Thread: Extending the range of Defender Central Locking

I got sick of the central locking in my 2006 Defender 110. I was having to press the button about 3 or 4 times to lock or unlock and if i was any more than about 5 paces away from the front door it wouldn't work anyway. So i fixed it......

It didn't take too long...approximately 30mins all told.

The tools i used were:

* Leatherman for stripping wire
* Electrical tape
* Straightened coat hanger to hook wires
* 2m length of black 3mm automotive wire
* soldering iron and solder

Step 1

Remove the instrument cluster and put it to the side. The look for the alarm box fitted to the bulkhead below the group of relays. There will be a short orange wire with a grey tracer. this is the antenna wire that needs to be extended to get better range from your central locking.



Step 2

Get your coat hanger and fish the wire out so that you can get to the exposed end, it isnt quite long enough to come out of the dash in a TD5 but in a Puma it will be easiest to get at it through the speaker and might just be able to poke out thru the speaker hole.


Step 3

feed the new wire up into the dash from behind the airconditioner controls so that it can be joined onto the orange and grey wire.



Step 4

join the new wire to the old wire, it is a bugger of a job and took the most time.



Step 5

Unscrew the trim above the drivers door hinge and feed the wire up to the top of the dash. then replace the trim.



Step 6

continue feeding the wire up... i found a nice gap in behind the heater controls to put it and then it runs nicely up to the A pillar trim so it stays nice and neat.



Step 7

end the wire just below the top of the door trim and strip the insulation from the last 15mm or so of the wire like the original.




Now it is finished and your remote should work from at least 20m or so away. Mine worked from 3 houses down the street this afternoon.... the best part is that now you only have to press the button once as it works first time every time.

Enjoy.......

Cheers

Josh

Good work, you don't need to strip the end of the wire unless you are connecting it to something else as electromagnetic waves go through insulation.

If you don't want to look too conspicuous when extending the range of your fob put it up under your chin touching bone. I think your head acts like a resonant cavity.