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Fitting Car Radio to a Defender (which has never had one) Fitting Car Radio to a Defender (which has never had one)
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Equipping the Overland Vehicle Vehicle accessories - Making your home away from home comfortable, safe and reliable.
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  #1  
Old 18 Nov 2007
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Fitting Car Radio to a Defender (which has never had one)
Hi All,

I have bought a second hand pioneer radio/cd player to fit to my 110 hard top. The stereo comes with a connector plug that take the cables out of the back of the unit. The vehicle has never had a stereo fitted so I am not sure how to wire in connector that is comes off the back of the stereo.

Does anyone out there know where I can get hold of a wiring diagram for this or any advice on where I should start?!

Thanks,

Bruce
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  #2  
Old 18 Nov 2007
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Radio/CD fitting
Hi Bruce

Go to Pioneer Electronics - Home and follow the links for your model of CD player (see the label on the case) to the support pages, where you should be able to download both an owners' manual and the installation instructions.

Most manufacturers have such info freely available on their websites nowadays.

Nigel
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  #3  
Old 19 Nov 2007
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If you're not too good at electrical work, or just want to keep things looking "factory", then you can buy the "stereo installation kit" from LR, which consists of things like:

STC7766 the main wiring harness to connect your stereo to the 12v supply
AMR3294 the speaker harness
AMR3417 x2 really naff speakers
BTR9552 a little plastic cover that covers the cig lighter and rear wash wipe switch, but has a hole in it for the wiring loom to come though.

so you only really need the two wiring looms to make things easy. and get a pair of decent speakers, again from halfords or similar, for about £20 they much better than the things that LR supply.



Also, you can get the dash pods pretty cheap, eith on ebay or just from Halfords or similar.
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  #4  
Old 19 Nov 2007
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There are usually loads of wires, some of which you won't need, like electric ariel control, remote control, etc.
Forget the colour codes off the top of me head but you should be able to google it ok.
You need to connect the permanent live, which retains the station and settings memory, and the ignition live so that it comes on and off with the ignition. If you lift up the plastic tray at the bottom of the dash, and have a poke in the wiring loom that runs across the back, you should see a couple of multi-connectors that you can use - I think the one with the white cable will give you the ignition live, brown cable will give you permanent live. There is also a black earth cable in there, again with a spare multi-connector.
If you haven't got one, get a £5 crimping set from maplin so you can put the bullet connectors on your wiring correctly - you may need to extend the wiring slightly depending on where the stereo is located (mines by my knee in front of the handbrake and I take the wiring in through the fuse panel and up into the dash)
Then you just need to add some speaker wiring and route it through the car as best you can.
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  #5  
Old 19 Nov 2007
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Idea
Sell the defender and keep the radio and fit it to a cruiser
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  #6  
Old 19 Nov 2007
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Thats a good point -

You can manage without a radio in a defender, but a cruiser definately needs something installed to provide the entertainment
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  #7  
Old 19 Nov 2007
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!noise!
You can manage without a radio in a defender, but a cruiser definately needs something installed to provide the entertainment [/QUOTE]

No point having a radio in a Defender - so much noise you'll never hear it. Come to think of it you will be able to enjoy it for all those spanner-in-the-hand moments by the side of the road...
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  #8  
Old 19 Nov 2007
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Thanks Guys!

Thats great. Will check it out and let you know if I need any additional info. Good bit of banter too, but I have towed too many cruisers to drive anything but a Landy!

All the best,

Bruce
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  #9  
Old 20 Nov 2007
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Just a thought
I have never found CD units to perform well on corrrugated roads! Tapes (old tech I know!) hate the dust... Only solutions that have worked for me is mini disk / MP3. I have a dedicated ipod connection that sits in the glove box so the ipod is tucked away and protected from heat and vibration (direct sun can kill them straight). Having said this you are driving a Defender, so why go through all the bother - ipod and noise cancelling earphones are the way to go. Added bonus is you can take your music with you when you walk off to get a mechanic......

Gil
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  #10  
Old 20 Nov 2007
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your all wrong! lol
what you really need is a wind up radio ( Baygen did one, argos about 50 quid) for when your battery/defender/ CD player etc dies......... then at least you can still pick up the world service on the short wave while you skin your knuckles fixing it!..........

sorry, couldnt resist it!

Martyn
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  #11  
Old 21 Nov 2007
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wind up
yup it will fit the fit vehicle

Towed a cruiser...where? lol
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  #12  
Old 21 Nov 2007
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My sony CD player usually worked fine on all but the worst corrugations - its one of them new fangled ones that reads ahead on the disk and caches the data, forget the word or it... it certainly helps though.
What normally happens though is we take a big pile of CD/R's and put them in a carry case, and the dust and sand gets in in no time and renders them all unplayable. Only way round it is to take them all in jewel cases which is a bit bulky - we'll definately be taking an MP3 player on the next trip.
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  #13  
Old 21 Nov 2007
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My Sony radio/CD player packed up on the first trip because of dust jamming the mechanism. I never bothered to fix it as it's likely to happen again and again. These things are designed for cruising in Crawley, not for the desert. Better get an MP3 player with a radio.
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