Low cost GPS Trackers, £30 one-off and £5 per YEAR

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Madelvic
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Joined: Thu Aug 15, 2019 3:48 pm
Location: Scotland

Post by Madelvic »

I've been meaning to share details of the trackers I use and how to set them up.

Amazon, eBay, AliExpress etc sell GPS trackers from £20 to £30. The price of the unit varies greatly; I’ve seen the same rebranded sub-£20 tracker being sold for £180

SIMs

The trackers use a PAYG SIM and cost is £2 to £5 a YEAR

The best SIM, but being withdrawn, is the O2 Classic SIM. It costs 1p per MB for data. The next best SIM is from Asda Mobile at 4p per MB. 1pMobile seems cheap by comparison but has to be topped up £10 every 120 days ie £30 a year.

Important to note, the SIM MUST support GPRS / 2G; some SIMS like the PAYG offering from Three only work in 3G compatible or later devices and won’t work in the trackers.

Of course some monthly contract SIMS might work but why pay £5 a month when you will only use a tiny amount of the data / text allowance.

Trackers

I’ve used Coban branded trackers. The GPS303B again is ideal but hard to come by. The GPS303F or GPS303G has more bells and whistles but all the functions don’t need to be implemented (nor the wires connected).

My ideal setup is only 3 wires connected, a ground/earth, a +12V supply and an ignition switched 12V (ACC). The last ACC connection isn’t necessary if you opt for the ‘Easy Option’ below.

I bought these fuses and found free ‘slots’ in the car fusebox



Or you can attach a two wire version directly to the battery.

The trackers have an in-built Li-ion battery so they will alert you if the car battery is disconnected (and it continues to operate).

The Coban trackers are rebranded by many suppliers eg. BW, TK, Rewire, XCSOURCE

Here are links to some prices

AliExpress

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3235385 ... 6378%22%7D


eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401168344678 ... SwsnldQWoG


Amazon (expensive)








The trackers operate in one of two ways:

The easy option.

From your mobile you call the number of the SIM in the tracker, wait for the ring tone and hang up. The tracker sends you back an SMS text with a Google map link to where your car is (plus speed, date, time, and if you’ve connected the ACC wire if the ignition is on or off). This is an example:

SMS response.PNG






Click on the link in the SMS text and you’ll get the exact location of your car, eg:

SMS Google maps view.PNG







Managing the tracker (and making it secure)

The tracker is managed by sending it SMS texts.

For example:

password123456 654321

Changes the default password from 123456 to 654321

Having changed the password

admin654321 0799999999

Sets up your phone number (in this case 0799999999) as the only number the device will recognise

check654321

Then checks the status of the tracker

There are many many other functions on the tracker, eg geo fencing, but too many to go into here :D

Here are the three texts and the responses (with my mobile number obscured):



Setting up simple.jpg





The more complicated option

You can track your car realtime using either a web sign or on a Appstore app. You can also see the history of trips going back several months. It takes a bit more effort to set up and I'll do a separate post on this.

As a taster here are two screen captures from my phone (using the Traccar Manager app from the Apple App Store) and browser:

Mobile app view.PNG



This shows the routes I drove today (first shown in green on the map) with customisable data at the bottom

Web browser view.png



Hope this is of interest and of use :D
2017 Macan GTS Carmine Red
2005 Boxster S Artic Silver

Bluesnose1812
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Post by Bluesnose1812 »

Thanks Madelvic. Great to have you enlightening us all with practical advice.
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MacanSman
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Post by MacanSman »

Absolutely fantastic write up by Madelvic! Thanks for this - Much appreciated. :D
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Percymon
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Post by Percymon »

I bought one of the self contained Trakstar units, £28 from ebay but available from the well known China outlets too. I'm finding the battery lasts at least 5 weeks, even in colder temperatures. I went with an O2 sim initially but its pricey with monthly top ups; i'll be looking at other options so thanks for listing some cheaper alternatives :mrgreen:
Madelvic
Posts: 772
Joined: Thu Aug 15, 2019 3:48 pm
Location: Scotland

Post by Madelvic »

Thanks for the comments guys, appreciate the feedback. I'll write up the harder to set up option soon 8-)
2017 Macan GTS Carmine Red
2005 Boxster S Artic Silver
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