Cheaper GPS Trackers (DIY!)

bluehaze said:

Wouldn't it be possible to hide an old mobile phone in the vehicle, although it would have to be left on charge. So if the vehicle is stolen you could call the google phone locator and find it?

That said, that is part of the cure and does little to help prevention. Diskloks are obvious and therfore aid the deterrent factor. However, a big f*@cking dog on the passenger seat also does the trick!!!!!

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It wouldnt work if they had one of them things as posted in the second post:doh:

unless you put an external aerial on the phone and run it right to the back of a landie - chances are the phone blockers have a very limited functional range... You could even put a propper aerial on the top - lets face it - most landies have cbs and fm aerials, what difference would one more make?

I like this idea - more research needed.

bluehaze said:

I like this idea - more research needed.

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Thanks -Which bit do you like!?

Looking at the parts, it could be put together for £100 each or much less if the parts were in bulk then the running costs would be the cost of a PAYG Sim Card (often free) and text messages when you wanted to know where your car was.

Having said all that, everyone here has a good point and have made me think twice about bothering..

Why £100? Can't an old mobile be utilised?

I'm chatting to the developer about that, it's do to with programming the chip to respond with the GPS coordinates etc... It's unlikely the chips in phones are able to work in this way.

The chip able to do this is a TELIT Chip and is by far the most expensive component of the parts required

bluehaze said:

Why £100? Can't an old mobile be utilised?

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yes, this is one guide on how to do it i've seen others which suggest similar methods.

http://www.atmguard.com/papers/UK tracking.pdf

Here's another link with a slightly different approach.

DIY anti-theft tracking for your car | GPS Tracking Systems

Hi again, those are both perfectly good ways to go but are not GPS trackers, they will only triangulate your phone position.

Here's the link which i've been researching:
Interfacing an AVR controller to a GPS Mobile Phone

an old iphone and a mobileme account wlill allow you to do this.
mobile me has a service that allows you to 'track' your stolen phone

its a ready made option.
all you need is
the iphone (any will do, can pick them up with a broken screen cheaply) £60 +
mobile me account £60

Hide it in the car, slap it to silent mode, rig it up to a constant power source.
Bingo.

forgot to add this
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqUVzohq8fc"]YouTube- "Find my iPhone" MobileMe Service[/nomedia]

mikeadams1985 said:

an old iphone and a mobileme account wlill allow you to do this.
mobile me has a service that allows you to 'track' your stolen phone

its a ready made option.
all you need is
the iphone (any will do, can pick them up with a broken screen cheaply) £60 +
mobile me account £60

Hide it in the car, slap it to silent mode, rig it up to a constant power source.
Bingo.

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But you can do this with any mobile phone for a fook of a lot less than £60.. and you don't have to buy a ****ty Ifone

redhand said:

But you can do this with any mobile phone for a fook of a lot less than £60.. and you don't have to buy a ****ty Ifone

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was unaware of other phones, that had an 'out of the box' service.
But yeah, i do think the mobile phone hidden is another option to added to the list of security measures.

I'm definitely going to look into this DIY GPS thingy.

My V8 90 – ‘Big Blue’ was stolen and recovered in January, it’s almost back on the drive now plus many, many new security measures – clutch claw etc etc.

Has anyone considered one of these wireless ‘baby monitor’ type devices?

You could position it on the driveway or inside the vehicle?

E-bay item: 350348935080

They’re on e-bay and you can pick them up for around £20 -£30.

OK most of you know that I quite like trackers as an option. The thing is that you can buy cheap tracking units on Ebay but they are just that... cheap chinese imports with low quality parts, old GPS technology. I could wax lyrical about the usefulness and reliability of more expensive units but I guess under the circumstances that would be spamming...

However

I do wonder, sometimes, why people (not aimed at anyone here of course), are willing to spend a **** load of money on their vehicle, trick it up, nice paint job and so on... but balk at the idea of spending a couple of hundred quid putting a decent tracking system in place.

I know that there are a number of ways that these systems can be compromised but to do that the cnut who is nickinig the vehicle has to know it is there - it is possible to combat the effect of lost GPS signals quite easily, though a jammed GSM signal does pose more of a challenge.

In the end, if they want it badly enough they will get it. As far as protecting your equipment or your motor... ya gets what yer pays for.

Ryder said:

OK most of you know that I quite like trackers as an option. The thing is that you can buy cheap tracking units on Ebay but they are just that... cheap chinese imports with low quality parts, old GPS technology. I could wax lyrical about the usefulness and reliability of more expensive units but I guess under the circumstances that would be spamming...

However

I do wonder, sometimes, why people (not aimed at anyone here of course), are willing to spend a **** load of money on their vehicle, trick it up, nice paint job and so on... but balk at the idea of spending a couple of hundred quid putting a decent tracking system in place.

I know that there are a number of ways that these systems can be compromised but to do that the cnut who is nickinig the vehicle has to know it is there - it is possible to combat the effect of lost GPS signals quite easily, though a jammed GSM signal does pose more of a challenge.

In the end, if they want it badly enough they will get it. As far as protecting your equipment or your motor... ya gets what yer pays for.

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Or in the case of the theiving scum 'THEY gets what you paid for'.

I quite like the idea of the cheap gps tracker, but for use on a trailer,

Mine lives is a locked alarmed garage with posts and cameras everywhere, as well as a huge gate at the estate entrance. Trouble is its not next to the house, so when alarm goes off i know via a phone call but it takes 5mins to get there, by which time the made off across the fields, normally in a stolen landy!!!

With that tracker i could locate the trailers whereabouts and chase it down and most likely catch the little pricks as it takes time to hook up a trailer, and they wont have got far across the fields with it.

It sounds like a good idea to me, people will buy it as its a one off payment and more for peace of mind and it gives you hope,
Like many have said already, all the security in the world wont stop thieves if they want it, THEY SHOULD HAVE THIER HANDS CUT OFF

lezbrucelee said:

Trouble is its not next to the house, so when alarm goes off i know via a phone call but it takes 5mins to get there,

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You probably want something different - You can get products that will text/ring you when an input is triggered.

The trigger could be anything, an alarm activation, increase in temperature, light turning on - whatever you want.

40 quid from fleabay plus a PAYG sim to go in it.

hope this helps

TheMiddle said:

You probably want something different - You can get products that will text/ring you when an input is triggered.

The trigger could be anything, an alarm activation, increase in temperature, light turning on - whatever you want.

40 quid from fleabay plus a PAYG sim to go in it.

hope this helps

Click to expand...

You could actually go one better. Use the tracker digital input to monitor a motion detector, or a light switch; door opening on the barn, whatever. Once the trigger is activated the tracker sends a signal to a receiver inside the house and telephones you simultaneously. The tracker then commences sending locations to your phone or laptop. These signals, direct from the machine, would be GPS lon-lat of course. However you could always have them relayed to a centrtal server that decodes the lat lon to an actual location and sends you that too, at least you would have a solid location to chase them down to.

It actually wouldn't be difficult to have the tracker activate a wheel locking device; though some level of power source would be necessary.

or some kind of death inducing device??