Vehicle Recovery Via Old Smartphone  By  JerryScript (Read 1,181 times)

While no method is perfect for theft prevention, there is a pretty good method for recovery. Just about everyone these days has an old smartphone they have replaced with a newer phone. You can install it in your bike, and if the bike is stolen, you can find it's location on your computer or your newer phone. There is Android Device Manager and for iPhones there is FindMyPhone, and there are a lot of third party apps as well with various features. I'm an Android user, so this post will reflect that as I don't have much iPhone experience. You can also use the old smartphone as a GPS/mapping device, and video recording device.

Parts:

• Smartphone (if you don't have a spare, they are cheap on craigslist/ebay/etc, get a cheap text only cell phone plan if you don't need online maps)
  
• Car cigarette lighter (only female end is needed, cheap at auto parts stores or walmart)
  
• USB adaptor for the car cigarette lighter (don't get the cheapest available, spend $10+ on this one for safety)
  
• 20amp fuse
  
• 12g wire (14g wire and 15amp fuse may be fine, but 12g/20amp is standard for cigarette lighters)

Installation:

• Connect the positive wire to the fuse, then to a non-keyed source of power near your selected mount point to splice into, or run the fused wire directly to your battery's positive terminal. Connect the ground wire to a frame bolt near your mount point, do not attempt to splice into another components ground wire!
  
• Plug in the USB adaptor to the cigarette lighter
  
• Plug in your USB charging cable to the USB adaptor
  
• Use a small dab of silicon to secure all connections from vibrations
  
• Zip tie all wires to a secure spot on the body or frame
  
• Mount your smartphone and plug in the charging cable (mounting options discussed below)

There are several things to consider when choosing a mounting location and method.

• Do you want to use the display as a GPS while riding?
  
• Do you want to be able to take pics/video of the person who has stolen your bike?
  
• Do you want to be able to take videos of your rides?
  
• Do you just want a stealth vehicle recovery method and don't need to see the display?
  
• Do you want to be able to use the cigarette lighter or USB charger for things other than the smartphone?

To use Android Device Manager, you simply go to google.com, log into your gmail account associated with your smartphone, then search for Android Device Manager and click on it's link. The page will take a moment to search for your phone, and show it's location on Google Maps. If you want to, you can make the phone ring at full volume for 10 minutes, and repeat, sort of a built in alarm system. Android Device Manager is built into all Android smartphones, and the settings are accessible via your app drawer's Google settings icon. Note- I believe you need a data plan to use Android Device Manager, if not I will update this.

There are other apps that will allow you to send a text message to your smartphone, and receive a text back with the GPS location. Some even allow you to snap a pic and have it texted to you, so with proper mounting position, you could snap a pic of the bike thief! Some text only plans may allow for MMS, others will require a data plan, but GPS does not require data, so getting your bikes location only requires a cheap text only cellphone plan.

If you ride your bike everyday, a smartphone will probably not run down your battery. If you do not ride everyday, you should unplug the smartphone charging cable when your bike is securely stored away in your garage. I would estimate a smartphone charger would drain a 12v 7a battery in a couple weeks time, probably less than that to get to a point it won't have enough juice to start the bike, but I have not tested yet (will update this post once I have done some real world testing).

I'm sure there are things I've overlooked, please let me know your thoughts on this theft recovery method.