Advice on GPS tracker for my race trailer

[Jorma]

My trailer is insured, but if it were stolen and not recovered my racing days would probably be over. Can anyone recommend a GPS tracker that they've had a good experience with? My trailer has 12v. batteries and a solar charger so power is not a problem.
any advice appreciated, there seem to be quite a few on Amazon, but I'd like to hear some first-hand experience from a racer.
Mike M.

[DanW]

https://geoskyalert.com/

I have used this product for 5 years now.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

At one time they offered an ApexSpeed discount:
https://www.apexspeed.com/forums/sho...ghlight=geosky

[Charles Warner]

Jorma,

Tried sending you a PM but your mailbox is full. I have a unit for sale.

[EVT]

Another thumbs up for GeoSky. I've had it for 5 yrs. Nice to see it on your phone and get text when a door opens or it moves.

[Lotus7]

Can't remember where I read this, but it was suggested that a much less expensive option was to buy the cheapest pay-as-you-use-it flip phone, turn it on and hide it in the trailer, and it can be tracked by the police if necessary.
Yes, you give up the notification aspect, but might be a financial option for some people?

[R. Pare]

The problem with that is the short battery life - 3-4 days?

[stevenl]

What about the Apple AirTag? Has anyone tried this yet?
https://www.apple.com/airtag/?afid=p...lid---product-

[racerweav]

My trailer is insured, but if it were stolen and not recovered my racing days would probably be over. Can anyone recommend a GPS tracker that they've had a good experience with? My trailer has 12v. batteries and a solar charger so power is not a problem.
any advice appreciated, there seem to be quite a few on Amazon, but I'd like to hear some first-hand experience from a racer.
Mike M.

I have used the Spot Trace GPS Tracker for about 6 or 7 years and it has been flawless. It uses 4 Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries which last at least 6 months. You can program the unit to send you an email and text message any time it senses the slightest movement of your trailer. In fact, I get at least a dozen or so messages every race weekend as I’m in and out of my 20’ TPD.

you must pay an annual monitoring fee which IIRC, is about $125, but we’ll worth it in my opinion.



I highly recommend this unit.

[wake74]

What about the Apple AirTag? Has anyone tried this yet?
https://www.apple.com/airtag/?afid=p...lid---product-

I do believe those run on BlueTooth, so range would be VERY small. So if you lose your trailer in the couch, or inside of the garage it will work great. I've got a generic version of that my wife bought for a Christmas gift, so I wouldn't ask, where are my keys :-)

[stevenl]

I do believe those run on BlueTooth, so range would be VERY small. So if you lose your trailer in the couch, or inside of the garage it will work great. I've got a generic version of that my wife bought for a Christmas gift, so I wouldn't ask, where are my keys :-)

Not quite, it uses Ulta-Wideband, as long as it's within 30 feet of any modern iPhone it can be tracked.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/barryco...h=759d980c4a36

[MC99]

I use WhereSafe. https://www.wheresafe.com/products/mini-max
Magnetic unit about 2: wide *5" long and 1" deep.
About $110 plus the annual. Know exactly where the trailer is and when it moves.
Battery good for two weeks then a night of charging.

[Steve Davis]

Anyone ever try the SPOT TRACER?
https://www.findmespot.com/en-us/products-services/spot-trace
Seems to offer what we would need at a somewhat lower price - however seems to be 'OUT OF STOCK' almost everywhere right now. Not sure it that's because it's so popular or just not in demand enough to produce them.

I will add that there appears to be a better price point than just a couple of years ago, but surprisingly not that many options to choose from that google knows about.

Steve, FV80

[E1pix]

Thanks for rebooting this topic, Steve... very timely, considering a couple of recent threads...

We all need to consider this. I’d done a lot of reading a couple years ago, and had decided Spot Trace was my first choice.

There are some areas of concern, though, if recalling correctly:

1). CELL SIGNAL
— In our case, this bothered me... the idea that our oft-crappy and inconsistent cell infrastructure away from cities and Interstates could show intermittent or non-existent location data during the panic mode of tracking for recovery

2). BATTERIES OR HARD-WIRED?
— It’s easy to imagine a battery going bad, or losing strength earlier than normal, and the unit not working the one time you need it!

In rigs with house power, hard-wiring certainly seems better. But here again, can we predict how long that tiny draw might take to drain the battery down without any charge? I can not.

All in, I’d prefer the replaceable battery option.

Just food for thought, and Thanks Again for reviving this.

[Dwayne Anderson]

T

Thanks for rebooting this topic, Steve... very timely, considering a couple of recent threads...

We all need to consider this. I’d done a lot of reading a couple years ago, and had decided Spot Trace was my first choice.

There are some areas of concern, though, if recalling correctly:

1). CELL SIGNAL
— In our case, this bothered me... the idea that our oft-crappy and inconsistent cell infrastructure away from cities and Interstates could show intermittent or non-existent location data during the panic mode of tracking for recovery

2). BATTERIES OR HARD-WIRED?
— It’s easy to imagine a battery going bad, or losing strength earlier than normal, and the unit not working the one time you need it!

In rigs with house power, hard-wiring certainly seems better. But here again, can we predict how long that tiny draw might take to drain the battery down without any charge? I can not.

All in, I’d prefer the replaceable battery option.

Just food for thought, and Thanks Again for reviving this.

[Dwayne Anderson]

Trackimo https://trackimo.com/ They do have 12 to battery supply vary small and have settings for a fence around the trailer if it moves.



QUOTE=Dwayne Anderson;643148]T[/QUOTE]

[Dwayne Anderson]

T

Trackimo https://trackimo.com/ small and has a fence around the trailer if it moves Hope this one works forgot how to post

[cory mcleod]

I believe that FV driver Donnie Isley developed and sells a trailer tracker.

[Steve Davis]

I believe that FV driver Donnie Isley developed and sells a trailer tracker.

Donnie didn't develop it - rather someone he met in his travels. It is SleeperCellAlarms, but the original website is now dead. The new one is https://www.haute-solutions.com/prod_alarm.html but I have no info on the current status of that project.

IIRC, the base package was about $300 and you have to arrange your own GSM/SMS service and integrate it in. Once bought, there are no other charges from Haute, but you would have to pay some sort of fee for whatever texting package you bought. It has provisions for a SIM card to be installed from your provider. OR, it can also be used with separately purchased alarm systems (NOISE MAKERS) without the texting if desired. It was pretty neat for its day and even allows the user to modify the open source internal firmware code, but requires a good bit more KNOWLEDGE to use than some of the others now available since its initial release several years ago.

YMMV,
Steve, FV80

[jcolley]

Just ran across this thread. I purchased one of these, but have not installed yet. https://trak-4.com/

It was $28.80 on Amazon, so I figured why not try it out.

Geo-fence for pinging. Connect to trailer light 12v to keep a charge on it. Long battery life when not on charge. Monthly monitoring is reasonable. I plan to bury it behind one of the panels so it isn't obvious. My logic is that a thief would most likely connect trailer lights to avoid getting pulled over and that would help keep the signal going.

[Steve Davis]

Just ran across this thread. I purchased one of these, but have not installed yet. https://trak-4.com/
It was $28.80 on Amazon, so I figured why not try it out.
Geo-fence for pinging. Connect to trailer light 12v to keep a charge on it. Long battery life when not on charge. Monthly monitoring is reasonable. I plan to bury it behind one of the panels so it isn't obvious. My logic is that a thief would most likely connect trailer lights to avoid getting pulled over and that would help keep the signal going.

OK, Jim ..
I just ordered one too. I'll be out of town for a week before I can test it, but we can both be guinea pigs for this product. I sure hope it works .. at least I can buy one .. and with Amazon can return it easily if I don't like what I get :-).

Everyone seems to be concerned about any tracker being 'discovered' if the trailer is stolen. Personally, I don't think it will be noticed AT ALL as long as it's not OBVIOUS - like seeing TRAK-4 written on the enclosure right inside the door.. but if you put it in another box .. or just TAPE over the name, I doubt anyone would immediately jump to the conclusion that it's a GPS tracker. Hopefully, we'll never have to wonder if it was noticed or not. I'm just wondering if it will 'see' through the skin of the trailer, or will have to be mounted outside .. maybe inside the plastic battery box on the hitch with the brakeaway stuff? Yeah.. sounds good to me

Steve, FV80

[jcolley]

OK, Jim ..
I just ordered one too. I'll be out of town for a week before I can test it, but we can both be guinea pigs for this product. I sure hope it works .. at least I can buy one .. and with Amazon can return it easily if I don't like what I get :-).

Everyone seems to be concerned about any tracker being 'discovered' if the trailer is stolen. Personally, I don't think it will be noticed AT ALL as long as it's not OBVIOUS - like seeing TRAK-4 written on the enclosure right inside the door.. but if you put it in another box .. or just TAPE over the name, I doubt anyone would immediately jump to the conclusion that it's a GPS tracker. Hopefully, we'll never have to wonder if it was noticed or not. I'm just wondering if it will 'see' through the skin of the trailer, or will have to be mounted outside .. maybe inside the plastic battery box on the hitch with the brakeaway stuff? Yeah.. sounds good to me

Steve, FV80

Steve,

That was kind of what led me to this as well, availability. Unreal how hard some things are to get right now.

In a few weeks, I'll be heading from ME down to GA to pick up my car. I may do a test with no power applied and a high update rate to see how long it takes to deplete. Always a fan of theory-to-practice.

-Jim

[Jim Garry]

I'm just wondering if it will 'see' through the skin of the trailer, or will have to be mounted outside
Steve, FV80

I sent them an email and they responded quickly, writing the following:

While it is best to place the Trak4 in a location that has at least a partial view of the sky so that the GPS satellite signal can be processed, many locations that do not have a clear view of the sky will work fine so long as the Trak4 is not contained within too much metal. So in this instance, it's a matter of trial and error. If you find the unit doesn't work well in a specific spot, go ahead and try another.

[Steve Davis]

... but we can both be guinea pigs for this product. I sure hope it works .. at least I can buy one .. and with Amazon can return it easily if I don't like what I get :-).
...
Steve, FV80

UPDATE: I received my Trak-4 device and tested it during a recent trip to the beach. I got it the day we left so didn't have a chance to charge it up beforehand. After registering it (there were some issues with that and SUPPORT was 'pretty good' at getting it figured out (my mistake.. I had registered in the WRONG place and that screwed my registration). Once registered, it seemed to respond as it should and work OK but reported text alerts - low battery numerous times... like 3%, 2%, etc, so I raised the hood on my truck and 'attached' the leads to the battery overnight - presto, no more reports of low battery. Then I placed it on the dash as we puttered around Hilton Head Island. It reported (logged) just as it should .. I started with the cheapest option .. once per day, then once per hour when moving.... so I got only 2 reports most days since we didn't drive around that much. Once for the daily report and then again when we MOVED - when leaving the condo and then again when we MOVED after having sat for a while (like out to dinner). In NO CASE (after charging) did I get a Text ALERT except when I got home at the end of the week and drove back INTO my 'geofence HOME area' that I set up after we arrived on the Island. I had DATA available by logging into my account, but the only text alerts i received were LOW BATTERY and GEOFENCE.

I think that is just fine as I have the option to CHANGE the GeoFence at any time (I think). So.. if I had been concerned about theft, I would have changed my 'fence' to the area where the TRUCK was located (where the Trak-4 was located) and would have received Alerts each we moved out of or into the fence.

SO.. my 'report' is very positive for this Trak-4 unit. Support was VERY responsive and even CALLED ME INSTEAD of replying to an email I sent with some questions - so we could converse quickly instead of plodding along with emails for a day or 2 :-).

When we got home, I checked my breakaway battery box for size and it was not big enough to add the Trak-4 into it, so I ordered a Plano Ammo Box from Amazon (plastic). When it came in, it was about as perfect as I could hope for and si installed it on the trailer, then screwed the Trak-4 to the lid to be above and out of the way of all the wiring and battery. We leave tomorrow for VIR, so will know a bit more later, but it has been reporting from UNDER my metal awning - although a couple of the reports have been a few hundred yards 'off' - still quite acceptable IMHO since under the awning.

Add.. I say 'reporting' as opposed to ALERTING. It only ALERTS (Text/email message) on TEMPERATURE out of whatever range I set, or Entry/Exit from GeoFence, or LO BATTERY. That keeps the Text/email AND COST down for 'normal' (non-theft) operation. If it gets away from my control, I can always log in and increase the reporting intervals (at a higher cost, of course), but that seems a great solution to me - to keep costs as low as possible and still have the option to report more often when I need it. I can VIEW hourly alerts on the website (without ALERTS) - as I did for our trip home from HHI.

SO.. there you have it. I'll be traveling to VIR tomorrow, but will be happy to answer any questions after we get set up and I have a chance to rest a bit from the drive up.

Steve, FV80

[Steve Davis]

UPDATE:...
SO.. there you have it. I'll be traveling to VIR tomorrow, but will be happy to answer any questions after we get set up and I have a chance to rest a bit from the drive up.
Steve, FV80

OK.. we've made the trip to VIR and, again, the Trak 4 did exactly what it said it would. It sat in the main VIR paddock for 8 days - faithfully reporting it's location, battery status, and temperature daily. Battery status remained solidly at 100% despite the fact that it was NOT on charge during the week since we had to disconnect to fit into our paddock spot.
It also reported the short trip to the VIR DUMP STATION just before we got on the road home .. then the trip home. I'm a bit confused since it took us about 7 hours to get home and it only reported twice (I think) during that trip. It's SUPPOSED to report ONCE PER HOUR while moving, so I'll need to investigate that when I get time. It would also appear that the ONLY time I get a TEXT notification is when it passes into, or out of, the GeoFence area defined as 'at my house'. I guess I can live with that and I don't really need once per hour if it's attached to ME during the trip.
I'll go back and look at the data again.. then might contact the company to see if there is a reason it didn't report more often on the trip back.
More later if warranted.
Steve, FV80

[Dan Wellington]

I just want to ask has anyone ever used the service from HHH-Towing in Calgary?
just wanted to tow my car for 15 miles, are their services good enough?

[jvaleo]

Not using it for a trailer, but I've been using Apple Air Tags (https://www.apple.com/airtag/) for a few applications and have been pretty happy with them. Probably a good backup to a more advanced system as they run on battery (for years) and are extremely small.

[Teuobk]

Another trailer-tracker I just stumbled upon is the one from Swarm, which is a subsidiary of SpaceX. I haven't tried it yet, but I now have one on order, so we'll see how it is. Unlike most, its backhaul is via satellite, not cellular, so it should work anywhere covered by Swarm's constellation, which in this case (unlike, say, Globalstar) should be pretty much everywhere. Location is via GPS. Cost is about $100 for the hardware and about $60/yr for the service.

No affiliation, just passing it along: https://swarm.space/store/

Jeff

[wickedlite44]

Another trailer-tracker I just stumbled upon is the one from Swarm, which is a subsidiary of SpaceX. I haven't tried it yet, but I now have one on order, so we'll see how it is. Unlike most, its backhaul is via satellite, not cellular, so it should work anywhere covered by Swarm's constellation, which in this case (unlike, say, Globalstar) should be pretty much everywhere. Location is via GPS. Cost is about $100 for the hardware and about $60/yr for the service.

No affiliation, just passing it along: https://swarm.space/store/

Jeff

Let us know your thoughts when you get it up and running. I will need one for my enclosed soon.