I set myself a challenge this week! Build a covert Diy GPS Tracker for £10!

Obviously, I could buy and install a wired tracker (or battery tracker) but where is the fun in that? I want to see if I can put together a covert DIY GPS Tracker from bits I can plug together from eBay. The best bit is that there’s no coding involved!

There have been a number of burglaries in my area in the last few weeks. You know how it goes… thief breaks in through the backdoor, steals the keys from the kitchen drawer and you don’t have a car anymore. It’s common practice for the thieves to park up the car for at least 24hrs after the theft in case the vehicle is being tracked. If it is tracked then you are likely to get your car back.

We are a two-car family without fixed trackers –  I generally track my vehicle using the Pay as you Track App on my Smartphone. The app works really well but there is one issue. My smartphone is not going to be in the car when the car is stolen. So how do I keep a charged Smartphone in the car so it can’t be found?

When the Pay as you Track tracking App was first developed out test phone was a Samsung Galaxy Y. At the time this phone retailed for approximately £60. If you’ve ever used one you’ll know they are pretty slow. You can just about use them for making calls and for sending SMSs. Not much fun trying to browse the web. One thing they do have going for them is a GPS chip and a data connection.

However, you can now pick one up from eBay for less than £10…..so I started thinking. All I need is a power source and a box and I’m pretty much there.

Here’s my shopping list for this project

Less than £10 Ebay – try and get one without a box and don’t worry about a scratched screen!

£3.49 Ebay – this converts the 12v from the car to a micro USB voltage for charging the phone

£0 Tesco – Pay as you Track typically uses less than 2Mb/month. So get a dirt-cheap Pay as you Go Sim.

In part 2 of the post, I go through plugging the DIY Tracker together and getting it installed in my car. Before then I need to find a 12v source in my car and this is looking promising…