GPS Tracker from Taobao installed and tested

[ThePope]

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.

[Serpentza]

Attachment 14036Attachment 14037Attachment 14038
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!
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

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

[Serpentza]

Attachment 14036Attachment 14037Attachment 14038
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!
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

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

[bikerdoc]

Attachment 14036Attachment 14037Attachment 14038
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!
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

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

[Lao Jia Hou]

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:

[foxy88]

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?

[Lao Jia Hou]

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.

[Serpentza]

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.