Intercept wrote:

Without making things expensive or complicated it should be possible to insert a bank of SPDT switches between the ODBII socket pin 7 and the ECU. Wire them all in series but randomly reverse the connections so that you have to set them to the correct code before the OBDII port will work.

i.e. if you have 4 switches and your code is 1101 then switches 1, 2 & 4 need to be ON and switch 3 needs to be OFF to connect pin 7 to the ECU.

Mount the switches on a box in a location of your choice, wire it up then fill the box with black epoxy potting compound. It doesn't need to be highly accessible but ideally the input and output wires won't be easy to bridge with a croc clip jumper cable.

4 switches gives 16 possible codes, 5 switches 32 etc i.e. 2^n combinations where n = the number of switches.

Just another layer...

meeerrrk wrote:

so can the trucks with no BBUS unit have one easily retrofitted?

blackwolf wrote:

^ Thank you!

You will appreciate that I haven't tried this so I cannot answer with absolute certainty, but as far as I can deduce shorting out the indicators will not deactivate the BBUS although it will deactivate the standard (i.e., non-battery-backed) alarm sounder. It will aslo deactivate the hazard flashers.

Cutting the feed from the battery to the BJB will also not deactivate the BBUS but would deactivate the standard sounder and the hazard flash feature.

To be more accurate, the act of shorting the indicators will actually do nothing at all until the lights attempt to flash, at which moment BJB Fuse 6 will blow and by so doing deactivate the hazard flash feature and the standard sounder. I think that the fuse blowing will also cause the BBUS to sound if it hasn't been previously disabled, but I haven't actually tested this (but I cannot see how it can fail to do this). Similarly cutting the feed to the BJB will also cause the BBUS to sound.

For obvious reasons I don't want to go into to much detail about the actions and the sequence of actions I think you'd have to take to steal a Defender, but what I will say is that if I were given a factory fresh Defender the absolute first thing I would do to beef up the alarm system is make sure that it had a BBUS fitted, and that it was fitted in a non-standard and inaccessible position, since I believe that this will give more protection than any other single alteration. Almost every attack method has to start with a BBUS disarm. Then I would do the LTB00386 modification and protect the battery-to-BJB cable, and also secure the bonnet and o/s wingtop insert.

I can feel a "p155 the neighbours off really badly" day coming on to try some of these things out!

hi blackwolf i got a rply from stacie but i am not sure i follow her reply ....

Hi Stacie yes I was disappointed with the response!l purchased my defender with the belief that it had a decent alarm and immobilizer.......only to find out that it is not really fit for .I now find out that (a couple of months after its warranty is finished)that the indicators share the same fuse as the alarm and the alarm fuse can be blown by shorting the wing indicators.To top it all LR knew about the problem with the alarm and even developed a fix for it as early as 2011 but tellingly failed to incorporate it into the manufacturing process.My biggest gripe is that LR are asking the customer to pay to install a fix to a substandard alarm system which in my case should have been fixed at manufacture once the problem was identified in2011.

Can you please answer the following questions...
1...Has the bulletin alarm fix been introduced to the manufacturing process ..if so what date and vin number
2....If the answer to above is no..why not? Basically are any defender owners covered post 2011 when LR identified the problem with the alarm.
3...Why do owners have to pay for a fix to a substandard product,a product without the fix that is not fit for purpose.

Please note ..this message will be posted on the open forum as a few owners are interested in the subject.

very prompt response!
reply from stacie 21/02/18
Hi Martin,

Thank you for your reply.

I have taken the opportunity to liaise with the Land Rover technical team who have advised the below.

There were 2 technical bulletins released for the alarm system in the Defenders.

LTB00893 is for vehicles from 2007-2013 VIN 732615-446832 – This bulletin is available as we no longer supply the old type alarm system (10as) due to the supplier no longer producing this product. There is not a known concern with the unit however if a fault occurred with the original unit the later system can be fitted to a vehicle.

LTB00877v2 is for vehicles from 2014-2016 VIN 446832-490328 – This bulletin is available for concerns when the alarm system does not work but if the battery is disconnected and then re connected it works correctly again. If a module was due to fail in this way we would expect to see this early on after the vehicle has been manufactured.

In answer to your questions I have listed the response from the technical team below.

1. The LTB is due to parts availability only and vehicles 2014 onward VIN 446832 have the later type module fitted.
2. Vehicles 2014 onwards were fitted with the later module as we could not get the earlier module.
3. There is no issue with the old type 10AS module.

Thanks, Stacie

im a little confused with the reply no mention of shorting the system!or LTB00386 which was in my original question.