I like all the keys for a car to match, including the fuel filler cap if it has a lock.
It is possible to buy a set of matching locks for a Land Rover Defender when you buy a new ignition barrel. I have not seen a way to change the ignition barrel lock, so the starting point has to be the whole ignition. I deliberately bought a kit with one more barrel than I had doors. That last one being for the fuel filler cap.
To fit a new lock barrel in the filler cap it is necessary to take the lock apart and drill a small hole to gain access to push the brass plunger that holds the existing barrel in place.
This was surprisingly easy and the whole job only took 20 minutes.
It probably does not matter but I marked the components as I went so I knew which way round they went back together.
To get the large rubber seal out I prised it from the edge with a screwdriver. This slightly bent the metal backing but it was very easy to flatten out.
Once apart, I offered up the new lock to find the exact point that the plunger was located.
I drilled a 2mm hole and used the same drill to push down on the existing lock. That came out easily.
I cleaned out the swarf from inside the lock and pushed in the new barrel.
In one of my mad scientist moments I have rigged up a test board for the central locking set-up I want to install in Fender. Specifically I wanted to keep standard Land Rover style (c.1998) key fobs but add central door locking.
This is the proof of concept (PoC) that I can configure a Discovery 1 Lucas 10AS immobiliser to work a third party set of door solenoids that I can fit in to our Defender. Land Rover models between 1995 and 1998, and a few years either side, used the Lucas 10AS immobiliser but with varying features enabled. The Discovery variants included central locking.
Among other things, as part of the PoC, I needed to be able to set-up a remote control key fob (blip) with the Nanocom. I've bought the add-on licence that allows me to have some of the Defender systems on my, otherwise, Discovery 2 (TD5) licensed Nanocom diagnostic tool.
The outcome is that everything I wanted to test, worked.
I now know which wires to connect and which way round to connect them.
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Configuring a 10AS with a Nanocom
The 10AS is on the Defender TD5 menu.
Before you start, always save the existing settings to an SD-Card.
You can open them to get back to, what is hopefully, a working state.
Key fob (plip) learning
This is on the Utilities menu Plip Learn
While the dialogue is on the screen press the plip buttons until the hazards flash or, if like me you are working on the bench, you hear the relay trip.
All plips that you want to work have to be done at the same time because you cannot control which of the 4 plip stores will be used so you may or may not overwrite the existing plips.
Just do one plip after the other.
When all are done, press the OK button on the Nanocom.
The plips will work immediately however I prefer to test with the Nanocom disconnected, just to be sure it has completed correctly.
Passive Immobilise
This caused me a lot of grief. There is a gotcha with this setting. If you enable this when disconnected from the car, the plips will no longer work!
It took me hours to find this out. I reverted all the settings and they worked, so I eventually set them one at a time until I found the one that caused it to stop working!
I assume this is a security feature. I would guess that if the passive immobiliser coil is removed the 10AS goes in to immobilise mode and stays there.
When I get it in the car I'll be able to test this theory.
[23 June 2018: I have confirmed that with a Passive Immobiliser Coil attached, the setting to use it can be enabled and the key fobs work as intended.]
The Passive Immobiliser requires the correct type of plip
I believe it is the Freelander versions that do not have the parts included on the circuit for use with the passive immobiliser coil.
You can't tell from the outside of the key fob.
If you have the unsupported type you could disable the passive immobiliser in the 10AS until you get the right internals for the plip.
This is taken from a forum post:
"Not all 17TN keyfobs are the same.
YWX101220 which is the correct part number for a defender has a built in immobilser chip as well as the radio transmitter.
YWX101200 is a freelander 2001 on keyfob which hasn't got the immobiliser chip. " http://www.defender2.net/forum/topic5063.html
All the key fobs I have purchased from e-bay, that claim to work with a Defender, have worked correctly with the passive immobiliser.
Defender and Discovery 10AS
I was unable to change the setting for the name of the vehicle. I was testing with a 10AS from a Discovery 1 and although the Nanocom would allow me to make the change to show Defender, when the settings were written to the 10AS, the vehicle setting reverted to Discovery 1.
Using the Discovery 10AS in the Defender, the engine management warning light is permanently illuminated. All the functions work, that I have needed. I've checked the circuit diagram and the only thing that connected to that indicator is the 10AS.
My guess is that, because I can't change the type setting, to indicate that it is a Defender, the 10AS is looking for equipment that is not attached. As far as I can tell, it does not affect the functionality required in a Defender.
According to the handbook, the engine management warning light is supposed to flash if an attempt is made to start the engine while it is immobilised. I have never noticed it do that and more often the hazards will be flashing as the alarm will have been activated. Therefore, I am happy not to have that feature in exchange for being able to add central locking.
Alarm Coding Data
When you go to write the settings you get a second dialogue that asks if you want to save the Alarm Coding Data and warns that this is for the advanced. I now press 'No' on that screen, so only the normal settings are changed and not the advanced data.
I am using educated guesses, so I do not qualify as 'advanced'. 'Dangerous amateur' would be a better description. I have tinkered with the alarm coding data but with unsatisfactory results.
I decided, as it was working, I would leave well alone, even though the entries looked odd.
I looked round to buy staging for the newly erected greenhouse but I wasn't completely satisfied that anything was better than I could make for the money.
I've used Dexion style galvanised angles to construct the frame and softwood slats for the surfaces.
There's a reasonable amount of work to cut the bits to length and tidy up the ends of the metalwork.
I made it a bit too close to the size of the greenhouse so I had to temporarily remove some glass panes to get it inside.
This is the first of two benches that will go in this greenhouse.
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On the following day, I finished the other bit of staging.
All of our outbuilding have ways to let cats out so they cannot get accidentally shut inside.
The greenhouse is no exception.
I could have added an off the shelf cat flap but they tend to be chunky and I thought they would look out of place on a delicate greenhouse.
I used a 4mm polycarbonate sheet as the base with a grey acrylic surround.
The double thickness was mainly to give it strength where the bolts pass through. I deliberately used a contrasting colour so that the cats would be able to easily identify the place they can get through the otherwise clear panels.
The acrylic is glued to the polycarbonate with cynoacrylate (CA, Superglue).
I used a disposable brush to spread it thinly then sandwiched the sheets between layers of MDF clamped together. I only intended to leave it 10 minutes but I ended up going out so it got several hours to set. The joint is solid.
I used M6 bolts with large penny washers to spread the load to hold a large door hinge in place. The hinge only swings outwards. The idea is that it only lets the cats out not in, so they cannot get trapped.
I'm pleased with the result. It looks how I intended.
The polycarbonate flap is not quite heavy enough to always close so I might add a weight if it becomes a nuisance.
==
And...
if, as we did, you want to have the cat flap somewhere else, it's easy to move the pane.
The design of aluminium greenhouses is very efficient. Someone has thought cleverly about how to hold the glass in and be able to assemble and disassemble quickly. However, the door on most of those that I have come across feels like an afterthought. The doors rarely slide well.
We reused a greenhouse from a friend and the door barely ran at all. I managed to sort that out. It's not perfect but as long as it is moved from the middle it slides open and closed easily.
The main problem, as I see it, was the runner at the bottom. On our's the door hung too low and the bottom rail of the door dragged in the runner. The trouble is there was insufficient height adjustment for the door.
Most people, myself included, don't find out that the door sticks until after having assembled the greenhouse. The most obvious thought was to slacken off some of the bolts and attempt to raise the height a fraction. This would require a lot of the glass to be removed for a minimal chance of success.
My solution was to file the holes, in the bottom rail of the door, in to slots.
There is no obvious way to easily remove the door. The two bolts holding the top runner to the door frame can easily be undone but that does not release it enough to remove the door! I found that if I slackened off two screws on the top rail, the runner for the door can be released and slid in-front of the door. This allows the two to be removed separately. Reassembly was the reverse.
I'm not sure if they were necessary but I fitted new rollers which came in the kit of door repair parts along with the lower plastic guides. It was the two guides I mainly needed from the kit as both of those were broken on my door.
There is a tiny bit of adjustment at the top of the door but that also needs some clearance or it sticks under the top runner. My modified screw slots in the bottom rail was what enabled me to get a good, perhaps 2mm, gap between the guide runner under the door and the lower rail. Luckily the glass still fitted in the now smaller aperture.
