Fitting Stereo into 1980 Land Rover Series 3

Looum · Mar 1, 2023

Hiya everyone, so my boss has a 1980 Land Rover Series 3 imported from SA and he wanted a stereo fitted into it, it didnt come with any wiring so he hired someone to fit some, they connected it up to the battery but it was constantly live so it drained the battery over some time, also they didnt earth/ground it properly. In the end he was using the stereo one time and all of a sudden it started smoking so he unplugged it. I had a little look at it yesterday and the entire ground cable has melted. I was wondering if there was a way to connect a wiring loom without having to connect it to the battery so he could then connect a stereo harness to it to use on a daily basis, would like some opinions before I go ahead and try anything. Im capable to installing everything I just wanted some advice from people who know alot more about Land Rovers than me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S I would be looking to hook the stereo up via a fuse in the fuse box located just under the steering wheel via a fuse that is ignition rather than live so it isnt constantly powered. Can upload photos at a later stage if needed.

steve24v · Mar 1, 2023

Hi, welcome to the forum.
Best posting this in the series section of the site (someone with more knowledge will be able to answer you).
But as you're here, I fitted one to my 90 which didn't have a radio or any wiring. I bought a radio (nothing special) and a wiring adaptor with loose ends which I then used spade connectors to wire up to the vehicle. Radio came with a wiring diagram so was easy enough to do, just got the live from a switched feed (didn't bother with a permanent as I had a kill switch to isolate the power for a security measure), earthed it and then wired the speakers. Think I put an inline fuse into it although the radio had a fuse on the back.

kevstar · Mar 1, 2023

Looum said:
Hiya everyone, so my boss has a 1980 Land Rover Series 3 imported from SA and he wanted a stereo fitted into it, it didnt come with any wiring so he hired someone to fit some, they connected it up to the battery but it was constantly live so it drained the battery over some time, also they didnt earth/ground it properly. In the end he was using the stereo one time and all of a sudden it started smoking so he unplugged it. I had a little look at it yesterday and the entire ground cable has melted. I was wondering if there was a way to connect a wiring loom without having to connect it to the battery so he could then connect a stereo harness to it to use on a daily basis, would like some opinions before I go ahead and try anything. Im capable to installing everything I just wanted some advice from people who know alot more about Land Rovers than me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S I would be looking to hook the stereo up via a fuse in the fuse box located just under the steering wheel via a fuse that is ignition rather than live so it isnt constantly powered. Can upload photos at a later stage if needed.

Hired some numpty to wire it to the b@ttery

T@ke @ feed off the switched ignition live so it only comes on when the key is turned, put @n inline fuse to it. Job jobbed.

Looum · Mar 2, 2023

steve24v said:
Hi, welcome to the forum.
Best posting this in the series section of the site (someone with more knowledge will be able to answer you).
But as you're here, I fitted one to my 90 which didn't have a radio or any wiring. I bought a radio (nothing special) and a wiring adaptor with loose ends which I then used spade connectors to wire up to the vehicle. Radio came with a wiring diagram so was easy enough to do, just got the live from a switched feed (didn't bother with a permanent as I had a kill switch to isolate the power for a security measure), earthed it and then wired the speakers. Think I put an inline fuse into it although the radio had a fuse on the back.

Thankyou for the reply. I have also posted it somewhere else on the forum aswell. Where abouts did you wire it to the car using spade connectors. Want to be as easy as possible as it's an old car with old electrics. I believe he also has a form of kill switch but it was still draining power from the battery

Looum · Mar 2, 2023

kevstar said:
Hired some numpty to wire it to the b@ttery
T@ke @ feed off the switched ignition live so it only comes on when the key is turned, put @n inline fuse to it. Job jobbed.

Hiya thankyou for the reply. Are you talking about connecting the power to a switched ignition live fuse then put an inline fuse in and connect it to the speakers etc

kevstar · Mar 2, 2023

Looum said:
Hiya thankyou for the reply. Are you talking about connecting the power to a switched ignition live fuse then put an inline fuse in and connect it to the speakers etc

No id t@ke @ feed off the ignition switched live with @ fuse in it, if you piggy b@ck onto @nother
fused feed it might be too much @fter the stereo is powered up, the spe@ker wires come from the
stereo so no need to power them.

Looum · Mar 2, 2023

kevstar said:
No id t@ke @ feed off the ignition switched live with @ fuse in it, if you piggy b@ck onto @nother
fused feed it might be too much @fter the stereo is powered up, the spe@ker wires come from the
stereo so no need to power them.

Ok thankyou. Maybe if there is a fuse location that is powered but not in use by another fuse I could use that instead. I've seen alot of cars that have fuse locations with power but there isn't anything in there

kevstar · Mar 2, 2023

Looum said:
Ok thankyou. Maybe if there is a fuse location that is powered but not in use by another fuse I could use that instead. I've seen alot of cars that have fuse locations with power but there isn't anything in there

Yer you could look not m@ny fuses in @ series

Looum · Mar 2, 2023

kevstar said:
Yer you could look not m@ny fuses in @ series

Great thankyou atleast then I can power it and connect the memory from the stereo then connect the speakers to the back of the stereo. Thankyou for the help I appreciate it alot I'll let you know how it goes. Will also check the stereo to see if the previous issue has buggered the stereo

steve24v · Mar 2, 2023

Looum said:
Thankyou for the reply. I have also posted it somewhere else on the forum aswell. Where abouts did you wire it to the car using spade connectors. Want to be as easy as possible as it's an old car with old electrics. I believe he also has a form of kill switch but it was still draining power from the battery

I rewired all the electrics in my 90 and put a junction box type thing where I took all the switched lives from (doesn't help in your situation though).
Like kevstar says, just find a switched live wire (don't know much about series vehicles, but find one behind the ignition barrel and connect into it), connect an inline fuse going to the radio.
Im assuming there would be a wire for a permanent feed for the memory of the radio, this would have to bypass the isolater switch he has.

brianp38dse · Mar 2, 2023

Hello and welcome

miktdish · Mar 2, 2023

Looum said:
Hiya everyone, so my boss has a 1980 Land Rover Series 3 imported from SA and he wanted a stereo fitted into it,<snip>

Terrible idea.
Up to and including early Defenders are great because they don't have any electrics.
There really isn't anything to go wrong.
Look at the TD5 - problems, issues and more problems all mainly electrical, modern land rovers, the same, electrical gremlins.
Tell your boss "don't do it, sing at the top of his/her voice on the way to work instead".....

Fitting Stereo into 1980 Land Rover Series 3

Looum

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steve24v

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kevstar

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Looum

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Looum

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kevstar

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Looum

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kevstar

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Looum

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steve24v

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brianp38dse

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miktdish

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