If you’re planning on outfitting a vessel with DIRECTV service you need to know that DIRECTV receivers will only operate on regular old US current, in other words 110 volts, 60 hertz. Vessels designed or built outside the US may operate on other standards, and although it’s perfectly legal to outfit your vessel with a marine dish and DIRECTV receivers, you’ll need to address the power situation.
Every current DIRECTV receiver and DVR has its power requirements published somewhere on the actual receiver or on its power supply. Most receivers and clients are extremely power-efficient and use far less power than the average hair dryer or even incandescent lamp. You can calculate your needs and if your vessel doesn’t have a 110-volt inverter system for connecting appliances made for US audiences, generally even the smallest travel converter will easily take care of the matter.
Note, though, that unlike some external power supplies the DIRECTV power supply is only designed to run on 110/60 and so if you use adapter tips that are designed to simply change the shape of the plug, you will destroy the power supply and possibly the receiver itself. You will also open yourself up to fire danger, which is the last thing you really want on a ship.
