Inverter Retrofit To OEM 400 W .

[Tinki]

Ok Guys here it goes.

Disclaimer: Try this at your won risk, you burn your car down, burn yourself down , get electrocuted your fault . SO, this how I think it should be done. Might be wrong might be right who knows.

Now this whole thing started when I placed my pre order in with the understanding that the car will come with an inverter. I was disappointed when they took it out at the last minute.

Thanks to legends of the biggest order (Yes Jean I am talking about you ) who disassembled the car once they got it , we were able to identify the orphan connector on the left hand side of the car which is for controlling the inverter form the BCM ( Body control module) .

After further speculation and bits of information here and there and a deep dive int the parts catalogue all the pieces needed to retrofit the inverter were found.

This was back in September of 2023. have been patiently waiting for the 2000w inverter to show up, unfortunately INEOS cancelled the order and said ‘ we will never offer that so stop asking for one’ .

So, I settled to the 400w inverter.

All the bits and bobs picked up yesterday. Total install time from the moment I got home to all said and done 6 hours. If I had to do it again I guess it would be half the time.

Number of broken clips: 1

Beers consumed: 3

Pizzas: 1

Swearing: usually loose count on a good day let alone trying to get a clip fastened in a deep dark hole.

Head scratching: not really pretty straight forward.



Now the kick in the gonads is that the BCM most likely needs to be told the inverter has been installed and to actually use it, the car recognises it is there and immediately shuts it down the moment you start the car . So, my Saint of a dealer Who puts up with me and all my questions and weird orders are happy to rummage around in the software and get it going. Update to follow.



So Big box in the back of the Gren and we are away.

Part number of all parts below

First of all we need to take the panels off . Panels needing off for this are:



Rear Passenger quarter , C pillar trim . Door seal trim , Under seat plastic tray . You cannot install this with out these removed .

You will need a trim removal tool and so courage to pull all the clips apart.

I begun at the back though it would be the easiest .
So D ring need to come out + the screw hidden right of the jack + 3 small nuts behind the black circles .
10mm for the nuts TX45 for the rest .

 

[Tinki]

use a small pry bar to lift the round covers . really easy to come out .

Before pulling the panel off reach behind it an unclip the cigarette lighter

First panel is off

Then i moved to the front and removed C pillar and seat trim . To my dismay none of my t50 sockets were shallow enough to get to the t50 torx and remove it . Thankfully my empire of dirt provided a T50 L wrench shorty and i was able to undo them . For the reinstall i used a ball tip torx. Wiha makes them . Way easier . Anyway Moving on .

This is how it should look with all trim removed . There are clips to get clipped at places under the trim .

 

[Tinki]

Do not try the below it will not work , ask me how i know .

Rear console now its pretty similar Remove the side panels , then remove 3 screws either side ( Dont be an idiot gorilla like me and keep pulling and wondering why nothing budges ) . Unclip the pigtail form the rear and remove the usb socket set for reinstall on the new one .

Now the fun begins. I had no idea where all the clips were supposed to go , so i started at the back and worked my way forward . Have to say everything lined up perfectly once the correct clips got in place . Obliviously the many plugs side of the harness goes to the inverter at the back.

Then i got the inverter bracket on to set my length .

Then the small 400w inverter goes on . ( yes i am annoyed that is only the 400 no one mentions it please)

 

[Tinki]

Once that is done i could start to extrapolate where each clip went , a bit of lucky guessing and process of elimination ( since i knew which holes were for the clips) i was able to get the harness mounted .

And the orphan plug is no longer orphan found its other half . ( Insert joke about soulmates from Ancient Greek Mythology here. No one ??? I will show my self out ........ )

MOving on !!!! Wiring completed on the back end .


Now small detail . You can see that stud i attached the negative and the earth ? And you can see below it another perfectly good one ? with an nice skookum nut on it ? Yes i saw that nut and said perfect that must be the grounding point . Happily took the nut off and noticed that the eyelets would not go through . ( Aghhhhhh) . SO it seems the grounding point is the one above . BUT that was already painted , so i had to clean it to make sure i got good ground and i rummaged through my bolt bins and found a nice flange nut that worked ( In your face all those people who said 'What are you gonna do with all these stuff you accumulate ' ) Trips to the hardware shop avoided : 2 .

That concludes the install at the back , now lets move onto the front . Where the real party starts.

 

[Tinki]

Harness follows the door seal down and into the rear seat compartment . Several clips need to be clipped along the way .

Now to properly hang the harness you need to install the little tab hangers ( circled in red) . those get placed behind the push in clips on straight bolts . So to install them you have to remove the current clip form the car , slide the hanging clip on and then reinstall the original clip . Confused already ??? pictures below should make it clear as mud .

Now as you may have noticed i removed the little fuse housing and the fuse box , because i do not have gynecologist hands . And there is a limit to my patience . So i took everything off so i can see what i am doing and stop feeling my self around like a blind man ( you can complete that sentence yourself) .


After all that . 60 amp z fuse patiently waiting for her mate , accepts the inverter wire and everything gets torques to spec . 12Nm for those who care .

All those are M8 studs and z case fuses rating written on the wires .



Final bit is to connect the earth wire to the earth stud in front of the ctek .

 

[Tinki]

Once that is done then the remainder of the harness gets to the final point which is the rear console . everything gets connected and reassembly is the reverse of reassembly as far as trim goes .


One last point to say the cigarette lighter at the back is 2 pieces , the inner piece needs to come out first before the outer piece can be pressed out .

All in all that is it .


Gren now knows there is an inverter on board but will not let me use it . I will be going to the dealer next week to play with the software .

Collectively hold your breath see what happens .
As far as install goes that's it , no fancy tools needed .

What i used :

Trim removal tool set
Torx 45 , 50
10 +13+ 15 sockets
17mm wrench

Hope this helps someone . Again remember at your own risk !!!!!


Tinki out , going for a beer .

 

[DaBull]

Once that is done then the remainder of the harness gets to the final point which is the rear console . everything gets connected and reassembly is the reverse of reassembly as far as trim goes .


One last point to say the cigarette lighter at the back is 2 pieces , the inner piece needs to come out first before the outer piece can be pressed out .



View attachment 7861009


All in all that is it .


Gren now knows there is an inverter on board but will not let me use it . I will be going to the dealer next week to play with the software .

Collectively hold your breath see what happens .
As far as install goes that's it , no fancy tools needed .

What i used :

Trim removal tool set
Torx 45 , 50
10 +13+ 15 sockets
17mm wrench

Hope this helps someone . Again remember at your own risk !!!!!


Tinki out , going for a beer .

Hi Tinki, I think you deserve a keg of beer.
DaBull

 

[Krabby]

Epic write up! Thanks for the effort and detail in your explanation.

 

[Tinki]

most welcome guys !!

 

[Shaky]

Well done Tinki, good for you and thanks for recording it for the collective

 

[Tazzieman]

And now you must find a nook to mount the coffee machine

 

[Krabby]

Having just done all of that, do you think it is possible to swap out the factory 400w unit for a larger unit using the existing wiring setup? (ie a plug and play swap for the inverter unit itself)

 

[Tinki]

And now you must find a nook to mount the coffee machine

dont let the wife hear you otherwise she will get ideas !!!!

 

[Tinki]

Having just done all of that, do you think it is possible to swap out the factory 400w unit for a larger unit using the existing wiring setup? (ie a plug and play swap for the inverter unit itself)

Krabby my friend unless you get the same company that makes this sell you a bigger one i am not sure how that would work .

Now if you want to get a third party one and just use the positive cable power feed for it and ignore the control side of things then yes i guess you should be fine . Going larger you will be only limited by the cable gauge , fuses are easily changed . you will also need a switch somewhere to activate it .

 

[Tazzieman]

dont let the wife hear you otherwise she will get ideas !!!!

The line between overlanding and overloading must not be crossed

 

[Rok_Dr]

Great write up. Love the pics of all the detail

 

[nickelnoff]

Amazing write up @Tinki - It’s a solid start to the “Ineos Grenadier - The Missing Manual” - future publication (hint, hint) !

 

[archerwolf]

Thanks for the write up!

I just ordered that LH interior cargo trim to mount the ARB twin compressor where the factory inverter would be.

 

[Michael H.]

Amazing write up @Tinki - It’s a solid start to the “Ineos Grenadier - The Missing Manual” - future publication (hint, hint) !

Thread 'Rok_Dr’s Exceedingly Unofficial Owner’s Manual Supplement'
https://www.theineosforum.com/threa...nofficial-owner’s-manual-supplement.12415655/

 

[Tinki]

Thread 'Rok_Dr’s Exceedingly Unofficial Owner’s Manual Supplement'
https://www.theineosforum.com/threads/rok_dr’s-exceedingly-unofficial-owner’s-manual-supplement.12415655/

This looks like an epic resource!!!! The ineos forum hive mind knowledge !!!