Watch TV In An Emergency With Power Off

Snapshot:

• Take steps now to be ready to watch TV if the power goes off.

• The key requirement is a power source for a TV and accessories.

• If you have CABLE or SATELLITE TV, it might still work; you can try it.
  

• If the cable or satellite doesn't work, a DIGITAL TV will need an ANTENNA.

• If the cable or satellite doesn't work, an ANALOG TV will need a CONVERTER BOX and an ANTENNA.
  

• A simple solution is to buy a new, portable, battery-operated digital TV.  Models are available for as little as $106 list price.  
  

Every home should be ready to watch TV if power goes off.  If there's an extended emergency or natural disaster, you will want to be able to watch local TV stations, which can provide essential information on survival and recovery.  Review the steps below, get the supplies you need to provide emergency TV viewing, and test your viewing system. 


1.    Pick the TV you will use for emergency viewing.  A TV with these features would be helpful:

• The TV is small or at least portable, so it can easily be moved;

• it uses less power due to its size;

• you can easily get behind the TV or reach its power and signal connections;

• it is battery-operated or runs on car power. 

You may need to use your main entertainment TV for emergency viewing, and that will work if it's easy to provide it with a power source and a TV signal. 


2.      Plan how you will power the TV.  For non-battery TVs, the easiest power source to use is a "power inverter" connected to a car or vehicle battery.  This solution assumes you can easily get power from the inverter into the home with an extension cord. 

A power inverter is a device about the size of a fat paperback book that connects to a vehicle power system.  It changes car power (12 volts DC) to standard house power (120 volts AC).  Inverters are rated by the size of the electrical load they can handle, which is measured in "watts."   For example, a 200 watt inverter can power one more gadgets at the same time if their combined power requirement is less than 200 watts. The total "watts" of all the gadgets plugged into an inverter at the same time should not be greater than the number of watts the inverter is rated at. 

Since inverters produce standard house power, they can be used to power many gadgets during an emergency, including a small TV, a digital converter box, a video game, a DVD player, a laptop computer, a cellphone charger, or a radio. 

To power a TV and other gadgets in your home, we recommend that you get an inverter with a rating of at least 350 watts to 400 watts.  An inverter with this rating can power a medium-sized TV, plus a converter box or video game or DVD player.  It can also power some low-wattage home appliances.

Car power inverters can be purchased at auto supply stores, consumer electronics stores, and online.  For powering gadgets in the home, we recommend that you get an inverter that includes cables to connect it directly to a car battery.  One model we have tried is a Xantrex 400 Plus, which includes battery cables and was available for online purchase at less than $35. 
 
Using an inverter to power a few home appliances is simple.  The inverter should be connected to a vehicle's 12 volt battery terminals using the battery cables (be careful to connect the positive [red] cable to the positive battery terminal, and the negative [black] cable to a clean "ground" on the vehicle metal frame, or to the negative battery terminal).  Then a long extension cord can be used to bring the inverter power into the home near the TV.

Don't plug the inverter into a car power accessory outlet, because most accessory outlets are not designed to provide more than 100 watts of power.  If more than 100 watts are used, a fuse in the accessory outlet circuit may blow.   

One caution about inverters: when any appliances are running on an inverter, they are discharging the vehicle battery if the engine is not running.  Most inverters will sound an alarm and turn themselves off if they sense that the battery voltage has gotten too low.  You should not depend on the cutoff to protect the battery charge. Monitor the battery voltage to make sure it does not get too low to start the engine. You many need to run the engine occasionally to recharge the battery if you use the inverter for a long period. 

When the vehicle engine is running, it keeps the battery charged and compensates for power used by the inverter.

Another power source option is a portable gas-powered generator.  If you use one, make sure you have a safe outdoor location for it where the engine exhaust will not be drawn indoors. 


3.      If you have cable TV, your cable TV might still work even during a power failure.  This can happen if cable TV amplifiers in the neighborhood are getting power.  You can find out once your TV has a power source and is turned on.

If your cable TV wire is connected directly to your TV and does not use a cable box, then it's simple to see if the cable is working: the standard TV channels should be available on the TV. 

If your cable TV is connected to a cable box or cable converter, you have two ways to test the cable when the power is off:

• You can plug the cable box or converter into the same power source that the TV is using because it will need power to pass the cable signal through.  This is not recommended because most local TV stations are on channels that do not need the cable box to be viewed, and powering the cable box will unnecessarily use extra power.

• A better idea is to disconnect the cable input from the back of the cable box and connect it directly to the antenna input on the emergency TV.  If the cable is working, the local channels should be available on the TV.

If the cable is out and provides no signal on any channel, go to step 5 or 6. 


4.    If you have satellite TV service, your satellite TV might still work if you can provide power to the satellite receiver.  You can plan for this and test it.

Find out what the power requirement is for both your portable TV and your satellite receiver, in watts. This should be on labels on the back.  Add the watts that the TV and the receiver use together, and make sure the total watts they use is less that the total watts that your inverter power supply (or your generator) can provide.  If so, you should be able to plug both the TV and the satellite receiver into the same power source.

This may work fine, but if you can receive local TV channels with an antenna and without using the satellite receiver, then you can unplug the satellite receiver and save on the power requirement.  For that solution, see step 5 or 6. 


5.    Suppose your cable or satellite TV are not working, and you have a DIGITAL TV.  You can connect an antenna to the TV and tune in the local digital channels.

If you're not sure, find out if your TV is a digital TV.  It will have a tuner called an "ATSC" tuner.  You need to connect an antenna to the TV that is strong enough to receive local stations.  This takes experimentation.  An indoor antenna may work well enough, even if it doesn't receive all the local stations, if you're a few miles from TV transmitters.  Otherwise, you will need an antenna that is higher and maybe outdoors. 

As discussed in this website's antenna section here, TV antenna performance is part physics and part magic.  You will need to experiment to get local stations, and you will need to use the TV "scan" function to make the TV find the over-the-air channels. 

Once you've found a good antenna solution, you should take notes on the antenna location. If possible, you should leave the antenna up and ready to connect in the event of a power and cable or satellite failure.


6.    Suppose your cable or satellite TV are not working, and you have an ANALOG TV.  You will need to connect a converter  box and antenna to the TV so that you can watch the local digital channels.

To be ready for this situation, you need to purchase a converter box (remember to apply for a $40 government coupon) and a TV antenna.  For practice, you should disconnect your cable or satellite connection to the TV, then install the converter box and antenna and make sure you can receive local TV channels.  To find out how to connect a converter box to your TV, click here. Once the converter box system is working, you can leave it connected and near the TV (if the cable or satellite use different TV inputs on the TV), or you can carefully disconnect the converter box with the antenna and keep them stored for a power failure emergency. 


7.      If you currently watch digital TV channels using an antenna connected to a digital TV, or connected to an analog TV and a converter box, then, in a power failure, all you need to do is get emergency power, described in step 2, to the TV (and to the converter box, if you have one).   


8.      Other choices to consider for watching TV with the house power out:

• Buy an inexpensive, small, battery-powered analog TV (available very cheap on eBay) and a battery-powered converter and build a converter power supply.  See the section on using a battery analog TV here.
  

• Use a car-powered analog TV with a car-powered converter box.  See the section on using a car TV here.
  

• Buy a new portable digital TV that can run on a battery or a car power adapter.  There are several small digital TV models being sold which run on both batteries and car power; the cheapest are about $110.  After U.S. broadcasting becomes all-digital, more portable digital TV models will be offered.

Choose your emergency TV viewing solution, then test it before you need it! 


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