[LAZARU5]

According to the EQS SUV owner's manual (pages 416 - 418) there are three fuse panels in the car. One in the passenger footwell, one on the driver side dashboard, and one below the under cargo storage compartment. Of these three, only the one in the passenger footwell is easy to access.

According to the Fuse Information Sheet (part number 297-584-84-02) stored on the side of the fuse panel under the rear cargo floor, there are as many as seven (7) fuse panels in an EQS/EQE. The fuse information sheet seems to be for all of the EQS/EQE variants.

I was determined to locate the fuse panel under the floor of the cargo area. Unfortunately, there is no access door to expose the fuse panel. I had to remove the plastic panel at the rear edge of the cargo area first. This panel is held in place with one screw (#30 torx drive) in the center of the panel and six clips along the top edge of the panel. After removing the screw I used a couple of trim removal tools to disengage the clips along the top edge.

Once this back trim panel is removed the rear most flexible liner on the bottom of the storage compartment can be easily removed. It is held in place with four pins that are easily identified.

All of the fuses in the panel are "E" style fuses. They are difficult to remove and a tool to remove the fuses is not provided. Each fuse is "locked" in place with a small tab that must be pushed aside before the fuse can be removed.

To facilitate future replacement of fuses I cut an opening to make a flap in the storage compartment liner. I cut three sides of the opening and left the forward most edge mostly in place to act as a hinge. I say mostly in place since I only left two 2" long uncut sections to act as a hinge. I believe the dealer would do the same thing the first time they replaced a fuse since there is a piece of insulation glued to the bottom of the liner spanning the area I left as a hinge. I added a small plastic T-nut to keep the flap in the closed position. If you undercut the three edges of the flap it will keep it from falling through the liner.

The most likely fuse needing to be replaced in this panel is the one for the 12v accessory socket. In my case this is the 25A fuse in the F401 location. Given the effort to remove the trim panel and storage compartment liner, I suspect that the dealers cut a flap in the liner similar to what I did. Otherwise they would have to charge $150 just to change a fuse.

Rear cargo trim panel with trim removal tools. Note one screw in center.

Inside view of rear trim panel showing six plastic retaining clips.

Storage compartment liner with four retaining pins. One in each corner.

Fuse panel below sub-floor storage compartment.

Close-up showing retaining tab on one end of fuse.

Flap cut into flexible liner with Xacto knife. T-Nut keeps flap closed.

Closed flap with T-nut twisted into locked position.

Access to fuse panel through flap in storage compartment liner.

 

[dBC]

Interesting. The EQC rear fuse panel is quite similar, but comes with the flap pre-cut. It even includes a handy velcro strap for lifting/securing the flap.

 

[LAZARU5]

Thanks for posting the EQC photos. It is reassuring to know that my modification looks almost OEM.

 

[dBC]

Yep, swap that T-nut for a velcro strap and they'd never know ;-).

I'll be interested to hear how you get on back there. What sort of load do you envisage running? I've had mixed results in the EQC (15A fuse) trying to run my car fridge. When I've characterised it some more, I'll start a new topic about the EQC boot power outlet rather than pollute your EQS thread with EQC noise, but be on the lookout for voltage drops - notably when the DC/DC isn't charging the 12V battery.

 

[LAZARU5]

Yep, swap that T-nut for a velcro strap and they'd never know ;-).

I'll be interested to hear how you get on back there. What sort of load do you envisage running? I've had mixed results in the EQC (15A fuse) trying to run my car fridge. When I've characterised it some more, I'll start a new topic about the EQC boot power outlet rather than pollute your EQS thread with EQC noise, but be on the lookout for voltage drops - notably when the DC/DC isn't charging the 12V battery.

I almost have the Velcro strap conversion complete. It's not exactly like the EQC one in your photo. But I doubt if the typical EQ tech will think it's not stock.

I don't have any immediate plans to install anything requiring a fuse. However, I was thinking tapping into a circuit intended for a 12v socket would be the least likely one to confuse any computers. I hope power is available at the unused 12v socket fuse locations even if the lead to the uninstalled 12v socket is not present. I was contemplating adding a socket in the rear seat area that would be accessible from the cabin. I could probably get an MB socket to make it look like it is supposed to be there.

 

[LAZARU5]

I cut a one-inch wide slot in the cargo subfloor flap and slipped a short length of Velcro strap through the slot. Then I epoxy glued about a 1" square of Velcro loop strip to the floor liner at the edge of the flap opening. It's not clear to me if all EQS SUVs are delivered without the flap or if my SUV slipped through quality control. The onboard manual seems to indicate that the flap should already be in the floor.

 

[LAZARU5]

I finally managed to pry the driver side end cap off the dashboard to expose the fuse panel. The panel is held in place with five spring clips. The rubber door seal also holds the edge of the panel in place.

To remove the panel, start by using a plastic trim removal tool to release the edge of the panel from under the door seal. Be careful not to tear the door seal.

Start at the bottom end of the panel using a trim removal tool to pry the first clip out of the dashboard frame. Work your way up to the top. One of the five spring clips slipped off the tab and fell behind the dash. I was able to locate the spring clip with a flashlight and then retrieve it using a magnet. Note that the clip is missing in the photo showing the back side of the panel. I removed another clip before reinstalling the panel so that the panel will be easier to remove the next time around.

I checked the current on two empty fuse positions F210 and F212 as well as F209 and found that these positions were live when the car was turned off.