Invertor installation? Need help.

2025 Suzuki Jimny 3 door GLX. 

I have a 5000w pure sine wave invertor I want to install. I'm removing the interior to install a bunch of things. Head unit, speakers, underseat subwoofer, dashcam front/back, new rear cam, gear shift light, and this invertor. 

 

 

 

 

I've never installed an invertor. Would love some advice on wiring, installment location (specifically where in the Jimny would be a plus), I'm considering under the dash so my wire run is the shortest to the battery, I could go under the seat but already outting a subwoofer under one of the seats. Not sure I want to take up both of those locations. Concerned about access. Will I be able to easily plug things in if it's up under the dash. And where is the best place to run wire thru the firewall?

Any help or links to tutorials would be greatly appreciated. 

 

I'm not certain that a 5000 watt inverter in a Jimny is a good idea, there's no way the stock electrical system can deliver the required DC amp draw.

Even the big Ford pickups with AC inverters from the factory are I think limited to 400W.

Essentially you want the largest possible cables and also the shortest possible so as to minimize voltage drop. Wire both positive & negative directly to the battery lugs with a suitable fuse in the positive lead as close as possible to the battery.

You're probably going to respond saying you have no intention of running it at full load, but, even at 1000W, you'll be pulling 80 or so amps.

I doubt that you can find that much space under the dash, in fact I suspect under the seat is going to end up being the optimum location to keep the cable length to a minimum and for the cable size involved, you're going to be drilling through the firewall.

What do you intend to power with it, and for how long?

The alternator on a 2025 (Gen 4) is one of those stupid ECM controlled ones that cuts out most of the time that you need it.
I don't have the information on the control of it, but the usual is that it only runs full chat when the engine is cold and emissions don't matter, the rest of the time it is crippled, and the ECM activates it when it knows that you are turning the steering or have the heated rear window on or something.

(On Fords you can unplug the control wire and the alternator will work properly as a voltage sensed machine all the time, I suspect you can do the same on a Jimny if you can't fool the ECM into making it work when the inverter is on.)

The alternator is rated at 80A (but not at 100% duty cycle it won't be!) so that is a theoretical 960W. The rest of the power is coming from the battery (and some of that 960W is running all the vehicle electrics).


As that unit is rated at 2000W continuous output (really??) it will need around 200A, so the cables will have to be rated to take it with minimum voltage drop, the battery cable in the picture seems comically thin. Tbh, I'd expect the engine to stop after a couple of minutes if you are pulling 200A from the 12V system unless you have a huge battery.

As Lambert suggests, you might be better off with a smaller, more compact unit, like a 200W continuous if it can meet your needs. You could probably mount one in one of those armrest storage boxes.

If you want to run a microwave while camping to cook food a compact generator would be better.



 

I have a friend who has a yacht with a similar sized inverter. Apart from a diesel engine he has two massive batteries just to run the inverter and it’s cabled with some fairly large cable.

I am with everyone else, the Jimny electrical system is far too small to run this size of inverter.

If you are going to draw 200A continuous, or at least for more than a handful of seconds you probably need a 200Ah battery (that can give 200A), it should then last up to an hour.

It worries me to look at the croc clips and wire it was supplied with, try to draw 200A through that and the temperature rise rise in seconds until it vaporises. You need to use the battery clamps and cable of around 50 - 100mm2 depending on cable length.

To give you an idea, the Jimny battery is 45Ah, so you are looking at putting the battery in the boot, along with the inverter.

There is most likely the same factor of 0.5 in chinese Wattage for electrical power as diesel heater Wattage and as in chinese Lumenage. Measure the amps it pulls, watt equals voltage times amps. Wire size from table you will find on line.

I have an inverter, and lots of lithium ampage, but can't find any use for it overlanding or for tools. I would not waste the space for it.

My old land rover 90 had a big inverter on it. It was wired with welding cable and had a huge aftermarket alternator and batteries. The previous owner was I'm told using it to run shearing sets. It was way overboard for making a cup of tea which is all I ever did with it. I ended up removing it and selling it as it was dead weight.