Wilson Electric Amp Install
The folks at Wilson Electronics set us up with all we needed to have the best signal we are gonna get out there on the road during our trips. We anxiously tore into the box to start opening packages in order to get ready for the install. We had everything we would need from their Dual Band Cellular Amplifier, to the cable that would be needed for the install, an interior antenna as well as an exterior antenna, a cradle for holding the phone as we travel.
We began the install with searching for a good place to mount the amp. Since this Jeep has no top and we have a tendency to hit wet weather we wanted a place that we knew it would stay protected and dry from the elements. We found the glove box to be our best bet, since there air blows through this Jeep enough and the fact that the glove box is not sealed tight we felt it would stay protected as well as cool. Before installing anything, make sure there is enough room to make all connections and have room to access them in the future if any trouble shooting is ever needed. We wanted our amplifier to work off of switched power and since the wiring on these old Willys Jeeps is very primitive we chose to pull our power from the switched side of the coil which happened to be very close to our amplifier mount making the hook up an easy one.
As with any wiring project you want as clean of a job as possible….. That means all of you guys that like to wire your stereos, neon lights, stereo amps and other stuff and just throw the wires on the carpet and call the job done, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG! Even in a vehicle like this where there is no weather strip, no carpet to hide the wires under we will still make every effort to keep the wires as concealed as possible. A little wire loom and strategic placement go a long way, enough of my preaching, back to the install.
Now that we have the power cable run it’s time to mount and hook up the cradle so we will have an antenna in the Jeep as well as the one that we will be installing on the trailer so we can have interior and exterior sources for cell phone reception. We picked a suitable spot to mount the cradle, ran the wire in as much of an inconspicuous path as possible and made our connections.
With everything inside of the Jeep connected and complete we were ready to turn our attention to the antenna on the trailer. After picking a spot for the mount that wouldn’t restrict our ability to get in and out of the trailer (we have a pretty steady habit of having to get one thing or another out of it) we marked our holes, drilled them out and mounted the bracket. The cable needs to be run in a fashion that it will not get caught up in any brush, branches or anything else that we may encounter on or off road. Since there is wiring for the lights it is a great spot to run the wiring and gave us something to wire tie our cable to, concealment is always your best bet when possible. Since we may need to unhook the trailer we wanted the ends to meet at a place that we wouldn’t have to crawl around on the ground to unhook. We were able to connect the cables just outside the vehicle so the connection is easily to disconnect and reconnect if necessary.
