GPS Tracker from Taobao installed and tested

Recently one of our members had his posh BMW stolen from outside a shopping mall in Beijing... There's nothing more frustrating than having something stolen (Bike/Car/Bicycle)... That sinking feeling when you walk outside and realise that it's no longer where you parked.. "I was just gone for a few minutes"... "I just turned my back for a few seconds"... etc etc... anyway it's gone and there's nothing you can do since witnesses don't care to be involved and in all honesty no one gives a toss...

You go home with fantasies of going back in time and lying in wait with a crowbar..... But... what if you could find your stolen bike? The technology has been with us for years... expensive cars have trackers built in... Okay people let's do something about this, let's teach these bike thieves a lesson, let's not lose another bike to these wankers!

Enter the cheap Taobao GPS tracker!

Here's the link (posted by Snev313in the X5 thread): http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=...itiative_new=1

I decided to go for the 188RMB option (one above the cheapest, includes a simcard with a year of subscription... I should have gone for the 208RMB option as it includes a relay that's useful as I'll explain later).

Here's what arrived:

Attachment 13847

The unit itself (it's tiny.. look at the sim card for scale), a sim card, the wiring loom... an instruction sheet in Chinese and a manual in Chinese... Oh let's not forget the double sided tape and cable tie!

Before reading the instructions, I decided I'd try it out to see if it worked... so I pulled it open, took a look (it's basically a cellphone broken down and made into a very cute little PCB... here are the pics):

Attachment 13848

I decided to insert the sim card and then hook it up to one of the many bike batteries I have lying around to test it...

Attachment 13849Attachment 13850

The lights came on and started to blink... I was well chuffed... seemed like it was working... then the lights went out... my fist thought was "Piece of Chi***se shit, broken already?", I unplugged the cables, then plugged them back in again.. still no lights... I changed the battery... still no lights... I was about to start trying to send it back when it dawned on me... hang on a second... this thing probably has a backup battery built in, and it probably turns the lights off to conserve power...

Okay, so I called the sim card number from my phone... it rang and the lights came on! Bingo this thing is awesome... OK, how can we get it to work.

Attachment 13851

In the next part, I actually get it working and activated!

- Continued shortly!

My Chinese reading is good enough that I could more or less figure out what the instructions said (well I got most of it right):

Attachment 13852

Send the Serial number on the back of the unit along with the phone number of the sim card provided, your own phone number and your desired username to a QQ email address.

Of course I got it wrong and sent the info to the guy directly on QQ who told me to bloody send it to the email box and stop interrupting his lunchtime nap.... okay, so shot out a quick email (here's a copy of what I sent minus the personal details):

I sent it to 1053750430@qq.com

SN: 6846XXXXXXXXXXX
那个Sim卡 SZ13SXXXXX- 147XXXXXXXX (249XXXXXX)
我的手机号码 1866XXXXXX
我要的帐号名：Serpentza
thanks

Feel free to copy and paste and replace with your own info, the reason why there are so many numbers for the included sim card is because that is what was printed on the sleeve the card came in, I just included everything that was there in case.

Straight away I got an automated reply saying that it would be activated within 24 hours and that they'd send me a confirmation email

So now I went downstairs to install it on the bike.

I'm planning to buy the X5 soon, so I didn't make any attempts at hiding it, I basically whipped off the seat and stuck it directly on top of the alarm.. which is stuck directly on top of the airbox... Lazy yes, but I'm going to move it to the X5 soon so no point in making a big deal out of it.

Attachment 13853

Now let me explain some of the more complicated bits, you can install it the lazy way like I did, I basically just hooked the positive and negative directly to the battery... this will work fine, you'll be able to track and monitor your bike no problem, but ideally what you want to do is connect up the other wires too, there is a green ACC (accessory) wire that you should hook up to the ignition, this will tell the online software and apps if your bike is currently turned on and running or not, then there is a yellow relay wire, which you hook up to a relay... now this is not as complicated as it sounds and is actually very easy to do ( I will do it and add the detailed installation to this thread... just waiting for a relay... see... order the 208 version ) Basically what the relay hookup is all about is that it allows you to remotely disable the bike, so think of the following scenario...

Your bike has been stolen, you whip out your phone and are actively tracking it... someone is riding it fast, zipping down back alleys etc... you grab your posse, your crowbars and half-bricks and are in hot pursuit in a taxi... as you get closer you disable the bike... the thief dumbfounded grinds to a halt, as he starts trying to diagnose the problem a team of armed vigilantes (you and your posse) deal justice through acceptable levels of violence and retribution.

Okay enough with the fantasies, back to the installation!

While I was installing it on the bike, the lights sprang to life and started to flicker... Hmm could this be them activating it? Yes, a minute later an email came to my phone telling me my username and password and the website to visit.. sweet.

I fired up the app on my phone (it's called Car Online and is free from the google play store.. there's also an iphone version), put in my username and password and I'm able to see exactly where my bike is!

Attachment 13855

I added all the info about my bike from the website, the website allows you to do so much more than the app, the app simply allows you to monitor and track your bike, the website gives you detailed statistics, management of your vehicles, etc etc... too much to explain right now.

Tomorrow I'm going on a rather long bike trip (around 1000kms) so I can really test this thing, I'll then give you all a very detailed explanation on how the software etc all works.

See you in part 3 (in a day or two).

- Serpentza (youtube.com/serpentza)

Thank you very much for taking the time to post about the GPS sounds very intresting . So you have a sim card what about cost to run ect do you have to pay a fee each month ..... you say you have paid for a year "subscription" what happens after the 1st year ... does it only work with a QQ email address....

Thank you for your time

Something really cool that I've just discovered if you send an SMS (text message) to the sim card in the gps tracker you can arm an alarm...

okay very simply explained:

send: wl400 or wl300 or wlXXX to the simcard, it will then reply and look like this:

Attachment 13856

Basically what that says is... if your bike is moved more than 400 meters, it will start sending you warning texts to your phone to disable it send GBWL to the number.

So this is like a motion alarm, if some pikey starts moving your bike then it'll start sending you messages :)

You can specify the circumference, this thing keeps getting better... Awesome!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prince666

Thank you very much for taking the time to post about the GPS sounds very intresting . So you have a sim card what about cost to run ect do you have to pay a fee each month ..... you say you have paid for a year "subscription" what happens after the 1st year ... does it only work with a QQ email address....

Thank you for your time

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When I'm logged into their website is states that I have a year of membership somewhere in the menus (I'll take screenshots)... as far as the sim card is concerned, I'm not really sure yet... I'll figure it out and let you all know...

Cool as balls. This thing is probably going onto my new chinaV-strom pending good feedback from you.

Hope it's not an elaborate scam by the manufacturer to get people to put trackers on their new nice bikes.

Excellent post. Just a word of caution (not meaning to piss on anyone's parade mind). These devices (alarms & GPS trackers) are worthwhile deterrents for the amateur thieves, but not so much for the hardened/career thieves. Most of the latter have become well versed in scoping out bikes for GPS trackers especially. Case in point. Back about 6 months after the 650NK were released by CFMoto, a local Shanghainese rider fitted an alarm GPS tracker to his new 650NK which he'd also modded with loads of aftermarket accessories.

One day he gets a SMS notification from his GPS tracker that his bike was being moved/tampered with. The owner/rider high tails it down from a Skyscraper to where he'd parked his bike to find that the spot was empty, and the bike had disappeared into the ether. He was able to track the bike for a few hours on the mapping system, before the tracking went dead. Using the information, the bike owner along with the PSB traced to the last location notified, but no bike. The thieves had found the GPS tracker and removed it, leaving it in the location where the trail ended. Despite offering a reward the guy never got his NK back.

So just a word of caution. Don't just rely on the GPS tracker or an alarm, it can be a deterrent, and certainly with an alarm, will put off most thieves in the majority of the cases - but not all.

A few modifications if I may. Get an alarm and definitely a GPS tracker that has a battery backup option so that it doesn't need to rely solely on the bike battery. It's likely one of the first places a thief would look is the battery. What are they looking for..? Simple, are there any extra cables/wire added to the battery terminals - making them traceable and possibly more likely to cut/disconnect said extra wires. Instead of wiring directly to the battery, try and splice or piggy back into some other constant live wire e.g. clock etc., that draws current even when the ignition key is off, and wrap the wires into the wiring loom so they look less conspicuous as having been added. If the device has a battery backup then this is even better since if the battery is disconnected (which many thieves will likely do) then the device has some ability to function for a set period of time, allowing one a greater chance of finding/getting the bike/vehicle back.

Also try and find some difficult location where any alarm/GPS module is difficult to see, without substantial disassembly. It might be that real career thieves might have some electronic sniffers that might potentially look for some radio wave signatures etc. though I've no evidence of this. But TIC so anything is possible. Remember the simple things are difficult, while the difficult things are easy here.

A really simple method is to fit an isolating switch (like a poor mans immobiliser) in an inconspicuous place, that when activated cuts off the power from the battery to the ignition. Some theft alarms incorporate a immobiliser which works in a similar way. Other vehicles and bikes also have OEM immobiliser systems where the ignition key has a microchip that 'talks' with the ignition. Without the key, the ignition won't start even with a key that has been keyed alike. The career thieves know how to get round this though.

This is GREAT.
Thanks for your time to post and test.
TAOBAO here I come....

Mini Portable Cellphone & GPS Jammer J-260B. This is only 1 type just put it in your pocket !!!!

Attachment 13857

http://www.jammer4uk.com/mini-portab...2b5f958e2e8ea3


but i have my bike well and safe i just leave my best friend "lucky" chained to my bike work for me and gives lucky a good run out as well


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Great write up and cool piece of kit. Your idea about not wiring it directly to the battery is a good one, but I think the kind of thieves that go after luxury vehicles tend to immediately disconnect the battery. Would be great to have a tiny auxiliary battery inline that could last 24 hours without the main battery.

The best part of this is that you're giving a company access to every place you have every gone, how you got there, and the speed you travel at. Thank god no corporation has ever been manipulated to release private data. :naughty:

Cheers!

There have been a few threads on MCM about GPS trackers. It is always interesting to see which are the latest products that are hitting the market.

I've several GPS trackers of various shapes/sizes/features, acquired over the years, and here are my thoughts:

1) They are trickle drains on motorcycle batteries. You need to ride at least once a week to keep the battery charged;
2) Units with backup batteries are good, especially since they have some nice features (it will sms you if the power is cut, or even if your battery is getting drained to a low level);
3) They are all great for recording tracks of where you have ridden;
4) They are cheap, so if you believe that a pro thief will find/cut power to your Tracker, install two - one acting as an "obvious" sacrificial tracker (probably the one with direct power, wired to the battery), and one with a built-in back-up battery (oops, I am giving away one of my secrets on a public board!);
5) They are NOT theft-protection, or theft-deterrent, devices. They are hidden, after all, and only worthwhile for potential recovery;
6) If your bike doesn't have an ignition key chip, you may want to install the GPS tracker that includes an immobilizer. Several thefts (I don't know if it is "most") happen by cracking the ignition lock (which is surprisingly easy). I would guess that at least an equal number of thefts happen by van-hops (even easier, IMHO, and very fast); and,
7) Thefts can happen anywhere, any time, in the blink of an eye ... plan ahead as to what you will do if your bike is stolen and you are tracking it. Personally, I subscribe to the "call the cops" theory - taking matters into your own hands (although tremendously tempting) can have dire consequences, especially in China.

If you want theft-protection, or theft-deterrence, consider:

1) NOT BUYING ILLEGAL BIKES! You are supporting the thieves. Supply/demand equation;
2) Chain the bike to something secure or, if nothing is secure, chain it to another bike - lifting two bikes into a van, at the same time, is near impossible.
3) Use several methods - chain, disc locks, cover, alarm, etc;
4) Not very neighborly, but try to make your bike much less attractive/available than someone else's;
5) Park it in a way that requires the bike to be wiggled and shuffled through a 10 point turn, to get it out;
6) If you have the bucks, get an alarm that will play a recording. I saw a demo of an alarm that would continuously play, in a screaming female Chinese voice "Help, Help, I am being raped! HELP! HELP!" That really got people's attention - more than the typical alarm which everyone has become immune to and simply ignores. This particular alarm was large and meant for a car, but there are probably smaller ones that could probably be hooked up inside a bike; and,
7) Rare for this to be possible in largely-condo-living in China, but a big dog is ALWAYS the best security. As a consolation, however, there is that "mob-justice" inside China that is quickly inflicted on thieves caught in action.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChinaV

The best part of this is that you're giving a company access to every place you have every gone, how you got there, and the speed you travel at. Thank god no corporation has ever been manipulated to release private data. :naughty:

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When you set up your online account for tracking, you can name the unit. I (and I bet most others) will put the bike's identifying features on (e.g., JH600, HD Ultra, Farmer Honda, etc). I've wondered how easy it would be to hack the site and/or bribe someone on the inside - tell ya what, I'll pay you 100 rmb for each request - I'm looking for a Monster 795.

Here's a GPS tracker alarm that has a battery back up...

Motorcycle Rider - The new K18 Professional Motorcycle GPS positioning anti-theft device with universal application that can fit all models.

Key points:

- package contains the device, cables, SIM card, and the first year of SIM teleco service charge.

- data costs cny120/year (after the initial year), including all data traffic charges, no additional charges.

- data charge top ups or renewals can be made via the Taobao seller or the manufacturers website (Chinese skills needed).

- device connects via five wires, therefore a motorcycle mechanic is recommended for installation.

- if the motorcycle battery is disconnected then the devices backup battery can supply power for 10-12hrs.

- after parking motorcycle device will automatically enter power-saving sleep mode, which doesn't affect any alarm fortification functions. If the motorcycle is not used for at least two weeks without causing main motorcycle battery to become flat/dicharged. If parking motorcycle for one month or greater period then recommend disconnecting the battery or use trickle charger to keep motorcycle battery from discharging.

- one year warranty from device activation date.

Hope this helps...

This tracker does have a backup battery, also it warns you if the main battery is disconnected, so if a thief disconnects the battery, you'll know

Sooo many naysayers here on this fourm ;) Nooo you can't put a 250cc engine in a cg125 frame.. noo that will never work, no you can't do this or that or the next thing, you're wasting your time this you're never going to succeed that... Well actually, you're wrong, just about anything is possible if you just go out and do it..

Anyway, on with the report!

Before leaving on a little two day ride (it was awesome), I logged into the website www.gpsoo.net and went to the tracking page, I left it open before going on my ride, when I got back a day and a bit later it had accurately tracked my entire route:

Attachment 13870

Unfortunately I could not find a way to export the map... so I just took a screenshot for now, I'm hoping there's a way to do it as the website does allow you to export statistics to excel, I'll get more in depth with the features later.

During this ride we went down to an awesome beach resort, went riding on the beach (rooster tails and donuts FTW!) parked the bikes in the parking lot outside (seemed safe, security guards etc)... proceeded to get incredibly drunk on my wife's uncle's home made hooch (I'd taken a bottle along) and all passed out in the hotel... I can't tell you just how much peace of mind the tracker gave me, at any point during the night I could just pull out my phone, open the app and be greeted by:

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(this is zoomed out)... it updates every 10 seconds, knowing that the bike is exactly where you parked it is serious peace of mind, this is worth the 188 yuan 10 times over.

Also arming that movement circle thing gives you further piece of mind...

knowing that your bike is there, you have more time to worry less and focus more on drinking etc :P

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I do think that the features are rather limited on this particular tracker, but maybe that's because I haven't figured it all out properly yet, there seem to be a whole set of SMS commands you can send to the unit to change settings, and I think the language can also be changed to English which would be awesome! (all the apps, software etc are in English anyway so no worries there, but when it sends you a message to tell you your bike's being moved, that's still in Chinese).

More updates as I find out more.

- SerpentZA

Okay, brilliant, you can download a KML file, just specify the dates :)

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I bought this same tracker (not installed yet) but no one seems interested in stealing my cheap Taobao bike:lol8:

Nice work with this, BTW...

Also, I think if you sign up under the same group somehow you can track the other members of your group?

Attachment 14036Attachment 14037Attachment 14038:deal:
My Chinese stinks, so I had the manual translated into English. Don't kill me if you follow the instructions and your bike goes up in flames. OK! :gun_bandana:
Actually I wanted to upload them in WORD format, but that was not possible. You can get them from me directly if you want to improve the text.

Happy Trails

Confirmed. This thing is awesome and great to have someone spell it out for my technically, mechanically, and, in-general, sometimes-mentally-challenged-self.

I'm still playing with it, but it's not changing the language for me? I haven't hooked up the relay either, as I'm planning on buying an X5 later as well. I don't think this should affect it though, as I am able to turn on the fence alarm. Maybe you can't change SMS language to English in China? Like I said, in-general, sometimes challenged. :confused1::riding:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wittrup Sport

Attachment 14036Attachment 14037Attachment 14038:deal:
My Chinese stinks, so I had the manual translated into English. Don't kill me if you follow the instructions and your bike goes up in flames. OK! :gun_bandana:
Actually I wanted to upload them in WORD format, but that was not possible. You can get them from me directly if you want to improve the text.

Happy Trails

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Thank you for going to the effort of getting it translated! You're an absolute star!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wittrup Sport

Attachment 14036Attachment 14037Attachment 14038:deal:
My Chinese stinks, so I had the manual translated into English. Don't kill me if you follow the instructions and your bike goes up in flames. OK! :gun_bandana:
Actually I wanted to upload them in WORD format, but that was not possible. You can get them from me directly if you want to improve the text.

Happy Trails

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Mate, brilliant work translating the manual! Thank you very much!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wittrup Sport

Attachment 14036Attachment 14037Attachment 14038:deal:
My Chinese stinks, so I had the manual translated into English. Don't kill me if you follow the instructions and your bike goes up in flames. OK! :gun_bandana:
Actually I wanted to upload them in WORD format, but that was not possible. You can get them from me directly if you want to improve the text.

Happy Trails

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Excellent attempt, and a big thanks for taking the time to get it done and sharing it here on MCM.
:thumbsup:

Government has recognized the benefit of GPS trackers. It has begun installing them in government vehicles, in an attempt to prevent a different type of "theft" - government officials using government cars for personal use.

My guess - mobile signal jamming devices will become a hot selling product.

By the way, it appears that China is one of the few countries where possession/use of a cell phone jammer is not illegal. I bet the pro thieves use them. Further supports the idea to install 2 GPS devices:

1) A cheap one that is mounted "in plain view" under your seat, connected to the battery. Cheap ones are now selling for as low as 60 rmb. BTW, since it is a sacrificial GPS, splice in a fuse holder but install a blown fuse in it - so the device does not trickle drain your battery; and
2) A decent one (with a battery back-up), well hidden on the bike, with continuous power supplied from tapping into hidden wiring.

By offering up a sacrificial tracker, maybe the crooks will turn off the jammer once they find, and disable, this cheap tracker. The second tracker continues to operate.

By the way, here's a news report/video of the police catching motorcycle thieves, found via a GPS tracker:

Gonna try and resurrect an old post here, any updates on GPS trackers in China? Is the one Serpentza has done a write up on still the way to go or is there a newer, shinier option on the market?

Like to be able to help, but it seems like these GPS trackers are updated as frequently as Apple iTunes (at least once a week!).

I'm using very out-dated technology from 2012.

The old-school features I'd recommend would be:

1) Battery backup
2) Semi-drained bike battery notification
3) Movement sensor with SMS paging

Battery backup because thieves could cut your battery cable.

Low battery warning (the unit sends you an sms) because the GPS trackers do drain batteries quite quickly, especially on little bikes.

Movement sensor because it would be nice to know when one should start tracking.

I'm still buying and installing this same GPS unit in all of the bikes I build at Churchill customs, admittedly it has its faults, but for a basic "let me check where my bike is" unit, it's great! It does drain a normal bike battery in about a week if the bike is left standing and it only sends you a notification if the bike is moved 200meters, but if you have the app open or the website open on your computer, any sort of movement will trigger an alarm. It's really good value for money and its small form factor make it a very valuable addition to anyone's bike.