep Timer

• On Screen display

• Auto tuning

• Timer recording

• Small compact size

• Good looking unit

• Multi purpose

• Teletext - great if you haven't got a TV guide

• One touch recording

• NTSC playback for USA tapes

• Continuous play if you are a TV-aholic!

Cons:-

• Only does one thing at a time - TV or Video

• No slow speed for tapes made at home on another machine

• Forgets the time if off for over a week

• Weighs in at 9 kgs

 Gary Kratzmann the largest Brisbane A'van dealer fits the above model to most of the deluxe caravans he sells and also swears by them. This is a 14" 240 volt AC only. It has two tuners which means you can watch one channel whilst recording another. We had a really good look at this unit at the 2001 Brisbane Caravan and Camping Show and were most impressed. If you intend getting an inverter you should put this unit on your short list as it is very good. The Australian agents Castle Electronics have a very good web site. The other sets mentioned here oddly enough do not appear on manufacturers sites.

So in summing up we thoroughly recommend the Orion Televideo.

Bob and Chrissy Eustace