GPS Tracking

[DrBurkstrom]

It's bit late for the poor souls who have had their boat nicked, but given that this has spawned a couple of threads of security recently I'd ask about peoples' thoughts on this. I've not really researched commercial tracking products as I'm planning to build my own (about 60 quid if you've some basic electronics knowledge and / or computer skills) but it feels like something that should be getting more common by now.

 

Anyone got one? Stories about GPS tracking being used to recover a boat? A plug for a cheap commercial solution?

 

 

 

 

[mross]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003XDN58K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

not fitted yet but look at the reviews.

[dmr]

Its truly horrible for the couple who have had their boat stolen (and I am amongst those keeping a look out) but, its very very rare for a boat to get taken away.

Theft from the boat (and resulting damage), arson (truly horrible), accidental fires and accidental sinking in a lock are much more real threats, and any security efforts should really go in these directions.

 

...............Dave

[Señor Chris]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003XDN58K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

not fitted yet but look at the reviews.

 

I have one of these - just call it on the mobile and it replies by SMS with a Google map link showing the GPS location. Only cost is 5p for the text.

[Arthur Brown]

GPS enables lots of lovely products, but the usual boater's attitude that everything must be free or cheaper will inhibit any progress, With a GPS item fitted most boats should be trackable to within easy searching range (say 20 metres!) if the antenna can retain good access to the sky while remaining unnoticed and unbroken. As most people find, a steel hull blocks most wireless from broadcast radio and tv to mobile phone and broadband.

 

To install a reliable GPS receiver you need a suitable waterproof plastic box on the roof.

 

The occasional drop out due to tunnels and phone free zones could be mitigated by the fact that the canal is a linear feature -the boat is unlikely to be going anywhere off the canal.

 

From experience tracker devices in cars usually fail after say two weeks as the car battery goes flat, but with care (and some LiPO batteries!) I suspect that a self contained life of 3 months would be easy, and that with a solar panel this should extend to the service life of the batteries maybe ten years.

 

Hiding the aerial in plain sight on the roof may be the hardest part.

 

A simple security measure would be to moor to a berth and also drop an off side anchor so that free passage from the mooring was difficult. -An anchor in this situation being a block of concrete, fence post or concrete railway sleeper!

[mross]

 

I have one of these - just call it on the mobile and it replies by SMS with a Google map link showing the GPS location. Only cost is 5p for the text.

Did you use the GPS and GSM antennas? Are they waterproof? Are they easy to conceal? thanks!

[widebeamboy]

I've seen this firm advertise on FB on canal pages:

http://gpstrackonline.co.uk/

 

Effectively a more expensive version however gives you live tracking I beleive as opposed to text and receive. Probably not so critical for such a fast moving piece of kit as a canal boat.

[Jess--]

I've seen this firm advertise on FB on canal pages:

http://gpstrackonline.co.uk/

 

Effectively a more expensive version however gives you live tracking I beleive as opposed to text and receive. Probably not so critical for such a fast moving piece of kit as a canal boat.

If you contact them you will find yourself talking to me

 

ours can can still be used as text or call to receive position but additionally they update to our tracking server which can show you in real-time where the tracker is or where it has been at any point over it's recorded history.

 

power usage on them (at 12v) is around 10mA when idle and a max of 200 mA when active (load varies depending on mobile signal) so keeping it going from a bank of leisure batteries is pretty easy.

 

we have some trackers installed on boats (not as many as in cars and caravans)

mounting places that I know have been used.

1. under cruiser stern deck boards

2. in the wooden frame at the bottom of a window

3. inside a throttle / gear housing

4. inside a light fitting mounted on the underside of the top plank / cratch

5. inside a navigation light

6. inside a tunnel light (plastic cased)

7. inside a waterproof electrical box (mounted next to shoreline connector)

8. inside a waterproof container embedded within stern fender

9. within a wooden hand rail

10. within a wooden support for gangplank / poles etc

note that these are only the mounting locations that I know have been used, there will be plenty more that I don't know about

Edited August 4, 2016 by Jess--

[widebeamboy]

If you contact them you will find yourself talking to me

 

ours can can still be used as text or call to receive position but additionally they update to our tracking server which can show you in real-time where the tracker is or where it has been at any point over it's recorded history.

 

power usage on them (at 12v) is around 10mA when idle and a max of 200 mA when active (load varies depending on mobile signal) so keeping it going from a bank of leisure batteries is pretty easy.

 

we have some trackers installed on boats (not as many as in cars and caravans)

mounting places that I know have been used.

1. under cruiser stern deck boards

2. in the wooden frame at the bottom of a window

3. inside a throttle / gear housing

4. inside a light fitting mounted on the underside of the top plank / cratch

5. inside a navigation light

6. inside a tunnel light (plastic cased)

7. inside a waterproof electrical box (mounted next to shoreline connector)

8. inside a waterproof container embedded within stern fender

9. within a wooden hand rail

10. within a wooden support for gangplank / poles etc

note that these are only the mounting locations that I know have been used, there will be plenty more that I don't know about

 

Thanks, some good ideas there for sure that wouldnt have thought of and like you say plenty of other options for people.

 

If you get an order for a couple of bike and a normal one in near future it probably comes from me

[Señor Chris]

Did you use the GPS and GSM antennas? Are they waterproof? Are they easy to conceal? thanks!

 

The GPS antenna is magnetic so I just stick it to the underside of the roof - works fine and easy to conceal behind the lining.

 

The GSM is more problematic as it really needs to be near a window so use your imagination - a curtain or inside one of your Rosie & Jim dolls?

 

Can also do live tracking via GPRS (mobile internet) but this involves third-party services which have to be paid for - personally I can't see the point of live tracking a stationary object. The SMS alarms cover most scenarios - movement detection, power disconnection etc. The cost will then depend on the mobile network(s) you use - you often get free texts between phones on the same network (eg giffgaff), so it can work out completely free.

 

One other thing - if you don't have solar, use the sleep mode to reduce power consumption.

[DrBurkstrom]

I'm still planning to build my own I think - I've already got the various parts and it'll be more flexible. With a GPS micro controller connected to something like a Raspberry Pi it can be used as a continuous data logger that stores position info locally for occasional bulk backup. It could also be used for day to day navigation (basically 'how far to the next pub?')

 

At £8.46 though, I have ordered that one off Amazon - it's a bit too cheap to resist and I'll be intrigued as to what's in it that makes it possible to sell at that price!

[Señor Chris]

I'll be intrigued as to what's in it that makes it possible to sell at that price!

 

I must admit I was curious about that too when you consider what it is actually capable of. As far as I can tell, it's basically a smartphone with no screen, camera, wifi or the processing power needed to drive them - in other words without the expensive bits. Due to economies of scale the GSM/GPS components must be cheap as chips.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Señor Chris

[Jess--]

normal components in them are a simcom GPRS module (usually the sim900), budget sirf gps receiver and a basic ARM or STC cpu.

 

internal shots of a fairly standard TK-102 type tracker here although there are (to my knowledge) at least 16 different tracker designs that use the tk-102 model No and case design and they have reached the point where even the sellers aren't sure exactly what they have got.

[DrBurkstrom]

Down to £8.40 - how low can it go?? Maybe the seller has a load of them taking up space and is willing to take the loss to get rid of them. GPS/GSM chips in volume are very very cheap nowadays, but this seems to have a lot of extras. A microphone so you can listen in to the thieves in the cab, an alarm, engine immobiliser, door and fuel sensors. As I say, I've ordered one, so as and when it arrives I might open it up and post some pictures. Btw Jess - this one class to be a TK-103A.

 

[Arthur Brown]

Maplin offer several GPS trackers. The ones that you can interrogate for a location start at £50, the ones that send a location every minute cost £250+ The more data you want from your tracker the more the data cost will be.

[Señor Chris]

Maplin offer several GPS trackers. The ones that you can interrogate for a location start at £50, the ones that send a location every minute cost £250+

 

The one discussed above does both those things and costs £8.40 from Amazon.

[Nightwatch]

I know some boats are secured by chains, which of course can be quite easily cut.

 

Maybe a new securing devise could be invented by, An inventor.

 

I'm not an inventor. So no idea what. Even if a boat is stolen, and returned it causes so much distress and uncomfortability.

 

I know it's illeagel, but the only people to get effected by this would be someone interfering with the boat. But what about a devise that when tampered with it connects the hull to a stored up resources of 240+ volts. I know it's shocking to even think of this.

[tillergirl]

Wouldn't it be easier just to disable the boat? I'm sure there's lots of you fellas could "invent" a way. But keep it to yourselves eh?

[DrBurkstrom]

Wouldn't it be easier just to disable the boat? I'm sure there's lots of you fellas could "invent" a way. But keep it to yourselves eh?

 

 

Depends on your point of view. Most security advice is sociopathic - it emphasises making your boat / car / home look off-putting to opportunistic thieves, like it'll be more trouble than it's worth. This of course means they'll move on to the next one that looks easier, putting the problem onto someone else.

 

In a sense, the best idea is a good tracker and an easy to steal boat. Yes, it'll get nicked, but you can be waiting with a couple of rozzers at the next lock, so someone actually gets caught and (hopefully) can't nick anything else for a while.

[Arthur Brown]

With an £80K asset/home I'd consider that there is a good justification for fitting a GPS tracker. But the more data you want about movement then the more that data costs you. If you get a progress report every minute then that's a lot of text messages to pay for. If you interrogate the tracker carefully you get a "no movement" message daily and only pay for more messages if the boat has moved.

[DrBurkstrom]

With an £80K asset/home I'd consider that there is a good justification for fitting a GPS tracker. But the more data you want about movement then the more that data costs you. If you get a progress report every minute then that's a lot of text messages to pay for. If you interrogate the tracker carefully you get a "no movement" message daily and only pay for more messages if the boat has moved.

 

The clever bit is that for the unit to get the location is free. If you keep your boat in a marina and/or you need to leave it unattended for more than a few hours, it makes sense to set up geofencing. The unit checks its location every minute, and if it's outside a certain area, or moved a certain distance from its last position, THEN it sends you a text message. As you say it's about programming the tracker correctly - this cheap unit claims it can do it, but the only way to program it is by sending text messages. The reviews say this is fiddly, time consuming and prone to error, which I can easily believe.

[Señor Chris]

If you interrogate the tracker carefully you get a "no movement" message daily and only pay for more messages if the boat has moved.

 

That's how I use it - one location request per day.

 

Using a Three SIM in the tracker, the cost would be 2p/text.

 

If you want to do more frequent updates by text, you would be better off using giffgaff SIMs in both your phone and the tracker as the texts would then be completely free.

[Señor Chris]

 

the only way to program it is by sending text messages. The reviews say this is fiddly, time consuming and prone to error, which I can easily believe.

 

There is some truth in this although you only need to do it when setting up the unit. To request a location, you just call the tracker and hang up as soon as it rings - no need to send any texts.

[Jess--]

 

If you want to do more frequent updates by text, you would be better off using giffgaff SIMs in both your phone and the tracker as the texts would then be completely free.

 

the free sms between giffgaff sims only work for 3 months after each sim has been topped up, so you have a minimum spend of £6.66 per month to keep it going (or the equivalent of 66 text messages each way (phone --> tracker --> phone) per month to break even)

[Woodstock25]

I have one of these http://www.trackerfit.co.uk/smartrack-protector-pro-global.html, As well as a control centre monitoring the tracker, it also gives me a near/real-time map.

- and a very hidden on/off switch to the fuel supply cut off valve.