The last couple of weeks I've been pulling together all the bits needed to do some modifications for the RR ahead of Summer (Camping!). I thought this might be of interest to anyone doing overlanding type stuff, so I'll try and document and pull it all together here.

List of things to fit;
- Slimline roofrack from FrontRunner Outfitters https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/d...k-kit.html
- 40" LED Light Bar (OSRAM but also from frontrunner) https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/d...f-roa.html
- LED Reversing light (OSRAM, fitted to roof rack*) https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/d...-beam.html
- Frontrunner EasyOut Awning (with movable arm, so opens over the back of the vehicle) https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/d...ng-2m.html
- Second battery (~80 aH AGM) https://bateriasweb.com/bateria-solar-85ah/
- CTEK DT250SE DC to DC Charger https://www.ctek.com/uk/battery-chargers-12v-24v/d250se
- 200watt Solar Panel (to top up the service battery) https://www.lensunsolar.com/Products/Flexi...uct_id=771
- Dashcam (VIOFO A139 PRO 2CH 4K HDR Front and Rear Dashcam) https://viofo.com/dash-cam/291-viofo-a139-...ensor.html

I've got the roof rack fitted already and the dashcam, this weekend I've been adding the secondary battery and a bunch of wiring. So this'll be a quick update post to bring you up to speed!

First thing I fitted was the roof rack. I went for the FrontRunner Slimline which came with a fitting kit, but suggested the roof needed to be drilled. I was not happy about drilling the roof and logic told me that it didn't make sense - Land Rover have put specific points for a roof rack and I figured these would be the strongest points to mount a rack to - I think this logic was borne out when I removed the headlining, there's a lot of intricate metal work around the roof gutters and very little of the roof which is single sheet.

I ended up drilling two new holes in the provided FrontRunner rails and this enabled the rack to be fitted perfectly.



Rack is bolted into the roof using the LandRover points and bolts from a set of Land Rover rails, this works great, though the heads of the nuts are slightly bigger than those supplied by FrontRunner, so it's harder to adjust the feet of the rack once it's positioned - I don't think this is an issue.

The rack is positioned a little fore of the roof, this was on purpose to make sure there's space for the awning to be deployed at the rear.

With the rack in this position the centre bolt of the supplied rails is in-line with the centre bolt of the Land Rover mounting points.



The rack is extremely sturdy and fairly low profile. With just the rails mounted the rails are more discrete than the Land Rover bars (which I prefer).

Next up was fitting the lightbar (I'll come back to the wiring later), which was a simple job of fitting with the supplied mounting kit from FrontRunner. It doesn't foul the sunroof, nor does it encroach beyond the windscreen (so no glare). It's an 8000 lumen beast, but LED so only ~200 watts.

Click image to enlarge

I want to be able to run camp equipment from the car (mostly a fridge!) and I intend to use some of the roof rack space to have a solar panel fitted. The idea is the solar will keep a secondary (service) battery topped up, enough to keep the fridge running without having to worry about flattening the primary/starter battery.

I looked at all the various voltage sensitive relays (VSR)'s and other solutions and decided a DC to DC charger was the best option. After having great experiences with the CTEK chargers, I went for the CTEK DT250SE.

Basically this will manage the charging of the service battery and has a MPPT capability to also charge the battery from a solar panel. It will take up to ~20A of charge, either from the alternator or solar panel. This is about plenty for running the fridge.

You can additionally put another add-on to the CTEK to be able to charge faster, or drive bigger loads, but for my purposes I think this is plenty.

I sourced locally a 12v AGM battery with 85aH (@ C100 and 75aH at C20), it's an "OZONYX" brand, cheap and cheerful, 89 euros. Having looked at the more expensive options I didn't think it'd be worth spending too much on one.

Dimensions of the battery are a fairly standard 278 x 175 x 190 mm.




Once the tow-hitch is removed, you basically have enough space to fit this battery with a bit of room around it. The wiring harness does need to be shifted and there's one bolt protruding into the battery box that will need removing.


The shiny section in the picture above is where it used to be - a quick blast with the angle grinder and then some fettling with the die grinder and you have a nice new home for the battery. Stick some paint on the ground metal to ensure it doesn't rust in the future.

I've not yet strapped the battery down, but it should be easy enough using a strap attached to the mounting points both sides of the battery box.



With the plastic shelf re-fitted, there's easily enough space above the battery and a fair bit of free space to the right. The wiring loom I think is best sitting above the battery as shown.

Next job is to work out where to fit the DT250SE...


Would you believe it, fits pretty perfectly in the space where the remote heater start should go (I've removed mine as I never use it, if you wanted to retain it you can shift it up above the fuse panel without too much hassle, there's lots of extra space there.

I didn't take a picture, but I'm using the bottom two mounting holes of the DT250SE to bolt the box into the metal plate - drilling two small holes in the metal frame. I'll take a picture and update the post, but it's pretty obvious where to put them, 90mm spacing between the holes.

This is about as far as I got today before I lost light, so the next job will be to start running all the cables - the mounting of the battery and DT250SE isn't *super* ideal in terms of orientation but the fixed cables for the temp sensor and battery type are better pointing up as they allow the DT250SE to sit flatter and higher, so it's a little compromise.

I have actually fitted the dashcam and run a number of cables through the rooflining for the relays for the spotlights, but I've not taken pictures of that yet as I'm still working it all out, but expect an update in the middle of the week as I get time to document and explain.

Very nice setup - is there much wind noise with the unloaded rack? The Frontrunner rack for the L319 has some deflector plates to prevent some of the whistling.
Also, how much negative effect upon GPS reception is there with the rack over the receiver?

Good question!

There was/is a couple of wind deflectors provided, but I've not yet fitted them or actually been for a drive with the rack fitted - I would expect there to be some noise, but I've also got a couple of boxes to fit to the roof and the awning itself is likely to create some, so I am prepared to deal with this - will take a video once it's all done!

The GPS receiver is actually going to be moved - my intention is to avoid drilling new holes in the roof by re-using the GPS mounting point to route the cabling into the car (there's going to be 7 cables needed in total; +/- for both the solar and led lightbar, then -/+/+ for the reverse/work lamp which has two separate sets of lights in).

I'm intending to 3d print a new base for the GPS moving it up and forward a little, with the wires routed through the new "foot" of the GPS antenna.

We'll have to see how that goes, not sure there's enough clearance for it to fit, but I'd rather avoid making any other ways for the roof to rust than is absolutely necessary

I don't think I'm really using the GPS antenna anyway tbh, I use Waze via Naviplus for navigation and I don't think it's taking the GPS info from the onboard GPS, but rather using the iPhones GPS. I'm not 100% sure on this though, I know the CarPlay spec's have the option to pass the cars GPS data to the phone via the carplay link, I just don't think that's happening with the Naviplus - I have it on my list to check though!

Yep, there's always going to be wind noise with a roofrack - I found the deflector plates reduced the whistling as opposed to just 'wind' noise, I did try it with them not fitted and there was a positive difference with them installed. I found the wind noise was more noticeable with an empty rack, I also tried to avoid having anything too tall at the front as this increased wind noise and fuel consumption. The awnings (one on each side) I used were the Hannibal self-supporting ones, easy and quick to deploy even if it's just a 'brew stop' - The side curtains made it a useful kitchen too.

You could probably relocate the GPS receiver into the high level brake light, it's a standard 5v phantom powered unit so you don't need to 'gut' the fin, just leave it in place and get a cheap receiver from fleabay and mount it in the spoiler with the aid of a Dremel.... I used to use Fugawi mapping on a 'car PC' with a decent rugged touchscreen which was great for North Africa, these days, I find Outdooractive on a reasonable size tablet with external GPS receiver and a EUR29 annual subscription which gives me EU Topo maps and UK Ordnance Survey maps to be a good replacement.

Here's a screenshot of an area I was in a few years ago

It's probably not needed to be honest, I was toying with the idea of just disconnecting it and using the hole in the roof...

When you say a standard 5v phantom powered unit, what's it running? It looks like just a 2 pin connector, so is it serial? RS485 or something? Spitting out NMEA data?

I'll have to do a bit more testing with the NaviPlus/CarPlay and see if it's making use of the GPS data, if it is then I'll re-locate it rather than remove it - but knowing I can replace it is good to know as it'll give me more options for re-locating.

I'm trying to keep every modification as minimally intrusive as possible, but 3d printing a new housing and re-locating the GPS onto the roof-rack itself is definitely possible if needed!

Yes, it's just a coaxial connector one of these will connect directly to the back of the Nav. module https://www.amazon.co.uk/Connector-Receive...B08S75WCDL leave the LR one where it is, you could mount the replacement in the high level brake light or just magnetically through the tailgate seal onto the roof - I've seen them work adequately mounted on the rear trim by the side windows in the boot.
There's probably no need to 3D print anything, a 100 x 100 x 30 adaptable box would mount on the roof and have space for a weatherproof connector or just a couple of cable glands, depending if you intend to remove the rack or not, just use some Butyl tape to seal around the edges.

Right, so it's just an antenna rather than anything else, that's good to know!

It's easy enough to 3d print something, I can make it the same shape as the original and keep it discreet looking that way, lots of options!

Thanks!

The housing was designed for VICS, GPS and GSM antennas, market & options dependent, the GPS antenna is 50 Ohm coaxial to NMEA serial standard, which pretty much all the cheap ones on Amazon / fleabay are, just make sure it has a Fakra connector and it's just a plug-in changeover.

Solar panel(s) arrived today!

Didn't have much time to play around as, y'know, work, but I had a quick test with the roof rack and it looks to fit pretty well!



At about 1pm, with a bit of hazy cloud, laying flat on the floor it was >100 watts (200 watt panel). Angling it towards the sun it went up to 140watts, so that'll do me!




The panel is supplied with these velcro straps, which actually do a decent job of holding it down to the rack, for the leading edge - though I don't think I'll be using these.




The eyelets are also perfect for bolting it straight to the FrontRunner rack, so I think I'll go this route for the back and sides. For the front edge I think I'll try and knock up some kind of angled piece to cover the front edge and hold it down.

All looks good!


Lastly, just a quick shot of the switches installed into the rear centre console for the aux lights (LED lightbar and the reversing light).

I'll be powering the relays switched feed from the main beam and reversing lights and just using these switches as a way to disable the extra lights completely (MOT time!). So this location should be fairly convenient for the switches (I can reach them easily from the drivers seat too).

That solar panel looks great, good output for the size too. what is the output voltage regulated to?

It's a 12v panel, open circuit voltage is 22v, in line with the CTEK's limit.

https://www.lensunsolar.com/Products/Flexi...uct_id=771

Ah, right - sorry, I missed the DC-DC converter in your list! I assumed it was an all-in-one package but was confused as there was no voltage regulation in the specs.

Yup! The DC-DC converter seemed like it'd be a more reliable solution than VSR's etc and it has an input for up to 25amp of solar at 12v, with an MPPT controller to get the best out of the panel

A lot of vehicle charging systems are migrating to DC-DC converters, it keeps the batteries charging at the correct voltage whilst having a lower system voltage on the vehicle, which stops, or at least reduces premature ageing on electronic components. It was first introduced with hybrid drive systems but has gained 'traction' since (sorry, couldn't resist )