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Harty



Member Since: 20 Feb 2021
Location: London
Posts: 24

United Kingdom 
Camping in back of 110 with wife
Hi all,

I'm heading to a music festival in the summer, and the wife and I have decided to sleep in the back of our 110 p400e. Does anyone have any advice on the following :

- Better to put mattress in back, or buy a roof tent ?
- If mattress, a double proper mattress, or inflatable ?
- If keys are in car, will the alarm go off if we lock the car to go to sleep, or do we need to turn alarm off (which I think can only do for one ignition start ?)
- Heard the battery can run low if keep open and closing doors without starting engine - is this something to be concerned about ?
- Any general advice ?

Thanks,

Harty
Post #1029599 28th Mar 2024 3:20pm
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Nicofender



Member Since: 16 Jan 2023
Location: Southern
Posts: 51

Germany 
Hi,
wife and I lived 6 weeks in our 110 through a journey on Iceland last summer.

- buy a decent foam mattress. It’s super comfortable.
- we had no issues with the alarm
- the new 110 is quite sealed, so anything over 15*C you’ll need good ventilation
- remove the lower part of the back seats for a flat area (just a few screws).

Have fun
Dominik
Post #1029715 29th Mar 2024 10:22am
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WizzardPrang



Member Since: 05 Nov 2020
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 123

England 
Regarding battery drain, the main culprit is repeated opening of the doors. Iv'e read that opening a door once and leaving it open prevents the PiviPro from repeatedly starting up and draining the battery. Also, just opening the tailgate doesn't start the PiviPro. Worth experimenting with these? Current vehicle: 2020 Defender 110S
Gone: Defender 90 HT 200Tdi, Discovery Sport, Freelander 2

Insta: wizzardprang
Post #1029791 29th Mar 2024 11:27pm
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Moo



Member Since: 01 Oct 2021
Location: Bath
Posts: 1035

Ukraine 
 Eiger Grey MY23 D250 SE with bits. Known as Noddy.
Post #1029973 31st Mar 2024 8:32pm
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WizzardPrang



Member Since: 05 Nov 2020
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 123

England 
Just read this in a different topic about 2nd battery installations:

Quote:
Changed ccf settings that the vehicle doesn't wake up when trunk and passenger doors are opened saves battery life when camping.


Game changer?

https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic86399-45.html Current vehicle: 2020 Defender 110S
Gone: Defender 90 HT 200Tdi, Discovery Sport, Freelander 2

Insta: wizzardprang
Post #1030136 1st Apr 2024 10:11pm
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Moo



Member Since: 01 Oct 2021
Location: Bath
Posts: 1035

Ukraine 
Yep. Didn't realise you could do that. Thumbs Up Eiger Grey MY23 D250 SE with bits. Known as Noddy.
Post #1030138 1st Apr 2024 10:44pm
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DaveCNB



Member Since: 15 Mar 2022
Location: So. Cal
Posts: 52

United States 
Nice that someone has figured out a CCF setting to keep the PriviPro system from powering up and wasting juice.

Some other things that make life more livable when camping in the back:

I found having an inside mounted rear hatch release switch from PowerfulUK to be really handing for camping in the back of the Defender. Not too hard to install but currently out of stock (check back, they restock frequently): https://www.powerfuluk.com/collections/new...ender-l663

If you don't have a rear hatch release installed and are exiting from the side rear doors just make sure you've unlocked the car (or kept it unlocked) to avoid setting off the alarm. It's not a big deal just to lock/unlock, your parking lamps will flash though and hopefully that won't be an annoyance.

If you're worried about your battery running down from opening/closing the doors alot, get one of the bigger jump start battery packs and keep it charged up/in the car just in case (good thing to have anyways and alot of them work as external battery banks for devices in a pinch).

Kinda gross, but a uh....disposable pee-bottle can take care alot of nocturnal in's/out's/draining the battery opening/closing doors...

Also since the back does get a bit stuffy sleeping in it overnight, you'll want some window shades and if you don't want bugs to come in if you crack the windows, some elastic mesh covers for the rear door frames work well to ventilate. Something like this (but check the size/dimensions for your Defender's rear doors which are bigger than most SUV's):
https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Car-Windo...amp;sr=8-5

A decently thick inflatable air/memory foam core mattress makes things super comfortable. There are several that are the right width for the back of the Defender 110, but most are a bit long if you don't dismount the rear seat bottoms and just have them folded forward. It's not a big deal to just fold the head section of the inflatable mattress back under itself and use the air suspension (if you have that option) to level things out.

Have Fun! --------------------------------

"Chonky" 2023.5 Defender 110 P400 3.0L, Pangea Green
Post #1030150 2nd Apr 2024 2:18am
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XplusYplusZ



Member Since: 16 Aug 2021
Location: UK
Posts: 417

Mattress wise - I went with the Exped MegaMat Duo 10 MEDIUM - which fits pretty well across the main width of the bootspace. Not a lot of room for kit (phone, torch, keys) once inflated (approx 10cm either side). I see now they do a megamat auto 10 - which looks like it would fit the defender very well, but no space for stashing stuff at all.
It's the best camp mattress I've owned - has an almost real mattress feel, with some actual structural padding rather than just a bag of air. I'd recommend it even if you go with the rooftent..

I also bought some natatenenga window vents to help with condensation/bugs.- (Not midge proof - I added some extra fabric to keep the little blighters out).

Window shades are expensive for what they are, so I just bought some silvered bubble-wrap type insulation and cut to size which worked ok - (SO many windows in this bloody vehicle!)

I only did a couple of days with a drive between nights, and no issue with battery. I had USB charged lights and some battery packs so didn't need much power from the vehicle itself.

Not being able to open the boot once inside was annoying, and needed some planning/gymnastics in the morning to get out the rear side door..

Don't forget to just do one lock push on the remote, rather than two which arms the alarm..
I didn't have a problem with having the keys in the car and locking the vehicle.
I think I might have also set the alarm off by trying to open the door from the inside without unlocking it. But I can't recall exactly what I had been up to - there was definitely a 3am alarm triggered during a pee run though!)

I am a relatively 'compact' person 5'8" and <80kgs. So my Mrs would be fine sleeping next to me. However, if you're a "fully grown adult" you might start to struggle for horizontal space. 'COSY' is how I described it. 'HOTEL' was my wife's response.

I would imagine the rooftent would offer MUCH more space for things you might want to lock away at a festival (BBQ, food, etc). And it might feel more secure too. Another option could be a solid parcel shelf which you can store your gear above your legs when sleeping.

I also remember wanting to take off the headrests to save space, but struggled to figure them out, so worked around it. But it didn't seem as simple as just pushing the collar button and pulling them off.

It was a bit of a shame that they've removed the time scheduled pre-heating function as I'd wanted to set it up to come on at 2am automatically to fight off the cold (it was sub zero). But instead I had to wake up and do it via the app. You should be fine in the summer though.

Mine is a 7 seater - so I made sure the seats were folded and locked into the flatest position. It worked ok, but I did slide a little bit, in future I'll try to park on a very slight decline to balance out the couple of degrees of slope of the seats.

Rain would have been a bit of a pain so an awning/gazebo would be nice - I lucked out but had a tarp and some poles ready just in case.
Post #1030187 2nd Apr 2024 11:32am
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ardevd



Member Since: 04 Mar 2024
Location: Norway
Posts: 15

Norway 
You could time the cabin preconditioning using something like jlrpy and/or Home Assistant btw.
Post #1030219 2nd Apr 2024 4:37pm
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JackW



Member Since: 10 Jan 2017
Location: Roswell, Georgia
Posts: 110

United States 1998 Defender 90 300 Tdi SW Coniston Green
I use an Exped Megamat in my roof tent - highly recommend them.
Another handy tip for camping in a 110 - don't accidentally engage the child locks for the rear doors if you don't have the internal rear door opening button from Powerful UK. My best friend was sleeping in the back of the 110 while I was sleeping in my trailer and he had to crawl out between the front seats for a middle of the night pee break - talk about an unhappy camper.

Click image to enlarge
Post #1030699 6th Apr 2024 3:20am
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Moo



Member Since: 01 Oct 2021
Location: Bath
Posts: 1035

Ukraine 
I'd definitely fit the rear door lock switch if it was me. It's a really easy job and makes getting in and out so much easier. Thumbs Up Eiger Grey MY23 D250 SE with bits. Known as Noddy.
Post #1030706 6th Apr 2024 9:48am
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