Posted by Intro
Due to the high resale value of Defender spare wheels and spare wheel covers, they are very prone to being stolen. It seems the locking wheel nuts on the spare wheel aren’t enough to protect them, and the spare wheel covers themselves are hard to secure.
New L663 Defenders (ordered after March 2024) can have the option for a factory fitted wheel lock, at a cost of £50 (or you can get one from a Dealer for about £195). However, they’re not compatible with the spare wheel covers. If you want a spare wheel cover, you can’t order the lock.
Powerful UK sell a range of spare wheel locks, which are compatible with the spare wheel cover.
Powerful UK also sell a very clever kit which wraps around the spare wheel and hooks into the tailgate wiring. If the wire is broken (which it has to be to remove the spare wheel) then your alarm will go off.
You can attach the spare wheel cover to your wheel with a bike lock and it is possible to also wrap the Powerful UK alarm wire kit through the spare wheel cover such that the alarm will go off if fully removed. That said, the cover can be lifted off without the alarm going off, giving time for the thieves to have a crack at your bike lock and spare wheel lock before they finally have to break the wire and set off the alarm.
What I wanted to solve was this problem. If the alarm went off as soon as the spare wheel cover is removed, the thieves will have a lot less time to do the deed.
Preparation
The solution I have come up with is to connect a microswitch in the middle of the Powerful UK spare wheel alarm loop wire. This microswitch mounts to the plastic cover of the Powerful UK spare wheel lock. The spare wheel cover will press on the switch and close the loop. When the cover is removed, the switch will depress and break the loop thus sounding the alarm.
This modification is based on the Powerful UK spare wheel lock and spare wheel alarm kit. You should order the correct lock for your wheel type and also order the alarm kit.
You can now install the lock and alarm kit in the standard way. The videos on the Powerful UK site are, as always, great.
Alarming the Spare Wheel Cover
The basis of this solution is a microswitch with lever. This is a small switch which is pressed by a lever. The idea is to mount this in a way that when the spare wheel cover is on, the switch is pressed by the cover. When the spare wheel cover is removed, the switch is depressed and the alarm goes off immediately.
You’ll want a waterproof switch, since it’s fairly prone to getting wet. Here’s a good cheap one.
To make your life easier, you’ll also want to get the same connectors as Powerful UK use on their alarm wire kit. That means your switch will be plug and play – you can simply plug it in-line with the alarm wire kit. You’ll need a male and a female connector.
With those 3 parts purchased, you need to do a small amount of soldering to attach the connectors to the switch wires. On the switch I linked to above, this is the blue and black wires. You can cut off the red wire as you don’t need this.
It doesn’t really matter which way round you put the connectors. I put the male on the black and female on the blue.
Now you want to somehow attach the switch to the 3D Printed plastic cover which comes with the Powerful UK spare wheel lock. You have 2 options…
Bodge it with hot glue
I originally used a hot glue gun. You want to align the front of the switch with the front of the plastic cover. You can adjust the switch by bending out the end of the lever, so you don’t need to be super accurate here. Alas, the glue did give way after a few months so I re-did it, using a lot more this time.
Get somebody with a 3D printer to print this handy switch mount
A friend kindly designed and printed a mount for the switch. It goes over the Powerful UK plastic wheel lock cover and you can keep it in place with some super glue. The 3D printed ring wants to sit flush with the front of the Powerful UK cover. The switch then goes into the slot and can be held in with a small dab of super glue or hot glue.
If you know somebody with a 3D printer or want to get one of those cheap online companies to print you one in China, here’s the STL file you’ll need to send them.
Finally, fit the plastic cover to your Defender’s spare wheel lock and connect the wires into your Powerful UK alarm loop. Here’s a photo with the hot glue and 3D printed solution.
If you depress the switch with your finger and then lock the car, when you release the switch the alarm will sound:
Now you can re-fit the spare wheel cover. The switch has a very audible click when it is pressed. Listen for this when you apply the cover. If the switch isn’t depressing adequately, just bend out the lever a bit.
Here’s the final result:
If you have any questions, leave a comment.