J

Jason Page

Member
Hello everyone.

I've just signed up to this forum. I've been driving a defender for about 10 years. Currently on my second - a 2005 TD5 pick-up. I'm just about to upgrade my lights to LEDs (Truck Lite 2 gen on order from Paddock Spares - good price if anyone else is looking around) - the indicators, side-lights etc have already been done. So if everything goes to plan I should be able to finally see where I am actually going after dark.

I'm also looking to upgrade my aerial and thought I would go for one of these:

https://www.4x4overlander.com/product/defender-aerial/

... as I want something which will pick up both FM and DAB. This aerial requires a power source. My stereo is currently powered off an ignition live feed. Can I simply tap off the live feed and neutral to my stereo and join the two wires coming out of the aerial to those coming out of the stereo? I was wondering if this would be a bad idea because (1) it might drain my battery when the car isn't in use - although presumably this won't happen unless I also leave the stereo on (2) it might starve either the stereo or the aerial or both of the power they need to work properly.

You have probably worked out that I am not an electrician (!)

I don't really know what I am doing when it comes to electrics. So any advice would be greatly appreciated. As far as i understand it I have two options.

option 1 would be to tap off the existing power to the stereo (which I reckon even I could do unaided)
option 2 would be to run a new power supply from the fuse box (friendly advice definitely required!)

But maybe there is a third option I haven't thought about that would be better.

Thanks everyone

Jason
 
Hi and welcome!

I’m not much use when it comes to leccy questions. Someone will be along soon who can help.

Don’t forget some pics of the new Landy.
 
Welcome to the forum
wave.gif
 
You need to power the aerial off a switched ignition feed. The radio should be fed off the auxiliary switched feed from the ignition (it’s prewired to the multi-way block in the dash where the radio fits in my Defender so I don’t need to hunt for it). I’m not sure if that applies to all Defenders.

You won’t overload the circuit by tapping into the auxiliary (switched) wire with the few milliamperes the aerial will draw.
 
j_g_uk said:
You need to power the aerial off a switched ignition feed. The radio should be fed off the auxiliary switched feed from the ignition (it’s prewired to the multi-way block in the dash where the radio fits in my Defender so I don’t need to hunt for it). I’m not sure if that applies to all Defenders.

You won’t overload the circuit by tapping into the auxiliary (switched) wire with the few milliamperes the aerial will draw.
Click to expand...

Thanks for replying. I'm really sorry. But I'm not sure I understand. Can I just check what you mean? Are you saying that I can tap into the two wires that power the stereo? In other words cut the red wire and split it into two - connect one to the stereo and the other to the aerial. Then do the same with the black wire. I am assuming red is live and black is neutral and that both need to be connected to complete the circuit.

Apologies in advance. I realise I must sound like a complete idiot who has no idea what he is doing. Which is pretty much the case.
 
OK. No Problem. Some simple/straightforward questions. (hopefully)

Can you turn the radio on regardless as to whether you have the ignition key in the ignition?

Or does the key have to the in the ignition and turned to 'position 1' for the radio to work?
 
In that case I suggest you DON’T tap into the wires feeding power to your radio.

You either need the auxiliary feed supply off tgd ignition switch or the switched supply off the ignition switch. The advantage of using the ‘proper’ auxiliary feed is that your antenna will be live as soon as you turn the switch to position 1 (as you turn the key to ‘ignition on’ there’s a position you get to first that should power just the radio.
 
Some sort of electrical meter (a cheap Digital Multi Meter) is certainly very helpful.

If you're really impecunious, a 12 volt bulb and two bits of wire will reveal a lot.
 
j_g_uk said:
Some sort of electrical meter (a cheap Digital Multi Meter) is certainly very helpful.

If you're really impecunious, a 12 volt bulb and two bits of wire will reveal a lot.
Click to expand...

Ashamed to say I had to Google "DMM" and then "defender DMM" (which came up with lots of stuff about dungeons and dragons!) before I finally worked out what a DMM was. Needless to say I haven't got one but I can completely see why it would be a good idea to get one and I'm pretty sure I can get hold of one.

I think I am starting to understand what I need to do. Presumably I go rummaging around using the DMM trying to identify either (1) a wire nearby which receives power only when the ignition is engaged or (2) a fuse in the fuse box, which again only receives power when the ignition is engaged, that I can add a new wire to. This will give me a live feed that I can connect to the live (red) wire on the aerial.

But... the aerial also has a black wire. What do I attach this to?

I'm really sorry to be asking such basic questions. Thanks for your patience.

Jason
 
Any good DIY store will have one...not expensive...set to 20v use red lead to test for v and black to body earth point...under the dash usually a bolt with a few black wires attatched...black wire will go to earth...
 
Jason Page said:
Ashamed to say I had to Google "DMM" and then "defender DMM" (which came up with lots of stuff about dungeons and dragons!) before I finally worked out what a DMM was. Needless to say I haven't got one but I can completely see why it would be a good idea to get one and I'm pretty sure I can get hold of one.

I think I am starting to understand what I need to do. Presumably I go rummaging around using the DMM trying to identify either (1) a wire nearby which receives power only when the ignition is engaged or (2) a fuse in the fuse box, which again only receives power when the ignition is engaged, that I can add a new wire to. This will give me a live feed that I can connect to the live (red) wire on the aerial.

But... the aerial also has a black wire. What do I attach this to?

I'm really sorry to be asking such basic questions. Thanks for your patience.

Jason
Click to expand...

The black wire goes to the chassis of the vehicle at some convenient point. To avoid confusion, the chassis can be described by different people as 'ground' or 'negative' or 'earth'. Its all the same thing. Just make sure that you connect the wire to a bit of the body work that has a good electrical connection back to the battery. (You will see that the battery has it's negative lead connected to the bodywork/chassis of the Landrover.)

In the days of manual chokes (I've no idea how old you are so you may or may know know what a manual choke is...?) an occasional fault showing at a garage was a car that was reluctant to start but the choke knob/cable got hot when you turned the engine over on the starter. What had happened was that the heavy duty cable connecting the engine to the chassis had broken or corroded away and the starter motor 'earth' was through the choke cable sleeve.
 
If you also do a search on here you will find a simple guide on how to use 1 too:)

Was made up by one of the guys from here.:)

J
 
j_g_uk said:
The black wire goes to the chassis of the vehicle at some convenient point. To avoid confusion, the chassis can be described by different people as 'ground' or 'negative' or 'earth'. Its all the same thing. Just make sure that you connect the wire to a bit of the body work that has a good electrical connection back to the battery. (You will see that the battery has it's negative lead connected to the bodywork/chassis of the Landrover.)

In the days of manual chokes (I've no idea how old you are so you may or may know know what a manual choke is...?) an occasional fault showing at a garage was a car that was reluctant to start but the choke knob/cable got hot when you turned the engine over on the starter. What had happened was that the heavy duty cable connecting the engine to the chassis had broken or corroded away and the starter motor 'earth' was through the choke cable sleeve.
Click to expand...

Same can happen with today's modern cars but it's the handbrake cable that provides the earth..
 
I had no idea. Apart from the Defender we have modern cars that aren't falling to bits yet... (Although I just got stung nearly £800 for a service and two tyres and replacement of a rear spring and an MOT for our Audi A4) so I haven't heard of the handbrake cable getting hot malarkey.)

To be fair the Audi (which we've had from new) is on its original clutch, starter, and alternator and exhaust and is on just short of 250k miles. Whereas the Defender has done a miserly 180k miles and is on a new gearbox and clutch etc etc
 
Thanks everyone for their replies. This is all really helpful. I now have a good sense of what i need to do and how to do it.

Is there a risk if I tap into an existing wire (one with a live feed from the ignition) that I will starve the thing that it is supplying of power? I am imagining not - not least on the basis that i am only using this to supply the aerial which can't draw very much power.

Thanks again.

Jason
 
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