Vehicle Tracking: A Beginners Guide

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Al2O3 said:
Can't see how the body can be acting as the positive supply though, but don't worry about it.
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Dont worry too much about that, I think it was either some older vehicles that had a positive earth or might have been older military vehicles. Think its safe to say vehicles today are all negative earths. Still it's always safer to check with a meter if your going to wire something up to your vehicle esp if wiring it to an existing wire or switch and esp as some vehicle manufactures dont stick to normal wiring colour codes i.e Red wire does not always a positive feed and Black is not always a negative. I have a Black wire coming off my door switches but I have no idea if its a negative or a positive been too busy to put a meter across it.
Yeah I'm using a 2G Giff Gaff sim, but think its my Virgin network thats causing the delay as I can see when my Caravan alarm transmits a text, not all are received straight away, the delay varies quite alot. Might finish wiring up the GPS this weekend and give it test run, just depends on weather and other jobs I'm trying to finish :(
 
Al2O3 said:
Just got it switched on. It's sending me accurate location texts. :) The back2you app isn't straightforward :(
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Your not kidding, I've just spent the last half hour trying to figure out how to set the date on the tracker. The times ok but the date is out.
 
Oo, mine set itself within a few hours. I never played with the time settings though.
I'm away from home in Scotland fir a few days. Very good signal area and Im getting almost instant response from tracker when I set it.
 
Al2O3 said:
Oo, mine set itself within a few hours. I never played with the time settings though.
I'm away from home in Scotland fir a few days. Very good signal area and Im getting almost instant response from tracker when I set it.
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nice one enjoy yer trip
 
Does this tracker have a "last known" location stored anywhere? Reason why I ask is if someone were to find it, they would kill the power to it. Or if it were hidden in a container etc then you would at least know where the signal was last detected by the network provider before it died.

Does it auto set the time/date like a phone can?
 
Hippo said:
Does this tracker have a "last known" location stored anywhere? Reason why I ask is if someone were to find it, they would kill the power to it. Or if it were hidden in a container etc then you would at least know where the signal was last detected by the network provider before it died.
Good question and after a little investigation the only true answer I can give is no. The unit does have an internal battery which is kept charged by the vehicle power when I bench tested this device it did not send a message to say the external battery was dead. Unit is now fitted to the vehicle so further testing to be carried out.
Does it auto set the time/date like a phone can?
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It has set the time but the date is way out
 
just noticed that the date is wrong on the app when you ask it for its location, but the date and time is correct on the text messages it sends
 
John03 said:
thanks for the diagram

Looking at that diagram I would say the best place to wire the trigger on the GPS too would be the interior light I say this because it seems the LH and RH door are on two separate wires to the ECU so if you wire the GPS to one door wire say the RH door then all somebody needs to do is gain access from any other door and the GPS wont be activated. Looking at that diagram I think I will be wiring the GPS trigger to the negative that goes between the front and rear interior lights as the GPS can have a negative or positive trigger. I'm doing that coz I think if one bulb went the trigger would still work, be pretty unlucky to have both bulbs go;)
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After running a wire to the positive feed on the interior light and connecting it to the green wire I cant seem to get the GPS unit to do anything when I open and close a door I thought the system was supposed to send a text message to say the door had been opened?
 
John03 said:
After running a wire to the positive feed on the interior light and connecting it to the green wire I cant seem to get the GPS unit to do anything when I open and close a door I thought the system was supposed to send a text message to say the door had been opened?
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I though it did too, but I haven't connected mine yet. If you email the fella from the company (Chris cant remember his second name) via the contact form on the website he emails back pretty quickly, usually next day.
 
Al2O3 said:
I though it did too, but I haven't connected mine yet. If you email the fella from the company (Chris cant remember his second name) via the contact form on the website he emails back pretty quickly, usually next day.
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After taken the landy for a spin yesterday I also noticed the unit did not text me to say the vehicle has been moved. It did respond to location requests and did report it correct location but it failed to tell me the landy had been moved. After reading through the instructions again last night I sent a text message to the unit to 'ARM' it it responded straight away but still did not send a text message to say door opened after I opened it. Going for another road test now to see if warms me. If not a email to Chris when I get back it will be.
 
Al2O3 said:
Did you send it the 'move' command before you drove off?
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The system was set up two days ago to detect movement using the app. Again today the system did not tell me the door had been opened nor did it warn me the vehicle was being moved. Have sent an email to back2you's help so hope to get a reply soon.
 
John03 said:
The system was set up two days ago to detect movement using the app. Again today the system did not tell me the door had been opened nor did it warn me the vehicle was being moved. Have sent an email to back2you's help so hope to get a reply soon.
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That's odd. Mine detects the movement pretty quickly. Tested it a few times and worked fine. Accidentally left it on a few days ago when we were up Scotland alongside the East shore of Loch Lomond. Got a text a 150m up the road from the car park with a perfect location shown on the hyperlink it sent.
Chris at back2you was good at responding to messages via the site. If I asked a further question by 'replying' to his email I got nothing back. So, if you have further questions, keep submitting them via the website.
Hippo's question about last known location was a good one. I know it sends a text if the current supply is switched off, so if they rip it out you'll get a text straight away. Of course, if they know what they are doing, they will be able to put another supply on to it that allows them to remove it from the vehicle supply then they can take it away and finally disconnect it away from where they are. I think it would take something like Brown's real time tracker to have that last known location feature. Not sure.
 
Al2O3 said:
That's odd. Mine detects the movement pretty quickly. Tested it a few times and worked fine.
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Still waiting for back2you to replay, I'm pretty confident that its something I've missed in the setting up, just spent half the day going through all the wiring which was a real pain considering how well I've hidden it, and I'm confident there is nowt wrong with the wiring.
 
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