fitting radio

Hi, my 55 plate Rio left Danbury without the Radio option - that's how I bought it second hand. How difficult is it to fit a radio/cd? Should I get it professionally done?

It's not diificult at all if you are comfortable with doing some wiring. Would you be comfortable with adding a socket to your existing house wiring? If yes then a radio is no problem taken step at a time. Most radios plug into a cars wiring with a short adaptor lead (make of radio to make of car) The Brazilian has the slot in the dashboard but that is all. I'd recommend poering it from the leisure battery so you can listen on site without the ignition on. Danbury wire a radio adaptor straight to the speakers etc so it is difficult to change to a different brand of radio. I think it is worth the extra £10 to use a generic socket for the wiring and use the adaptor for your radio, then if you change your radio in the future then you just change the mounting frame (looks like a flimsy, rectangular piece of tin that goes in the dash aperture) and the adaptor lead. Remember that FM radio is supposed to shut down in a few years and we'll all need to buy DAB radios! A large branch of Halfords is a good place to get everything you need, not the cheapest but avoid a 'bargain' from a friend/boot sale/ebay as you may find the lead and/or frame difficult to obtain. Think about the facilities you need, is it mainly for listening to the radio (traffic bulletins are useful so Traffic Announcements is essential) Most have CD players and the ability to play MP3 discs is better if you want to be more in control of your choice of music. A USB or memory card slot is better if you are only going to play your own music. A remote control is actually very helpful in a bay, reaching the radio is a bit of a stretch and the controls so small and multi-functional, it's hard to 'get it right first time'! Need any more help then just ask.

Have you got speakers fitted anywhere? Generally they go towards the bottom of the front door cards and depending on your conversion in the roof panels at the back. However putting rear ones in the panel under the rock n roll bed seems the common thing to do. If you need any advice about installing speakers just ask.

I completely agree about wiring it to the leisure battery as it will save you grief! You will need to feed permanent power to the radio memory wire too. Depending on which radio you go for you may have to put a switch in that circuit to avoid draining the battery unnecessarily. The unit I've got should have had a wire to the ignition so that effectively it comes live when the engine is on. Because I wanted to run this from the leisure battery I had to put in a switch to mimic turning the ignition on and off. It's no great shakes.