I hope that someone may be able to help with this - any advice would be greatly appreciated! I installed a pv system in a remote cabin on the kent coast last year with short 12 volt circuits for lighting and a water pump - the location is off-grid. It's smallish compared to what alot of you have running but surprisingly efficient and I'd like to use the extra power its producing to run 12 volt appliances like a laptop, tv etc from a few sockets.

I wonder if anyone could give me some practical pointers on how to connect up my existing system to a small 12 volt ring circuit. I've calculated the voltage drop for the distances involved and got some suitably thick armoured cable to run underneath the building second-hand. My problem is how to connect this up to the system - obviously the existing domestic consumer unit cannot handle the gauge of the cable and I haven't been able to locate any junction boxes with connection blocks large enough to step the cable down. I know these must exist but could anyone give me any tips on makes and suppliers or suggestions of "work arounds"?

I tried the inverter route (although its lower efficiency would have an impact during the winter I think) but the wretched thing did nothing but cut out - it may just have been a rogue one but I wouldn't necessarily want to chuck any more money away on another, unless someone could recommend a model that is reliable and wires into a circuit rather than just having 240volt plug sockets - which seems a bit heath robinson for a permanent system!

Thanks again for your advice.

Chris

Thanks for your advice, Tony. I've checked out the W. T. Henley website and will contact them on Monday.

I'm just about to embark on converting (well adding) parts of my kitchen to a 24 volt system. My inverter does all this at present but I'm aware that one day it will kick the bucket so I want to be sure that at least part of the house can run on native power. Probably the best source of stuff for these voltages are from marine suppliers at the moment because the renewables industry are turning their backs on low voltage just now and pandering to grid connect as the default.

Why my kitchen? Well it is the closest room to the batteries (about 8 metres away) so I will be able to do it with sensible sized cables. I'll do some lights and a couple of power points for a low voltage kettle etc. I'm trying to get a 24 volt fridge and I'm looking for a 24 volt freezer too for another room close to the batteries. 20% losses are massive on a scale that small wind turbines and PV produce.