[Sam]

In New Zealand there are nearly 50,000 motor vehicle thefts every year and unfortunately, one of the most popular models stolen is my car: the Subaru Legacy. But- car alarms are expensive and of no guarantee to prevent car theft so I decided to look into GPS tracking devices. Sure... my car could be stolen but at least I'll have a fair idea where it ends up and it would give the police -at minimum- solid information on who stole it.

This guide aims to be comprehensive and beginner friendly.

You should end up with something like:

Ingredients List

• A Vehicle GPS tracking device. I purchased the OBD II. There are other good options. Some are battery powered and others plug into different ports in your car. This guide will be based on the OBD II but it should be easy to alter to setup other trackers. If you have an older car (like very very old) you may need to check for alternatives.
• A VPS (with good uptime and 256mb of ram or more). I have mine running on a 128mb ram VPS from BuyVM but it may need upgrading (Java is memory hungry).
• A SIM card (one of the old big fat ones - most likely- that runs on 2G). You will need 300mb of data (per month) and a decent number of texts.
• Putty client.

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Setting up the VPS.

1. My recommendation is to use a Ubuntu 16.x 32bit template (if it is not an option under when purchasing your VPS, you may be able to reinstall in your VPS's control panel). You can use other Ubunutu releases (or other linux releases for that matter), just ensure the correct Java version is available.

2. Login to your VPS using Putty (using root and your password). It would probably be a good idea to point out that using "root" as a login is a seriously bad idea... (setup a Sudo user and disable root!!)



Notes with the following commands...


Putty allows right-click pasting. You can also use Ctrl C to copy as well.

If you are given a command not found error, you may not have the package installed. Simply running:

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apt-get install

packagename should fix this... e.g.

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apt-get install unzip

.

Preference all commands with sudoif you are not logged in as root.

3. Run these commands:

The template will be out-of-date... we need to get the latest updates. Run.=

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apt-get update

We need Java! (specifically 7 +)

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apt-get install default-jre

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java –version

- this will let you check your version!

Download and unzip Traccar...

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mkdir /traccartemp

- temp directory

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cd /traccartemp

- navigate into this directory (cd by itself will navigate up).

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wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/traccar/files/traccar-linux-3.11.zip/download

The latest downloads are here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/traccar/files/. You can copy the link for the latest linux version and wget it.

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ls

- we need to list whats in the directory to know what to unzip...

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unzip download

- yours may be different based on ^

install...

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/traccartemp/traccar.run

run....

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/opt/traccar/bin/startDaemon.sh

- this is for the latest Traccar version...

4. You should now be able to login to Traccar. Navigate to:

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yourIPAddress:8082

and login using "admin" for both the username and password. This should obviously be changed in the settings on the page.

Add your device by clicking the + button:


The identifier is the IMEI number of the tracking device. For the OBDII, it is a little different, being the last 11 digits preceded by a "0".

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Setting up the Tracker.

1. The sim card should slot nicely into the device. If it doesn't... you'll probably be like me wondering (in sadness) why your car won't reply to your texts!


(note... if you were given a power supply cable with your device, save step 2 until the end and just plug it in).
2. The OBD II plugs into the OBD port (the diagnostics port of your car). Here's a website to help you find it.


3. Unfortunately for me, my tracker did not come with a cable for power. So... the car had to be running for me to run commands (perhaps include this step in a daily errand?).
Have a conversation with your device! Your device's manual should give you commands to run... (you might wish to change some of the default settings e.g. the interval between updates).


Text the following...

Set the admin phone number.

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710#yourmobilenumber#

Replies --->ADD admin account 1 OK!

Set the APN - this is the data APN specific to your SIM. A quick google search or asking your provider should reveal this. Mine was "warehouse".

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820#APN#

Set your IP and port. The port is dependent on your device. It basically sets up a protocol for the device to communicate with the server. With Chinese devices... there are a number of possible ports so try these: https://www.traccar.org/ports-for-tk-gt ... s-devices/. :/

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803#VPSIPADDRESS#5002#

At any time you wish to see the location of your Car/ Vehicle:

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666#

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Not working?

You can attempt to manually identify the port... Check the log file by running:

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less /opt/traccar/logs/tracker-server.log

Press q to exit.

If there is a protocol issue... copy the long code into this HEX decoder and try to determine which device it matches from here: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tanan ... gration.py.

If you see something like the following, you haven't set your identifier correctly.


If there is nothing in the server log (i.e. no attempt at communication), there may be something wrong with the settings on your tracking device (e.g. APN, IP).
Use the code:

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886#

to double check.

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Any questions, feel free to comment below!

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A big thanks to baZzz as well as Anton Tananaev, founder of Traccar.

https://www.traccar.org/quick-start/
https://www.traccar.org/linux/

[Fergal]

Thanks for sharing such a detailed and interesting article with us Sam. I heard a few years ago that the Honda Civic is the most stolen car in Ireland, not sure if it is still true.

Approximately how much did it cost you to set everything up for your car tracking? About how much does it cost you per month to maintain it?

[Sam]

Thanks for sharing such a detailed and interesting article with us Sam. I heard a few years ago that the Honda Civic is the most stolen car in Ireland, not sure if it is still true.

Approximately how much did it cost you to set everything up for your car tracking? About how much does it cost you per month to maintain it?

Apparently that's still true. I think people are surprised by what vehicles are most stolen. Legacy's you would expect... but I read this year that Mazda Demio owners had better watch out .

Costs:
- BuyVM VPS: $1.25/month
- SIM: (in NZD) $5 + $5 for text credit (about 5000 texts) and $4/month for data.
- Tracker: $25

So approximately $32 (USD) and $4 (USD)/month.

[ken alto]

Thanks for sharing though the whole process is complicated for me. I wish I could understand.

[Fergal]

Thanks Sam, that really is a very economical solution, certainly much better value than buying any service off the shelf.

Mazda Demio owners had better watch out

Who'd have thought

[Sam]

Thanks for sharing though the whole process is complicated for me. I wish I could understand.

Feel free to ask questions! I'd be happy to help by answering or pointing you in the right direction.

Thanks Sam, that really is a very economical solution, certainly much better value than buying any service off the shelf.

I think an off-the - shelf solution was anywhere between $100 and $300 + $10-$20/mo NZD. I installed it so that when I contact the insurer (which is 3rd party + fire and theft), they might offer me an OK rate considering its street parking.

[ceci]

Good information. I think there is a new invented "tag" which can tag and find our lost key , and can "tag" on the car itself, which should be much lower the cost.
I hope the car manufacturer can have the GPS or this kind of tracker come along with the vehicle itself in the future.

[Sam]

Good information. I think there is a new invented "tag" which can tag and find our lost key , and can "tag" on the car itself, which should be much lower the cost.

The issue with "tags" is they usually rely on bluetooth i.e. you or someone with the same app/tag must be within a short distance of the vehicle for you to be able to find it. :/