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RRUK
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Member Since: 31 Mar 2010
Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 2025

United Kingdom 
Why is Central locking range so pants?
I don't get it. Land Rover must be able to use parts uniformity for certain things. The central locking on all my Range Rovers has never failed, and works from a hundred metres away.

The Defender works, but you have to be within 1 metre. WHY?

Stuff like this really frustrates me about Defender ownership, even with the modern ones, where better stuff could have been fitted, they keep it cheap as chips and fit crap parts. 2016 D4 HSE

1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF

1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol
Post #465753 23rd Oct 2015 10:14am
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YOLO110



Member Since: 14 Feb 2015
Location: Perth Oz and Stansted UK
Posts: 1645

Australia 
Better security at only 1m away!

It's let Bond down a few times however! Smile YOLO... You Only Live Once...
Post #465758 23rd Oct 2015 10:19am
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K9F



Member Since: 12 Nov 2009
Location: Bournemouth
Posts: 9610

United Kingdom 2008 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Stornoway Grey
There is a quick fix that will extensively extend the range. Thumbs Up

I'll route around for it.

**EDIT**

ashtrans wrote:
despite putting a few new batteries in I was shocked at the range of the central locking, approx 1 to 1.5 meters, totally useless,

I came across this :

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/90-110-130-defen...fixed.html

If you take out the front speaker, drivers side, and shine torch up and look towards the firewall you will see a green box, it is about 15 cm long and 8cm tall, with two harnesses attached to the bottom of it. The harness closest to the steering collum has an Orange wire with a light grey stripe, about 15cm long, leading out of it.

You can also see it from the fuse box, below the steering wheel, if you look in the gap on the right hand side.

This wire (orange/light grey stripe) is the Ariel for the remote. I was lucky enough that this wire was close enough to be able to grab it with a pair of long nose pliers from the fuse box (without removing the speaker).

I then soldered a length of wire about a meter or so long, used a stiff piece of plastic strap to poke down in the gap behind the dash and from the bottom of the "A" pillar, a second piece from the right hand side of the steering collum to the fuse box and then just pulled the new wire through, then up the "A" pillar, behind the plastic cover.

Job done - 15 meter remote distance
 If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!!

Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!!
Post #465761 23rd Oct 2015 10:29am
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discomog



Member Since: 09 May 2015
Location: Notts/Lincs Border
Posts: 2530

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Santorini Black
Just checked out the distance on my 2015 Defender, it works from 31 metres. If you then hold the fob against your head and activate it, it increases the distance to 36 metres!
Post #465762 23rd Oct 2015 10:31am
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K9F



Member Since: 12 Nov 2009
Location: Bournemouth
Posts: 9610

United Kingdom 2008 Defender 90 Puma 2.4 XS CSW Stornoway Grey
^^

Dependent on intelligence. Apparently an increase in IQ level will actually reduce the range if the fob is held to the 'swede' as the signals can become masked by the wealth of information contained therein.

Rolling with laughter If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!!

Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!!
Post #465767 23rd Oct 2015 10:39am
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Martin
Site Admin


Member Since: 02 Apr 2007
Location: Hook Norton
Posts: 6611

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 XS CSW Montalcino Red
Extend the aerial on the 10AS box and it's fine.

The 2015MY got a new alarm/locking system (new keyfobs) and the range is "normal" Wink  1988 90 Td5 NAS soft top
2015 D90 XS SW
Post #465770 23rd Oct 2015 10:57am
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Venomator



Member Since: 25 Aug 2014
Location: Peterborough
Posts: 2087

United Kingdom 
^ ^ ^
I can vouch for that, having picked up my MY2016 Keswick Special just a week ago... Thumbs Up

I was pleasantly surprised the fob worked from a decent distance... Cool

Mr. Green
 Rog... Mr. Green
The GREEN One...


MY2016 Urban Truck Build Thread - http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic40548....al[/color]
Post #465771 23rd Oct 2015 11:05am
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Stacey007



Member Since: 25 Sep 2015
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 3758

United Kingdom 
I also find this a bit odd after 'normal' cars


However thinking about it WHY do I want to open or lock my car from so far away?... I never do?

I walk up to it and open it just before I pull the door, as I lock it I walk away... so really its not a problem?

My last car had a remote boot, great I thought until one day while cleaning it bent down doing the wheels it opens onto a stone garage.... Smile
Post #465775 23rd Oct 2015 11:15am
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alby



Member Since: 25 Dec 2014
Location: The Shire
Posts: 159

United Kingdom 2015 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 SW Santorini Black
I have the new type silver and black fob with mine, a 2014 model year vehicle.

Will agree, the range on the newer fobs is distressingly normal, I can easily unlock it from 20-25m away.

It is useful to be able to unlock it from a decent distance when needed, for example when juggling bags of shopping, rucksacks, boots, coats and other stuff
Post #465776 23rd Oct 2015 11:16am
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Stacey007



Member Since: 25 Sep 2015
Location: Cheshire
Posts: 3758

United Kingdom 
^ you still have to physically open the doors though so need hands free...

Hence the feature in my last car that opened the boot as you walk up to it was great, until it opens it on a solid brick garage Smile


I can live with this quirk
Post #465783 23rd Oct 2015 11:23am
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tonyhedge



Member Since: 07 Jul 2015
Location: Worcestershire
Posts: 101

2014 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 SW Montalcino Red
Quote:
Stuff like this really frustrates me about Defender ownership ...


Hope you're not in a grumpy mood having just snapped an indicator stalk! Whistle That's not a dent, it's a rivet. That's not a dent, it's a rivet. That's not ... oh! That is a dent!

2014 90 XS SW
1997 Discovery 300TdiS (retired to stud)
1966 Series IIA 88" (now my son's)
2001 Astra - I need something to go and buy the parts when the others are off the road!
Post #465794 23rd Oct 2015 11:53am
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Eduardo



Member Since: 28 Aug 2008
Location: RegiÃģn Metropolitana
Posts: 2110

Chile 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 SW Stornoway Grey
Hi there!

Just one advice for the ones that extend the aerial of the 10AS.

On our last trip in the far south of Chile, one of the hotel were located quite near to huge radio interference field (all the Defenders had the same trouble there) and was impossible to disable the 10AS with the Key Fob.

Finally and after several hours trying to start the Defender we take out the famous extension. For our fortune we finally were able to disable the 10AS and continue our trip.

My thougth is that in a high interference scenario the extension will catch more noise, not allowing the signal of the keyfob to be transmitted correctly to the 10AS.

Cheers! Eduardo

MY 2007 110 SW PUMA 2.4: Big Fog of 64'
MY 1994 Jayco 1207 Folding camper: "El Tremendo"

Click image to enlarge
Post #465801 23rd Oct 2015 12:39pm
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RRUK
Site Supporter


Member Since: 31 Mar 2010
Location: Leicestershire
Posts: 2025

United Kingdom 
Stacey007 wrote:
I also find this a bit odd after 'normal' cars


However thinking about it WHY do I want to open or lock my car from so far away?... I never do?

I walk up to it and open it just before I pull the door, as I lock it I walk away... so really its not a problem?


So for me, typically it's when I am out in the field, shooting. I normally take someone else around with me, and often, you walk away from the cars and someone has forgotten something and you have to unlock it for them from a distance, or at the end of a drive, that passenger is back at the car before you, maybe in bad weather, and they need to get in as quickly as possible. if I have to be 1 metre away all the time it's a bit of a hassle. 2016 D4 HSE

1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF

1982 Series 3 SWB Petrol
Post #465815 23rd Oct 2015 1:21pm
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Wild Card 90



Member Since: 03 Dec 2014
Location: Gerlingen
Posts: 1060

England 2012 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 SW Indus Silver
Eduardo, good point made there. Having experienced a similar problem due to radio smog which immobilised my 90 TDi many years ago, I wouldnīt want to encourage the same to happen with the current Puma. I have about 12 metre range with an unmodified 2012 system, and that is plenty. Only 1-2 metres range would get on my nerves, as I recently discovered when the first attempt at installing the ignition key in the remote housing caused exactly that.
Stephen 1998 Tdi 90 SW,
2008 Td4 90 SW,
2012 2.2 90 SW,
2" raised Trailmaster/Terrafirma
Heavy Track Raids, 255 MTīs,
Recaro CSīs, anorak, wellingtons
Post #465818 23rd Oct 2015 1:34pm
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17451

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
Eduardo, you have a very good point.

Not long after I bought my Disco 2 in 2002, I had persistent problems unlocking it when it was parked on my driveway but not if it was parked in the road 20 or so feet away. I spent a lot of time researching remote locking systems, RFI, and other related stuff, and with the aid of various pieces of expensive test equipment borrowed from work (ie the MOD) established that the probelm was interference from a rogue TETRA cell (this was at the time that Dorset police's TERA network was being installed and commission, I think by Hutchison, but before it went live. The was a clear problem with a local cell which was causing very localised problems with vehicle entry systems, since the two systems use very similar frequencies.

Since at the time I wasn't sure if it was a faulty cell or something that was going to persist, I looked (with help from LR) into various solutions. One feasible option was in fact to reduce the sensitivity of the receiver, ie reduce its range, which actually worked. Another otpion we explored was to replace the UK-spec system with a Saudi (I think it was Saudi, it was certainly somewhere like that) system which operates on a different frequency well removed from TETRA, however this woudl (a) be illegal in the UK and (b) would potentially interfere with one of the RAF's radio systems, so not a good idea.

In the end I emailed Hutchison and explained what was happening and invited them to check their systems. They - quite naturally - denied that it could possibly be anything to do with the TETRA network but curiously withing 12 hours the problem disappeared and has never, at least not yet, recurred.

The point to this ramble though is that there is no doubt whatsoever that increasing the range of your entry system will also increase its susceptibility to noise.
Post #465874 23rd Oct 2015 3:51pm
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