Permanent live

[barrieW]

I've recently bought a Gps tracker for my caravan that needs a permanent 12v live wire where is the easiest place to find 1. Does the 12 volt spot lights on a switch have a permanent feed to them i'm stuck

 

[ProfJohnL]

The only guaranteed permanent live wire will be direct from the battery, virtually all other 12v lights and other 12 appliances will be usually switched through the main control panel.

 

[barrieW]

Thanks for the reply John, will that not be too powerful direct from the battery the live wire on the tracker is thin it's hard to find anywhere on the internet that explains it to you, I read 1 forum that said go from the fuse box, I do have the radio/cd fitted but pretty sure there's no direct live to it as it doesn't store presets for the radio thanks again Barrie

 

[Parksy]

The only guaranteed permanent live wire will be direct from the battery, virtually all other 12v lights and other 12 appliances will be usually switched through the main control panel.

to
A permanent live direct from the battery would defeat the purpose of having a GPS tracker in the first place.
A caravan thief would immediately find the connection and disable the tracker.
Use a 12 V tester to find a live feed from the fuse board .

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Barrie,
From the nature of the question you have asked and your response to my comment it suggests to me you are not familiar with the basics of electrical wiring. If you are not adequately familiar with such matters I urge you to refer the installation to a professional, as even 12V systems can present a fire hazard if not properly completed.

Hello Parksy,
Even a feed taken from the 12V fuse block will be subject to interruption if the battery is disconnected, though I do agree it would be less obvious.

 

[barrieW]

Thanks for the advice i have asked an electrician friend and he said the same as you i could go direct to the battery as long as i had a fuse in the lead, but also said it would be pretty obvious what the extra wire was for, but did say there definitely should be a permanent live feed to the isolation switch, thanks for your help the vans insured ha

 

[jignc]

I thought these units had a built in battery charged from the main battery so if the main battery was disconnected then you could still connect to the unit and find out where it was.

It seems pointless to have a system that can be disarmed as easy as removing the van battery.

You could install a second battery hidden with the GPS and charge it from the van 12 volt supply.

 

[Gafferbill]

You could install a second battery hidden with the GPS and charge it from the van 12 volt supply.

..............that is what I have done and I use one of these rechargeable 12 volt batteries

 

[barrieW]

The more expensive trackers do mine was only £15 off ebay, but it's in and working fine, i borrowed a 12v tester and rang a electrician mate and he talked me through it thanks for all the replies it's a handy site

 

[DrZhivago]

The only guaranteed permanent live wire will be direct from the battery.

As the Prof generally knows what he is talking about, I am sure he did not mean to imply a wire with no fuse in it.

In a caravan there will be a 12 volt fuse panel (NOT to be confused withthe 230 volt one) with the various fuses fed by the battery and the connections from the tow car, from which wires will go off to the various functions in the van. At least one of these fuses will be for auxiliary things like 12v lights etc upstream of their isolating switches. This is the point, separated from the battery by only a fuse, at which to take a feed off for a further auxiliary such as a tracker.

You do not want to be making a connection direct to the battery itself for all sorts of reasons , including the fact that the large battery connectors are not engineered for additional minor wires, and that the extra fuse you must add is likely to be "lost" unless you place it alongside the other existing fuses, in which case you might as well make use of the existing battery feed there.

Again, as the Prof said, if you are under the impression that a wire direct from the battery might be "too powerful" then you have a bit of a learning curve to climb before tackling this sort of job yourself.

And as others have said, a tracker really needs its own battery, recharged from the main battery, as any competent thief would disconnect the main battery entirely before towing it very far.

 

[MichaelE]

First thing a thief does is remove the power at the battery end ie disconnect the battery.
Even if he didn't do this and stole the van when connected to the electrics on the car this would isolate the 12v to the van anyway.
It could be anywhere when you finally track it.
I'm not sure how the police respond to non approved trackers ?

 

[barrieW]

Some people on here are so far up there own ---- i said it's done i rang a 69 year old electrician that's probably forgot more than some of you know then once it was done i rang a local 35 year old electrician to check it out he said perfect, Is this site about feathers in your cap who's the smartest, I asked a simple question i didn't need a lecture or putting down, I have a brother who's a electronics lecturer at college but didn't want to contact him for the self same reasons, Sad people don't reply saying it was for your own safety but i bet your partners do everything wrong to lol

 

[ProfJohnL]

I'm not sure how the police respond to non approved trackers ?

Can you define the difference between approved and non approved trackers?

 

[MichaelE]

From what I understand a non approved tracker is a diy one.So not inurance or Police approved, I doubt if Thatcham either. On an approved monitored tracker the police will talk to the company to track the vehicle not the owner.
There was a post on a site where the guy had his car stolen with his own tracker and it was up to.him to find where it was and report to the Police .they were not interested in the initial tracking The police took a day to get to it and they found it burnt out.If the Police were quicker it coild have been saved?

 

[DrZhivago]

From what I understand a non approved tracker is a diy one.

So some people make their own trackers? I would not have thought that any significant number would have that skill.

 

[barrieW]

Let's finish this thread it's in working non approved who care's i asked a simple question as in the heading permanent live, I've had the 5th degree over it everybody who's replied thank you it's in and works

 

[MichaelE]

From what I understand a non approved tracker is a diy one.

So some people make their own trackers? I would not have thought that any significant number would have that skill.

DIY meaning you buy and install yourself.although following online videos it is reasonable easy to make one out of an old phone if you are not one of those significant numbers !