Author |
Message |
tarandusVDub Samba Member
Joined: August 27, 2010 Posts: 1649 Location: Between Here and There
|
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Link to the cycle tracker? _________________ 1990 Syncro 16" DoppleKabine 2.1 DJ 112i
________________________
Sold: 1972 Bay Campmobile; 1984 Westy, base model, 2WD. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16473 Location: Brookeville, MD
|
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 5:56 pm Post subject: Re: GPS locator to find a stolen Vanagon |
|
|
tristessa wrote: |
Jon_slider wrote: |
Cost $52, no monthly fees |
I was looking at that one on Ebay earlier, and it apparently requires a SIM card .. which means at least a few bucks every month or two to keep it active.
minsk wrote: |
srmpf the gps tracker form new egg is essentially yhe same thing as a celly...
its a reader and gps tranmitter for a sim card. just muuuuch smaller...you could totally hide is somewhere under the dash wire it into the ignition wire perhaps |
Just make sure it's someplace where the antenna(s) get GPS and cellular signal.
I saw a weather-resistant motorcycle tracker on Fleabay earlier, and the first thought I had was to hide it in one of the hollow areas under the luggage rack and run power to it from the dome light... |
I expect that I'll have to pay to keep a SIM card active. From what I have seen (so far) that is a small expense compared to a monthly service charge that some units require.... _________________ Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD
"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson
MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646
Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371
The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794 |
|
Back to top |
|
|
syncrodoka Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2005 Posts: 11998 Location: Santa Cruz, CA
|
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 6:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
dobryan wrote: |
My thought on hard wiring is that it should be possible to emulate any battery/power supply with the 12v Vanagon battery and appropriate doohickeys (technical term for I know it can be done but am not conversant enough in electrons to know what to do). |
That would be easy to do just get a cigarette socket charger for a device that takes 5v input (what the newegg product needs) and splice on the newegg product end plug. A iphone, ipad and sirius starmate cig adapters put out that voltage iirc. The amperage just needs to be right, that informatio should be able to be found on the factory power adapter.
Last edited by syncrodoka on Tue Sep 03, 2013 12:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
Back to top |
|
|
tarandusVDub Samba Member
Joined: August 27, 2010 Posts: 1649 Location: Between Here and There
|
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 7:25 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Sorry for cross-posting ~ thought this might be a better place to ask this more generic question...
There are a number of the remote GPS locator kits on the market ~ are there any that are integrated into alarm and/or stereo systems?
Seems like many on the market, like the Viper etc., are intended to lock out thieves in the first place by disabling the motor etc....have folks used those on Vanagons successfully, or are we left with having to find them once they have left the building? _________________ 1990 Syncro 16" DoppleKabine 2.1 DJ 112i
________________________
Sold: 1972 Bay Campmobile; 1984 Westy, base model, 2WD. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16473 Location: Brookeville, MD
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
tristessa Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2004 Posts: 3992 Location: Portland, OR
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
hans j Samba Member
Joined: May 06, 2006 Posts: 2713 Location: Salt Lake City UT
|
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 9:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
It seems it's going to be easy to find one that would work. Probably what we should be concentrating on is finding a SIM card that will keep the actual cost down! All of the trackers use one to send the location, but I'm not finding a great deal on one. I would try the fleabay cheap motorcycle tracker, it's cheap! But I need the sim card...
I read a couple threads about people buying cheap T-mobile prepay phones that have a certain number of texts loaded on to them. ATT has SMS only cards but run above $35 a month.
I wouldn't even mind having to pay $1 a text if that's all I had to maintain on it. It's not like I will be using it often (my van is pretty rusty...).
A lot of the local cyclists looked into the Tile kickstarter device. Really cool, but limited. Battery lasts one year, you can mark it as stolen and it will alert anyone nearby the tile-within bluetooth range and with the app installed on their phone too. So if you live in a densely populated area, I can see it working great, especially if you keep your vanagon low on fuel all the time... I might still get a couple, for the bicycle, one in the glovebox and perhaps one on my cat? But it's not high up on the list of things to spend money on just yet. _________________ 1986 Canadian Syncro Westy TDI - 1989 Syncro Single Cab - 2001 Audi S4 - 1981 VW Caddy ABA - 1980 VW Caddy EV - 1973 VW T-181 |
|
Back to top |
|
|
carterzest Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2008 Posts: 3842 Location: Eagle, ID/Sun Valley, ID
|
Posted: Mon Sep 02, 2013 10:34 pm Post subject: Re: GPS locator to find a stolen Vanagon |
|
|
kamzcab86 wrote: |
Didn't look at them all, but this line is certainly a plus in the description of ^that one: "No monthly service charges to be paid to the call center".
Carterzest posted this one in the stolen van thread: http://www.dewaltmobilelock.com/main.asp . |
Just wanted to add this here from the other thread.
carterzest wrote: |
insyncro wrote: |
I just had one on my vans broken into and a bunch of tools and my Pelican briefcase stolen out of it.
The briefcase had a GPS locator inside of it.
The NY State Police were informed and an arrest came within hours.
I am sorry to hear of a van being stolen.
All of my vans have locators in them.
They are not expensive, you will get an insurance discount and they work! |
^^^THIS^^^
We have great success with these in many varying applications at my work.
I started a thread a few years ago on the Thing forum and perhaps we should start a new thread for this forum?
We use these in many different ways but most of them need monthly charging. I monitor and respond to these and do not physically set them up, but, I am fairly certain that there would be a way to hook one up in a discreet way where it was always charging. They are about the size of a tape measure and have different mounting options. You can set them up for email, text/SMS, and telephonic notification-we use all three. You then can track in real time, the location of your property. Lets just say, we get a lot of arrests. That being said, I still do not have one of these in my vans |
Thanks for starting this thread. Looks like there are a few viable options out there.
Looking forward to the reports back with details and experiences. _________________ Happiness=Portland, Oregon in the rearview mirror!
Last edited by carterzest on Tue Sep 03, 2013 1:30 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
Back to top |
|
|
tristessa Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2004 Posts: 3992 Location: Portland, OR
|
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 1:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
Googling "prepaid sim SMS" led me to Telna Mobile, which appears to offer post-paid pay-as-you-go GSM sim cards for $19/year and 8˘/minute with free SMS service .. if I'm reading their website right. No connection to the outfit, I'd never heard of them before tonight.
http://www.telnamobile.com/
Also found Truphone at $29.99 w/$15 prepaid credit and 10˘/message SMS .. again, no connection, never heard of them before tonight...
https://www.truphone.com/US/
Hope this helps someone. If Telna checks out, that could be the key to GPS tracking for under $50 .. damn cheap insurance. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
kennyw Samba Member
Joined: September 03, 2012 Posts: 58 Location: Salt Lake City
|
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 1:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Anyone look into the PoketFinder car device? Looks like its $190 + 12.95/month, hardwired with battery backup and accessible from website/iOS or android. http://www.pocketfinder.com/gps-locator/gps-vehicle-tracker/ _________________ '15 Tiguan - Victor
'88 Westy - Maggy |
|
Back to top |
|
|
dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16473 Location: Brookeville, MD
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
bowtiebug Samba Member
Joined: March 17, 2013 Posts: 902 Location: North Texas
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
SyncroHead Samba Member
Joined: May 23, 2005 Posts: 1139 Location: Northern Nevada
|
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 9:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Quite an odd coincidence. I've been researching similar units for a couple weeks. My application is to track our 16 y/o teen driver when using our car.
I got this one with "live" one-minute updates plotted on a map with reports including ignition ON, OFF, speed alert, etc. Plugs into the OBD2 port on the Jetta TDI. Not really for the find the stolen vehicle application.
http://gpsandtrack.com/fleet-gps-tracking/
$265 for the unit and 1 year of data service. Free shipping.
Literally just received it at noon today and plugged it into my own Passat to start seeing how it works.
Here's one that's more apprprriate for stolen vehicle recovery:
http://gpsandtrack.com/car-gps-tracking-system/
$119 (or is it $139?) including the 2-wire unit and 2 years of service.
This is interesting:
The device’s intelligent power management algorithms result in a deep sleep mode current of less than 1mA.
$119 seems like very cheap insurance for two years of location service.
Jim _________________ "A Vanagon? It's not a car or a van. It's a hobby!"
Check out:
www.VANAVATION.com
www.SyncroSafari.org and
www.Vanagons.org
sphet wrote: |
I have *no* idea what the previous owner carried in his Westy... angry donkeys? |
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
rmcd Samba Member
Joined: October 29, 2010 Posts: 1348 Location: PNW - its a dry rain.
|
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 9:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
JPrato Samba Member
Joined: December 15, 2006 Posts: 788 Location: Livonia, NY
|
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
bowtiebug wrote: |
IMO $155 a year to recover a stolen classic is super cheap insurance .. |
A screaming bargain unless you are driving some POS that is 5 mins away from being dropped off at the junkyard. Unless you left the keys in the ignition you would probably have 2-3x that much damage to repair what the thief broke getting into your van. _________________ Joe
87 Syncro Tin Top project
84 Westy, 2.5L Subaru power
06 Subaru 2.5 turbo in waiting
46 Cessna 140 |
|
Back to top |
|
|
caseydenise Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2004 Posts: 1637 Location: The Great Swamp, NJ
|
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
Check out zoombak.com
I have a few of these, they are 12 volt charged. I hide them deep in the car, then put a trickle charger on the car. IF anyone steals it, they have no idea the zoombak is in there.
Hunt them down like a dog and kill them, simple. _________________ Central Jersey Volkswagen Society - President |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Jon_slider Samba Member
Joined: April 11, 2007 Posts: 5091 Location: Santa Cruz, Crowdifornia
|
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 8:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
> zoombak.com
$110 plus $20 a month
fwiw, for tracking my daughter I have used Find my iPhone. It is free, but Im not strapping a phone to my Van..
still waiting for someone to post that they found a GPS device with NO monthly fees. Or did I miss it? _________________ My Soapboxes: Inflation; Handling; Gearing; Decoupling; Swepco |
|
Back to top |
|
|
dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16473 Location: Brookeville, MD
|
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 8:04 am Post subject: |
|
|
Jon_slider wrote: |
> zoombak.com
$110 plus $20 a month
fwiw, for tracking my daughter I have used Find my iPhone. It is free, but Im not strapping a phone to my Van..
still waiting for someone to post that they found a GPS device with NO monthly fees. Or did I miss it? |
Several units posted have no monthly fee but you need to source an SMS SIM card which will have some type of fee (not necessarily monthly)attached. Looks like the trick is getting a good source for the card. Some good possibilities were posted in the replies. I haven't had the time to research them much though. _________________ Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD
"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson
MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646
Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371
The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794 |
|
Back to top |
|
|
tristessa Samba Member
Joined: April 07, 2004 Posts: 3992 Location: Portland, OR
|
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 8:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
Jon_slider wrote: |
still waiting for someone to post that they found a GPS device with NO monthly fees. Or did I miss it? |
A tracker that requires a SIM card + the Telna Mobile I linked earlier in the thread looks closest to that requirement -- $20/year for the SIM plus whatever per-minute/per SMS-over-1000 charges you run up.
It *looks* closest, but I haven't had time to investigate it further, and probably won't anytime soon. I've got a shed to finish building, a brake overhaul on the daily-driver Westy to finish, several dump runs to make .. plus work and sleep. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
HoustonPhotog Samba Member
Joined: February 20, 2013 Posts: 1514 Location: Houston, TX
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
|