Securing Amphi and Trailer

[mike_israel]

Hi All,

While I keep my own Amphi in locked garage, my trailer sits outside. The thought of theft, as has happened to some here, is always in the back of my mind.

This weekend I took some steps to protect my trailer which I thought might be useful to others.

Essentially, I am putting in a small GPS tracking device. It uses a GSM mobile card (get one from H20 wirelewhere you pay only for the use ($40 per year, can also order on amazon for .01 cents)). You have a lot of options such as alerting you with GPS coordinates and Google Map link if he vehicle / trailer moves, goes out of a designated area, etc. You can even wire into your ignition to send a kill message.

Here is the GPS device,
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0095BJZ7O/?tag=theampfor-20


You willl need power if on your trailer. I used this battery ..
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009II5CMQ/?tag=theampfor-20

While power draw is minimal you do need to keep the battery charged. I am using a small solar panel that can be discretely mounted.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002ECJ5YE/?tag=theampfor-20

The GPS install is reasonably intuitive. The manual is not great but is usable. There is a ton of info on GPSPassion forums under the LIVETracker section.

In most instances, I think you could install this discretely enough that someone making a grab and run on your trailer would not spot it until after you have had a chance to contact the police and hopefully nab the bad guys.

I have not put one on the Amphi yet but will likely do so for it and the Porsche 914.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Midwest Amphicar]

Thank You

 

[Cameron in UK]

As part of my dads work we've experimented with a few of those devices, they are certainly better than nothing but not very reliable, the later 106 generation is a bit better hardware than that 103 but there can still be incompatibilities with cell phone sims, sometimes they will work fine during testing but then, when you need to track, the cell company detects and odd usage pattern and disables it !
Although more money the pinpointpal https://www.pinpointpal.com/
works great, this is still GPS but no sim, it uses the data part of the cell signal so covers most of the world without having to think about the carrier. Pinpointpal also has the ability to go to sleep and be woken by motion which gives good life from the built in battery.

 

[mike_israel]

there are indeed a number of options. Another one I that looks really good is the SpotTrace device and service which gets pretty high ratings.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GQ8WW4M/?tag=theampfor-20
The service is $99 a year and also includes things like movement alerts. Batery life is also said to be really excellent (6 months on AA batteries) so it may be a simpler solution aking to what Cameron mentioned. May be harder to hide on the amphi as antenna is built into the device itself and needs a clear view of sky.

The cheapest solution might be to buy an old Android phone, put a cheap SIM in it from alarmsim.com with a text only plan. Hide and wire up the phone, Then install Tasker and run the "Find my phone" app. Basically when you send a text to the phone with a key word, it turns on the GPS, gets it's location, then texts you back the coordinates.

 

[mike_israel]

Here is a video on the SPOT Trace.

 

[mike_israel]

Just picked up a SPOT trace and am pretty impressed. Smaller than expected, easy to set up, fast GPS signal acquisition, just uses AA batteries.

 

[SNOWBIRD]

As most knmow my Trailer and stock was take in Fl. I found the Trailer but never got stock back and still hursts.
All trailers now when parked Have wheels removed and stored inside out of sun ligjht(prevents cracking) nuts are kept elswhere.
On the roofs is painted in large letters a code, it is not visable unless you are on a ladder,
Most busses do this too.
When we found my trailer the police wanted us to ID it, the crooks had removed the serialk numbers etc. We got the dealer we bought iot from to confirm it, but if we had had that code on the roof, it would have been a sinch. also it would make it stick out if looking for it in a airplane.

 

[mike_israel]

Removing the wheels will defintely discourage the crackhead looking to fund his next hit. I wonder, especially on an enclosed trailer, if it could highlight that the contents inside are valuable? For the planned heist, not too hard to have a couple of wheels in the back of the tow vehicle.

The painted roof is a good idea. I doubt law enforcement will send up a chopper in search of a stolen trailer but anything which makes it harder to flip and easier to identify is a good thing.

Certainly, those measures and a GPS tracker that alerts you to movement are a good combo. After playing with the spot device there are lots of ways to hide it. For a vehicle, I like the concept on the other device discussed here of being able to remotely disable the ignition. (maybe a remote explosive device would be more appropriate).

Gord, sadly all those valuable parts you never got back probably got sold for scrap to pay for some junkies meth fix for the day.