GPS Tracker from Taobao installed and tested

[Serpentza]

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:

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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):

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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...

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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.

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

- Continued shortly!

[Serpentza]

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):

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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.

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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!

IMG_20130929_2.jpg

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)

[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

[Serpentza]

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:

IMG_20130929_3.jpg

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!

[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

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...

[felix]

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.

[bikerdoc]

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.

[Wittrup Sport]

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

[prince666]

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

gps.jpg

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


mad dog.jpg

[ChinaV]

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.

Cheers!