how to track your car if it's stolen

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kingdragonfly

4466 posts

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#215217 17-Jun-2017 12:53

I had a friend ask how to track a car if it's stolen.

I suggested just reusing an old phone and use the built-in "where's my phone" application. For power I suggested wiring it into the car discreetly with a USB port.

If anyone's interested in a more professional car tracker, like one that's wired in, or a GPS logger, or a battery powered one that uses a magnet to attach to the underside of a car, you may want to watch this video.

Note while this can be used to track your children, it's illegal to stalk or spy on someone.

throbb

634 posts

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#1802574 17-Jun-2017 13:05

Or hide a tile somewhere?

cadman

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#1802594 17-Jun-2017 13:50

The trouble with using an old phone is it needs to be powered. A couple of days and the battery is flat in a phone. It's not wise to constantly run a charger off the starting battery - long duration low discharge rates will kill it. Perhaps on a timer for a few hours a day with an override (normally open relay tied in parallel to the cigarette lighter cicuit for example) to always charge it the vehicle is being used is an option though.

Bung

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#1802597 17-Jun-2017 14:08

throbb:
Or hide a tile somewhere?

That would only work until the tile was out of range of somebody else also running the Tile App. How many seconds would that take? Then it would be up to luck.

alasta

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#1802602 17-Jun-2017 14:19

Is there really any point? The factory fitted immobilisers in modern cars are pretty much impossible for the average car thief to circumvent. You just need to be careful where you leave your keys, including any spares.

cadman

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#1802607 17-Jun-2017 14:34

throbb:

Or hide a tile somewhere?

Tiles would be all but useless in the scenario of locating a stolen car. They only report the last known location based on people that are running the app. They are few and far between.

They're good for small items you may misplace around the home or office but no good for much else.

cadman

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#1802609 17-Jun-2017 14:39

alasta:

Is there really any point? The factory fitted immobilisers in modern cars are pretty much impossible for the average car thief to circumvent. You just need to be careful where you leave your keys, including any spares.

Don't be so sure and besides, you don't have to drive a car away in order to steal it.

Not everyone has or wants a 'modern' car either - I know I don't.

richms

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#1802642 17-Jun-2017 16:05

alasta:

Is there really any point? The factory fitted immobilisers in modern cars are pretty much impossible for the average car thief to circumvent. You just need to be careful where you leave your keys, including any spares.

Jap imports have terrible security on them compared to new AU or euro cars because its not a huge problem in their domestic market.

The cheap chinese trackers all seem to come with "a year" of access to some dire map site that the trackers will send to over GPRS. That doesnt seem to run out after a year on the couple I have actually tried it on, but login is hopelessly insecure on them using just the iemi of the device on one of them, so I was able to itterate thru the range similar to the ones I have and see where other people were - usually somewhere in shenzhen but I did find one that was driving around somewhere north of london. Ive disabled the internet stuff and just give the tracker a missed call to get it to sms back the location. Now vodafone are doing $10 topups that will make it even cheaper to keep them alive.

Tried in the past putting a different IP for the online stuff and had them sending the location over GPRS to home, but that was when I had them on 2degrees and it was horribly unreliable when moving between their own network and roaming and back again. Now there are some reasonably affordable 3g ones on aliexpress I will probably get one of those for the next car.

Richard rich.ms

kingdragonfly

4466 posts

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#1802648 17-Jun-2017 16:44

Tiles and Trackr are not really made for tracking cars, but here's a video.

SATTV

1015 posts

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#1802677 17-Jun-2017 18:09

alasta:

Is there really any point? The factory fitted immobilisers in modern cars are pretty much impossible for the average car thief to circumvent. You just need to be careful where you leave your keys, including any spares.

A colleague of mine thought the same so he only had third party insurance, someone got hold of his keys and drove off, the tracker he bought is still on his desk at work.

Turned up a week or so later smashed up ( write off ) in Coromandel, has cost him $300 to remove from the road to the towies yard.

If he had installed the tracker there would have been a better chance that he would have got the car back undamaged.

I dont have a tracker but I do have full insurance.

John

I know enough to be dangerous

Athlonite

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#1802757 17-Jun-2017 20:11

SATTV:

If he had installed the tracker there would have been a better chance that he would have got the car back undamaged.

John

Don't be so sure about that when my car was stolen it was reported to police twice for bad driving once in Gisborne in wainui beach area and then in Opotiki for the same thing and neither time was it apprehended it also drove over the toll rd in Taurunga without paying was it stopped on or at the other end nope

davidcole

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#1802767 17-Jun-2017 20:32

I've got a gps103b tracker (about $50 offf aliexpress) going to an azure GPSgate, I could run it local but you need something to update the IP address periodically.

From that I'm sent a boxcar message or emails with it starts/stops or over 105km/h

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Dynamic

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#1802854 18-Jun-2017 06:52

This looks promising:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1851162219/magpie-the-smartest-truly-global-gps-tracker-aroun

Kiwi team, IIRC.

Because it is subscription based, they should hopefully have a long term business model.

"4 wheels move the body. 2 wheels move the soul."

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Aaroona

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#1802899 18-Jun-2017 10:11

Dynamic:

This looks promising:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1851162219/magpie-the-smartest-truly-global-gps-tracker-aroun

Kiwi team, IIRC.

Because it is subscription based, they should hopefully have a long term business model.

That looks very cool - I'm tempted to back that one actually... just need to find a use for the tracker.

1-3 months is good... I wonder if I would be able to hard wire it to keep it powered... thinking for my electric longboard or something, just hook it up to the main battery.

Dratsab

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#1802917 18-Jun-2017 10:57

Dynamic: This looks promising:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1851162219/magpie-the-smartest-truly-global-gps-tracker-aroun

Kiwi team, IIRC.

Because it is subscription based, they should hopefully have a long term business model.

This looks really good! I'm quite tempted to get one for the car but wonder how long it'd last if it was left permanently wired in - it's the sort of thing I'd conceal inside the dash.

Dynamic

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#1803238 19-Jun-2017 10:34

For both the longboard and the car, you might be best to have a hidden switch so you can charge the unit occasionally so a) you don't have constant drain on the vehicle battery and b) you are not slowly cooking the unit's lithium battery.

I've set myself a reminder for a few days before the campaign closes to review the project and likely order a couple.

I use and really like the Tile bluetooth locators, but this device is in a different class altogether. I really hope the product launch goes ridiculously well and it becomes a Kiwi success story.

"4 wheels move the body. 2 wheels move the soul."

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams