300w inverter retrofitted - how I did it.

[landmannnn]

I know several threads on this, but since most seem to be lengthy debates on P=IV, power factors etc, I thought I would write up my fit.

I bought a 300w pure sine wave inverter, branded Bestek.. I bench tested it and it seemed to be able to power things around that power.

I've popped out the on/off switch, more about that later.

Next I removed the rear left panel in my IG. A surprising amount of space, I reckon you could fit a tyre compressor in there!

So now a trial fit, no clearance issues at all.

Power taken from the underseat busbar

Wired up.
What I did was to replace the little on/off switch with a relay powered by the 12v socket. I also added a a panel on/off switch in series with that 12v supply.
That means the inverter can only run with the engine (or aux switch) on and the switch on.
So I can't run the battery flat and if the inverter is not being used it won't be running on idle.
[Continued next post]

 

[landmannnn]

For the mains socket I plugged into the inverter and used a remote socket.

Here it is almost complete. I toyed with putting the mains socket in the factory position, but since I found one with a great colour match, it went more visibly.

I will add a European 2 pin socket when I am next there, I think I saw some grey ones in the local french Brico.

I hope this helps somebody!

Edit - a few other thoughts

It appears the factory panel has an air vent. As there is plenty of space and gaps I am pretty sure there is no need for a 300w inverter. It has thermal protection should that be an issue.

Why 300w? Enough to power a fridge, laptop or drill battery. I couldn't think of anything I needed to power that justified something bigger.

USB. The inverter has USB outlets, I could have extended them to a panel mount. Maybe I will do that if I find I want USB in the cargo area.

There is a socket used by the factory inverter, presumably to turn it on/off. Probing it, it seems to be about 2v, so likely as not it is controlled via canbus to the body control module, so I ignored it.

Past experience tells me that spade crimp connectors are not suitable in automotive environments, so all connections were soldered and heatshrinked. I wrapped all the wiring in cloth tape so it is quite close to factory.