Trackers and Woodchippers

[Treelad]

I am looking to getting a tracker fitted to my trucks, Has anyone got one fitted to their chipper? Do they work I have heard mixed views about them?

 

Any recommendations on which ones to use? Any info would be useful?

 

Regards

[PeteB]

While fitting a "Tracker" is commendable, would it not be easier to not get it pinched in the first place. Everyone has good and bad stories about "Trackers" but making it difficult, risky, worthless to steal in the first place should be the ideal.

 

We found that the "Thiefbeater" ID system work for us once. We sold a demo chipper to our dealer in Northern Ireland and took it to Holyhead docks, they refused to let it onto the ferry as the "Thiefbeater" paperwork was not present even though all the GreenMech paperwork was!

 

I still secure stuff with a big padlock and a thick wire rope!

[Treelad]

Thanks for the reply, yeah Thiefbeaters system looks worth while. I already have the big chain and lock, wheelclamp, and hitch lock I just thought a tracker maybe the next best option.

 

Thanks

[PeteB]

Their are many different systems available, woodchippers tend to be easier to find hidden devices than many other types of plant and the people who steal them tend to be able to get the machine out of the country or sold one quite quickly. In my opinion, prevention is always better than cure!

[Kestral Hire]

I have trackers on most of my plant , satrak do one that doesnt need any wires feeding it thats good because its easy to hide there about £200 i have a few of them on attachments that dont have power to them , box tellymatics do a good one that i use and most machines that you can log on to and see were they are , they send you a text message if the machine moves out side your working hours and you can set a geo fence so if it goes out side a area it also sends you a text message ! they are about £450 but well worth it !

[MikeTM150]

i use ones from 'Kramp' called farm alert, it's a 'live' tracking system and will text if the machine leaves an area or moves outside its time zones. Also you can shut machine down if you want to, more for tractors than chippers that function i should think! About £400 i think and just a sim card to top up, saved our machiery couple of times now everything new desirable to wrongs 'uns has one fitted now!!!

 

Locking it up won't stop them, they've gone to quite long lengths to get our quad bike out its 'lock up' on two occasions, its now alarmed so i get to wake up and chase them with the landrover and a piece of 3x2 incase i'm lucky enough to offer some advice on the wrongs of stealing!!!!

[roseyweb]

I have a tracker fitted to my 150 cosTs 130 odd quid a year,

If it gets nicked I'll let you know how well it works

[Treelad]

Thanks for the info guys! I will be getting a tracker fitted just going to make a few phone call to the company's and see what is on offer.

[openspaceman]

I have trackers on most of my plant , satrak do one that doesnt need any wires feeding it thats good because its easy to hide there about £200 i have a few of them on attachments that dont have power to them , box tellymatics do a good one that i use and most machines that you can log on to and see were they are , they send you a text message if the machine moves out side your working hours and you can set a geo fence so if it goes out side a area it also sends you a text message ! they are about £450 but well worth it !

 

I'm not familiar with the box telematics device, though I did discuss trackers with them 10 years ago.

 

I have used a chipper with the original tracker, this was well hidden and secure and used an external aerial, you did need to know it had been stolen to have the operating centre switch the VHF alarm on and there was an annual subscription.

 

I inherited responsibility for 3 machines with cubetrak devices. These are tiny boxes with an internal battery that lasts about 3 days and a separate charge feed from the vehicle. None are well hidden or securely fixed, so could be smashed off and discarded easily. They report position via a central webserver which has been flaky, I have seen a machine enter the yard recently with its position being reported as 10 miles away for the next 12 hours. This system uses a PAYG SIM and sends sms alerts when moved beyond a set radius. The last known status of speed, battery, reception and position is shown on the web interface, as well as movement history. It uses data and sms credits to upload to the web interface and can be set to report in intervals from seconds to days. It is prone to report false positives and these use credits. If it isn't moved or doesn't exceed a set speed it won't update and hence doesn't use credit or data. The problem is this can give a false sense of security and it may have simply logged off without one knowing. Later versions with the vodafone data sim can report that they are logged on to a cell tower, which is a good check that they are live, unfortunately this is again done through the supplier's web site and is flaky.

 

I have one satrak fitted by plant security, I have to say their salesman was persistent but aftersales has been pants, cost was 700quid inc. It uses a PAYG SIM and there are no subsciption costs and you have direct control of the device. This unit lasts about 3 hours after it has been disconnected from the vehicle battery (which may be an internal battery fault), it will send an sms if it senses overspeed, vibration, low battery or ignition. It also immobilises the vehicle. It can be interrogated by voice call or sms but the data returned is in a bizarre order. The GPS is insensitive, on a recent 50 mile trip it never got a fix and has remained in a asbestos reinforced concrete roofed barn over Xmas with still no fix and reporting itself 50 miles away, it does state it is an old position. The satrak has the facility to set a schedule, outside of which it will not report any of the alarms and hence not use sms credits during the working day. Again strangely this schedule does not automagically disable the vehicle via the immobiliser but it does enable it, again this may be a warranty fault. The sim does not report the cell tower it is connected to. I have never been close enough to this machine to attempt to start it to see exactly what the limitations are.

 

A number of my colleagues have trackers on their sports cars, none seem to understand how they work, they get an sms if the vehicle is entered, cost a couple of hundred quid a year to subscribe to the system and about 400 to fit.

 

What I think is needed is firstly a good immobiliser integrated with a brake, most tracked chippers have this by default in the track motor, next is parking where a hiab lorry cannot get alongside. Next is the tracker which should have a means of checking it is logged on and functioning without using too much credit. Satrak ticks most of these boxes but any android smartphone has all the functionality if I were bright enough to write an app. It goes without saying that cellphone reception is at least an order of magnitude better than GPS.

 

A fundamental problem with all these GSM devices seems to be if they are out of reception and the thief has time to locate the device.

 

AJH

[Treelad]

I'm not familiar with the box telematics device, though I did discuss trackers with them 10 years ago.

 

I have used a chipper with the original tracker, this was well hidden and secure and used an external aerial, you did need to know it had been stolen to have the operating centre switch the VHF alarm on and there was an annual subscription.

 

I inherited responsibility for 3 machines with cubetrak devices. These are tiny boxes with an internal battery that lasts about 3 days and a separate charge feed from the vehicle. None are well hidden or securely fixed, so could be smashed off and discarded easily. They report position via a central webserver which has been flaky, I have seen a machine enter the yard recently with its position being reported as 10 miles away for the next 12 hours. This system uses a PAYG SIM and sends sms alerts when moved beyond a set radius. The last known status of speed, battery, reception and position is shown on the web interface, as well as movement history. It uses data and sms credits to upload to the web interface and can be set to report in intervals from seconds to days. It is prone to report false positives and these use credits. If it isn't moved or doesn't exceed a set speed it won't update and hence doesn't use credit or data. The problem is this can give a false sense of security and it may have simply logged off without one knowing. Later versions with the vodafone data sim can report that they are logged on to a cell tower, which is a good check that they are live, unfortunately this is again done through the supplier's web site and is flaky.

 

I have one satrak fitted by plant security, I have to say their salesman was persistent but aftersales has been pants, cost was 700quid inc. It uses a PAYG SIM and there are no subsciption costs and you have direct control of the device. This unit lasts about 3 hours after it has been disconnected from the vehicle battery (which may be an internal battery fault), it will send an sms if it senses overspeed, vibration, low battery or ignition. It also immobilises the vehicle. It can be interrogated by voice call or sms but the data returned is in a bizarre order. The GPS is insensitive, on a recent 50 mile trip it never got a fix and has remained in a asbestos reinforced concrete roofed barn over Xmas with still no fix and reporting itself 50 miles away, it does state it is an old position. The satrak has the facility to set a schedule, outside of which it will not report any of the alarms and hence not use sms credits during the working day. Again strangely this schedule does not automagically disable the vehicle via the immobiliser but it does enable it, again this may be a warranty fault. The sim does not report the cell tower it is connected to. I have never been close enough to this machine to attempt to start it to see exactly what the limitations are.

 

A number of my colleagues have trackers on their sports cars, none seem to understand how they work, they get an sms if the vehicle is entered, cost a couple of hundred quid a year to subscribe to the system and about 400 to fit.

 

What I think is needed is firstly a good immobiliser integrated with a brake, most tracked chippers have this by default in the track motor, next is parking where a hiab lorry cannot get alongside. Next is the tracker which should have a means of checking it is logged on and functioning without using too much credit. Satrak ticks most of these boxes but any android smartphone has all the functionality if I were bright enough to write an app. It goes without saying that cellphone reception is at least an order of magnitude better than GPS.

 

A fundamental problem with all these GSM devices seems to be if they are out of reception and the thief has time to locate the device.

 

AJH

 

Thanks for the helpful advise.