Diy Tracker

[Guest]

If your van is not fairly new and covered by new for old insuarance you may not be so keen not to see it when you get the insurers valuation.

Small trackers like the Snooper and Garmin trackers are easy to hide. Unless you are going to hacve a big sign saying

"TRACKER FITTED" the thief is not likely to rip the van apart looking for it.

With a bit of lateral thinking and ingenuity and a look at your caravan roof fittings, front and rear panels and light clusters you'll nrealise that hiding it is not that hard, and nor is an independent battery power supply that lasts.

Surely the idea of a tracker is that you can track your goods before they have been trashed by the tea leafs!

Mobile phone tracking is somewhat limited, if it was reliable there would be no need for GPS trackers combined with GPRS.

If like us you spend time away from home with a tracker you havesome peace of mind that your goods are where you left them.

Mind you, we also have IP cameras as well and we can veiw our house on a mobile and pan and tilt and see that the garden has been watered.

 

[Reg]

euro

what software and camera do you use which allows camera control?

I have toyed with the idea of setting up a webcam to view the interior of the house while we are away. The only way I could think of doing it would be to leave the webcam taking pics say every 10 secs and posting them on a web page so that I could view them from time to time. Trouble is if I saved every image it would take up a lot of webspace after a month.

I would be interested in your approach.

 

[Guest]

Reg, you need an IP Camera.

D'link with movement detector and alarm is not cheap but should do everything you need

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=669
We have a D link camera in our garden that covere the garden and drievway and the house, in and on the house we have a multi camera system, I think it's a Panasonic system fitted by the alarm suppliers.

Do a search on IP Cameras or IP Security Pan and Tilt cameras.

There are many many cameras and do not need a PC connection, the IP (internet protocol) works as a stand alone system via a wireless router or can be wired to a router.

Movement detection and email alarm are options as is recording.

As usual, price governs features.

View anywhere in the world via internet enabled smart phone or a PC/Laptop.

 

[gary_374453681]

What would be the mechanics of tracking your caravan using the telephone method? Once the phone was hidden and running how would you follow it? Is there a web site or do you have to ask the service provider?

 

[Guest]

If you read John's first post you will see there is a web site that provides mobile phone tracking. There are others as well as his one.

'Cell' phones can be tracked by the networks technology to being within a cell, good accuracy and pin point position is not part of thatas far as I know.

GPS trackers can be accurate to within a metre or so and are easier to hide(smaller) and cheaper to track after the initial purchase price and also designed to be hard wired.

 

[Reg]

Just to settle a point Zafiral raised about bypassing the electrics. I have a professionally fitted Phantom in my van and they HAVE to bypass the vans electrics otherwise the insurance would not accept it.

 

[Zafiral]

Reg

I am just saying there is a difference with bypassing for an alarm that is designed (and approved) for this purpose. My mobile phone charger gets quite warm even when used for the correct time (few hours) rather than being left plugged in for weeks on end.

 

[Mikey1]

You have either 240 mains or 12v from the battery,the Phantom has a 12v feed so it relies on its internal battery if these are cut so the thought of having a seperate feed is wrong unless you have a second battery in the van

 

[Mikey1]

To add to leaving a 12v charger charging the phone for weeks is the current it would draw wopuld be quite meaning it would dicharge the 12v battery quite quickly.

As the chargers are not intelligent they will try and continually charge the phone resulting in an over charged battery,when the power supply is stopped the battery fails very quickly result no tracking phone.

 

[Surfer]

Okay so your caravan is nicked and you trace it and finsd it si on a traveller's site. What is your next move/

I would prefer a system, i.e Tracker, that notifies me when the caravan is moved and is recognised by the police who have the equipment in their vehilces to trace it very quickly.

 

[Guest]

There are GPS trackers with Geo-Fencing that will call you when they move from their normal home.

If it moves you can track it or ask the police to track it. If it was stolen and on a traveller site the police should sort it.

But with a tracker it should be found before it got that far.

 

[Steve L]

That was my point from the start Ian.

Leave tracking to the proffessionals and stop publicising sites that allow ametures to track items with no real creedance from either the insurance companies or the police.

After all what do you pay insurance for.

Also don't forget that the only person with a key for all locks is a pike key. If they are desperate enough to want your van the you trying to stop or track them won't deter them at all.

You would be better off buying four wheel clamps, a hitch lock, a couple of ground posts and a dog that barks it's wotsits off.

Even doing that will only slow down progress if they realy want your van.

 

[Gafferbill]

The OP thinks that mobile phones are tracked by satelites ........ we all know it is done by North American Indians!!