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Do you have examples of what kind of DIY work is hard? I haven’t done a ton of work on newer cars, but at least adding wiring for a hitch on my Kona EV was jus

Do you have examples of what kind of DIY work is hard? I haven’t done a ton of work on newer cars, but at least adding wiring for a hitch on my Kona EV was just as easy as any wiring I’ve done on my old truck. Is a job like adding amps and better speakers trickier?

RamblingCTO 3y ago
I have a defender and added a bunch of stuff to it: cruise control, motor pre-heater, rear camera, working lights in the rear. I'll also add a diesel heater and more electrics at some point. On 12V it's easy, can't imagine doing work like that with 48V. Not sure how this works, and if you maybe just can use 12V anyway. But wanted to make the point of camper vans and overlanders and offroaders.
- hef19898 3y ago
  An old or a new one?
  - RamblingCTO 3y ago
    Ah right, should've specified that. Of course an old one ;) A Td5. I call the other one "New Defender"
    - hef19898 3y ago
      And a TD5 is already modern-ish enough, but very nice regardless! Personally, I would be at a loss working in anything built after the early 80s, so for a Defender that would be the dual-carb V8s, and 200/300 TDis. My 1982 Range Rover has all of three fuses, so electrically I'm fine! Except the mess previous owners did to the original wiring... No idea why it is so difficult to just make your own wiring for after market accesories instead of butchering the OEM one up beyond recognition. It works, so I don't touch it. I have no idea why it works so...
      - RamblingCTO 3y ago
        Yeah I don't touch anything in the box beneath the passenger front seat ;) The previous owner thankfully already fixed the "oil creeps up the wires" issue, so I can leave it. Nothing I'm too keen on, but simple enough I figure. > I have no idea why it works so... I know that feeling haha. Adding wiring is so much easier than ripping up existing stuff ...
        hef19898 3y ago
        When a mechanic from Land Rover saw the wiring, he said something along the lines of "just fault location would be 2k, none of the colors I see should be there". A mess... But hey, the 80s and 90s were a wild time, and it is rust free!
hef19898 3y ago
Depends on where you connect stuff. Directly to some wiring loom that is already there? Bad idea, not all connected equipment will take the aditional loads well. Going directly to the car battery with dedicated wiring? Doable, but since start-stop is a thing, battery management and other stuff migjt not like that very well neither. Second batery? A bitch since start-stopp. Hence, one needs some good knowledge around that, what to connect where. In the old days, well, just go directly to the main battery with your aftermarket wiring and Bob's your uncle. And none of that, battery management, which equipment can be connected where, has anything to do with the voltage but rather with all the other stuff modern cars have (bus management, battery management, ECus,...) all of which might or might not accept voltage and amp fluctuations very well.

RamblingCTO 3y ago

I have a defender and added a bunch of stuff to it: cruise control, motor pre-heater, rear camera, working lights in the rear. I'll also add a diesel heater and more electrics at some point. On 12V it's easy, can't imagine doing work like that with 48V. Not sure how this works, and if you maybe just can use 12V anyway. But wanted to make the point of camper vans and overlanders and offroaders.

hef19898 3y ago
An old or a new one?
- RamblingCTO 3y ago
  Ah right, should've specified that. Of course an old one ;) A Td5. I call the other one "New Defender"
  - hef19898 3y ago
    And a TD5 is already modern-ish enough, but very nice regardless! Personally, I would be at a loss working in anything built after the early 80s, so for a Defender that would be the dual-carb V8s, and 200/300 TDis. My 1982 Range Rover has all of three fuses, so electrically I'm fine! Except the mess previous owners did to the original wiring... No idea why it is so difficult to just make your own wiring for after market accesories instead of butchering the OEM one up beyond recognition. It works, so I don't touch it. I have no idea why it works so...
    - RamblingCTO 3y ago
      Yeah I don't touch anything in the box beneath the passenger front seat ;) The previous owner thankfully already fixed the "oil creeps up the wires" issue, so I can leave it. Nothing I'm too keen on, but simple enough I figure. > I have no idea why it works so... I know that feeling haha. Adding wiring is so much easier than ripping up existing stuff ...
      - hef19898 3y ago
        When a mechanic from Land Rover saw the wiring, he said something along the lines of "just fault location would be 2k, none of the colors I see should be there". A mess... But hey, the 80s and 90s were a wild time, and it is rust free!

hef19898 3y ago

Depends on where you connect stuff. Directly to some wiring loom that is already there? Bad idea, not all connected equipment will take the aditional loads well. Going directly to the car battery with dedicated wiring? Doable, but since start-stop is a thing, battery management and other stuff migjt not like that very well neither. Second batery? A bitch since start-stopp. Hence, one needs some good knowledge around that, what to connect where. In the old days, well, just go directly to the main battery with your aftermarket wiring and Bob's your uncle. And none of that, battery management, which equipment can be connected where, has anything to do with the voltage but rather with all the other stuff modern cars have (bus management, battery management, ECus,...) all of which might or might not accept voltage and amp fluctuations very well.