INEOS Grenadier Camp Lights: 4 Positioning Zones Ranked

Why Camp Light Positioning Matters More Than Lumens

Most owners buying Grenadier camp lights focus on brightness — lumens, watts, beam intensity. Positioning is the variable that actually determines whether the light is useful. A 6,000-lumen work light mounted at the front-left corner of the roof will blind anyone sitting at the rear-right of the vehicle while leaving the campsite dark. The same 2,000-lumen flood light mounted at the driver-rear socket, angled 30° outward and downward, lights every square metre within 5 metres of the vehicle's side.

The Grenadier gives you four roof DTP output points when the High-Power Aux option is fitted: one dedicated 25A circuit for the factory LED lightbar option (EXT2), and three outputs on EXT3 sharing a second 25A circuit — positioned driver-front, driver-rear, and passenger-rear. Campsite use almost always comes from the EXT3 zone.

"One 25 amp circuit is for the INEOS 40 inch LED lightbar option, the other 3 rooftop outlets share the second 25 amp circuit, so you can easily add camp or works lights."

— thedocaus, TheIneosForum.com Thread #12417973

The Four Mounting Zones — Ranked for Camp Use

Not all mounting points serve camp lighting equally. Here's how they rank based on what forum owners have found:

Zone 1 — Driver-Rear DTP Socket (Best)

This is the consensus starting point. When you back into a campsite — or pull forward and park with the driver side toward the fire ring — the driver-rear socket puts the light directly overhead of the primary activity zone. Angle the light 30–45° outward (away from the vehicle) and 20–30° downward and you get blanket coverage of the campsite at ground level.

DVA's side flood light mounts to the roof bar at this position and plugs directly into the DTP socket — no wiring modifications, no relays. The 90° flood pattern covers a 6m diameter footprint at the 2m roof height the light sits at.

Zone 2 — Passenger-Rear DTP Socket (Strong Complement)

The passenger-rear socket covers the opposite side of the vehicle. With two lights — one driver-rear, one passenger-rear — you get bilateral coverage that eliminates the shadow zone directly behind the rear of the vehicle. This is the configuration that owners with awnings use most: one light per awning side.

Both lights run on the same EXT3 25A circuit. Two 30W flood lights draw approximately 2.5A each at 12V, leaving 20A of circuit headroom for a third device (Starlink, fan, etc.).

Zone 3 — Grab Bar Brackets (Good Without a Roof Rack)

If you don't have the Utility Belt or a third-party roof rack fitted, the OEM roof grab bar brackets are a viable mounting point for small work lights. The grab bars sit approximately 1.5m off the ground — lower than roof-rack height — so coverage radius at ground level is smaller, but the angle options are better for targeted work lighting directly beside the vehicle.

"I have added a pair of ARB 'Base' lights that draw 0.9 watts each (fixed intensity). They are wired to the rooftop power outlets with DTP connectors. These lights attach to the OEM grab bar brackets with no modifications or new holes needed."

— grenji, TheIneosForum.com Thread #12415826

Zone 4 — Driver-Front DTP Socket (Worst for Camp)

The driver-front socket is EXT3's third output point. It's a good driving-light position but poor for campsite coverage — it illuminates the area in front of the bonnet, not the living zone around the rear and sides of the vehicle. Most owners who install lights at all four points use driver-front for a ditch/trail light (spot beam, not flood) and reserve the two rear sockets for camp floods.

"Many owners run one of each — flood on the camp side, spot on the trail side. This is worth calling out explicitly, because it's the single biggest difference between Grenadier-specific lighting and generic off-road lights."

— DVA Research, DVA Grenadier Auxiliary Lighting Engineering Guide

Flood vs Spot: Why Beam Pattern Determines Everything

Spot beams throw a narrow, high-intensity column of light — useful for seeing 50–100m down a trail. At campsite distances (3–8m), a spot beam hits one small patch of ground at blinding intensity while everything around it stays dark. Flood beams spread light across a 90–120° horizontal arc at low intensity, which is exactly what a campsite needs: even, usable illumination across a wide area.

The practical test: can you read a map at the camp table without squinting or repositioning? A 2,000-lumen flood light at driver-rear passes that test. A 6,000-lumen spot light at driver-front does not.

DVA's LED Side Flood Light uses a 90° spread pattern specifically optimised for camp and work use at the distances the Grenadier's roof height creates. The companion LED Side Light (narrower beam) is better suited for trail-side scenes where you want illumination further from the vehicle.

Getting the Angle Right: Tilt, Rotation, and Height

Mounting position is only half the equation. Angle determines whether the light covers your campsite or your neighbour's. The recommended starting position for a driver-rear flood:

• Outward rotation: 30–45° away from the vehicle's centreline — points the beam toward the activity zone rather than the roof surface.
• Downward tilt: 20–30° below horizontal — at 2m roof height, a 25° downward tilt puts beam centre at 4m horizontal distance, exactly where the camp table and chairs sit.
• Rearward sweep: 10–15° aft — covers the rear-quarter zone where camp chairs typically cluster when parked head-in.

If you have adjustable-angle mounts, set them at the campsite by sweeping the light slowly while someone stands in the activity zone and calls out when coverage is right. Fixed-angle mounts from DVA are pre-set for the most common positioning (45° outward, 25° down) so plug-in is plug-and-go for the majority of campsites.

Wiring Strategy: EXT3 vs House Battery

The Grenadier's EXT3 outputs are ignition-assisted by default — the circuit gets power when the engine is running or the ignition is in the accessory position. That means camp lights powered through EXT3 will cut off if you run the engine for a short period and then turn it off, or if the ignition-assisted cutoff activates.

For overnight camp lighting, the forum consensus is to feed EXT3 from an auxiliary/house battery instead of the factory starter circuit. This requires a wire run via the roof pillars, but it means your lights stay on independently of the ignition.

"I personally will choose to use the factory roof outlets for driving lights (offroad only of course). Camp lights or other things that mainly are used while parked with the engine off are what I'll wire to a house battery. I don't want to be diving into the cab of the car to turn on/off camping lights — I want those switches to be at the back of the car."

— Forum member, TheIneosForum.com Thread #12417973

If you don't have an aux battery, EXT3's ignition-assisted power still works for camp use as long as you're willing to leave the ignition in accessory mode. Many owners do exactly this for a few hours at camp. The risk is drawing down the starter battery, which is why an aux battery is the proper long-term solution.

"I have already changed the aux power to come from my house battery but I didn't like having to leave the power switch on in order to have the camp lights on. Plus I want to be able to turn those lights on remotely for a middle of the night potty walk."

— the_ick, TheIneosForum.com Thread #12422005

The Two-Light Setup for Full Campsite Coverage

One driver-rear flood covers the primary campsite zone. For full campsite coverage without dark corners:

1. Light 1: Driver-rear DTP socket — 45° outward, 25° down, 10° aft. Covers driver-side campsite zone.
2. Light 2: Passenger-rear DTP socket — 45° outward, 25° down, 10° aft. Covers passenger-side, eliminates the shadow triangle behind the rear of the vehicle.
3. Connection: DTP splitter cable (15 cm + 100 cm pigtails) if needed to bridge both sockets to a single control; or use EXT3's two rear outputs independently via the overhead switch panel.

Total draw: two 30W flood lights at 12V = ~5A combined. EXT3's 25A circuit handles this with 20A to spare for other accessories (Starlink draws ~2A, a fan draws ~3A). The two-light setup is the most common configuration forum owners land on after trying single-light builds first.

The Three Positioning Mistakes Owners Make First

1. Installing at Driver-Front Instead of Driver-Rear

The driver-front socket is easy to access from the roof and feels like the obvious starting point. But it lights up the bonnet and the ground directly in front of the vehicle — not the campsite behind and beside it. Owners who install here first almost always move the light to driver-rear within one camping trip.

2. Using a Spot Beam for Camp Coverage

Spot beams bought for off-road driving get repurposed for camp use because they're already installed. The result is a bright column of light that illuminates a 1m circle 30m away while the camp table 4m from the vehicle stays dark. If you're adding a dedicated camp light, it should always be flood-beam spec.

3. Not Accounting for Vehicle Parking Direction

The "driver-rear is the camp zone" rule assumes you park with the driver side toward the campsite. At some sites you'll park the opposite way. The solution: mount lights on both rear sockets (driver-rear and passenger-rear) and switch them independently via the EXT3 overhead controls. Then you choose which side to illuminate based on how you're parked.