Car Tracker – tips and help

The device has 1mb of inbuilt memory to store locations. Whenever you use the live GPRS tracking function and it goes out of SIM range (if you are in a signal blackspot for example), then the device will record the data onto the internal memory instead. When the signal is regained, all the lost data points will then be uploaded. The inbuilt 1mb is enough for about 16,000 GPS location points. If you need to expand this, you can use the SD card slot to increase the memory. For most purposes though, this won’t be necessary. There are some extra commands associated with this functionality:

save030s005n123456 (tracker will respond “save ok”)

030s = save points every 30 seconds

005n = and will save five times (so two and a half minutes for the example, 5 x 30 seconds)

save030s***n123456

will save every 30 seconds, within any limits (indefinitely).

To cancel the auto-save logging, send clear123456, the device will respond “clear ok”.

It is not essential to wire the Vehicle Tracker to your car, as the internal battery will provide enough standby power for up to 60 days. However, extra functionality is available if you choose to install the tracker. The below diagram illustrates the wiring, making use of the 4-Pin harness.

You need a SIM card inside of the tracker because they function like mini mobile phones. More details can be found here. You can order a SIM from here, with free £5 credit once you activate it with a £10 top-up. They have excellent rates and no contracts. Win win!

On the back of the SIM card is a small 6 digit serial code. You need to visit GiffGaff.com and enter this code. You’ll then give a few details, add your £10 top up (if PAYG, at the bottom of the options), then you should be good to go. You’ll get your SIM phone number show up after a short while in your GiffGaff account (maybe 20 mins).

This phone number, for the SIM, will be the phone number for your Tracker from that point on. This is the number you sent the command text messages to. It would be useful to write the phone number, when you get it, at the top of the little reminder card in your Tracker package, so that you don’t forget it.

Please remember your GiffGaff login details! You will need them to log in to check on your credit, add more credit, switch auto-renew on or off, etc.

GiffGaff, or the SIM network you choose, is a completely separate third-party company from us. Any issues relating to network signals, accounts, lost SIMs etc should be taken up directly with them.

GiffGaff, or the SIM network you choose, is a completely separate third-party company from us. Any issues relating to network signals, accounts, lost SIMs etc should be researched directly via their website.

Some useful links for GiffGaff:
Forgotten Username or Password
Lost SIM card (if the tracker is lost and you wish to cancel the SIM/reorder a replacement, requires log in first)
Service Updates (requires log in first)

There is a diagram at the back of the manual which explains what the LEDs mean inside the tracker. When switching on, allow a few minutes for the LED’s to settle (i.e. has to find GSM and GPS signals).

Left LED (green):

Should be flashing – which means you have inserted your SIM correctly, and a GSM signal is present. If absent – then either a GSM signal isn’t present, or your SIM card hasn’t been inserted correctly.

Middle LED (blue):

If flashing, means a GPS signal hasn’t been locked onto yet. Take the tracker outside, and after a minute or so it should become constant. When its constant blue, the GPS signal is present.

Right LED (green, or red):

If flashing green, then all is well. If flashing red, then the power is low. When the charger is plugged in, it should be constant red. When constant green, its fully charged.

When switching on the car tracker, its best to do it outside. After a few minutes, the middle LED should become constant blue, meaning it has found the GPS signal.

You can connect the GPS antenna if you want to make the signal more powerful – especially if you’re placing the tracker inside a vehicle.

Getting a wildly wrong location on first use

This means that the Tracker hasn’t been able to adequately lock onto the satellites, so its showing its default factory value. You should switch the Tracker on outside or near a window then leave for a while until you see the blue blinking GPS light. Once it finds the satellites for the first time, it remembers them, so it will lock on a lot faster in future (if it loses them again, for example by going inside a garage or sheltered carpark).

The location is blank

This means that the GPS signal isn’t present – the Tracker may be indoors, on standby or just not had a chance to lock on properly yet. Try again a minute or so later, it may have had a chance to lock on by then.

If clicking on the text, and getting a nearby location rather than the actual location

This is an issue with the Google Maps app on phones – for some reason it may show the nearest street (and the middle of that street) rather than the actual coordinates location. When first clicking on a maplink, your phone will ask how you wish to view it – via a browswer, or via the Google Maps app. If you select browser, then it will load up Google Maps in a browser which will show the accurate location. If you select the app instead, then it will show the nearest location. If you’ve chosen this in the past and selected “show this by default”, then your phone will no longer give you the option, it will just go straight to the app. To fix this, you’ll need to find the “Default Apps” setting, under “Settings” on your phone.

If putting the coordinates manually into Google Maps on a browser

This is more-than-likely going to be an error with how the numbers are manually entered into Google Maps. If one digit is wrong, then the location will be very inaccurate.

Make sure you put a minus sign before the latitude or longitude, if appropriate, depending on the coordinate response you get back from your tracker. For example, if the coordinates show W for latitude, then that would be a minus sign before the coordinate. Do follow the example in the manual if you’re unclear.

Make sure:

– You have inserted the SIM correctly (contacts facing up, corner at the front inline with the tray, tray slid in firmly – this may take a few attempts.)
– There is no SIM password, caller ID blocking, call diversion or call blocking set up on the SIM
– The SIM has been activated, you have a phone number for the SIM
– The SIM has enough credit on it

If in doubt, place the SIM card for the tracker in your mobile phone, just to check its working ok and doesn’t have any password barriers etc.

If this happens, it could mean that the GPS signal is weak, or that the tracker has gone into standby mode. If you call the tracker again after about 30 seconds, you may get the location. This is because it had “gone to sleep” and replied to you before its readily activated and had enough time to acquire the location.

Please read the manual carefully, from start to finish. You will see that text commands need to be sent to the tracker, from another mobile phone, to set up a main number which will receive various alerts (over speeding, geo-fencing, low battery – if these are required). However, without any text commands, you may still call the tracker to get a location sent to your phone.

This is just an error with the numbers. If one digit is wrong, then the location will be very inaccurate.

Make sure you put a minus sign before the latitude or longitude, if appropriate, depending on the coordinate response you get back from your tracker. Follow the example in the manual. Try putting a minus symbol before the longitude coordinate to see if that’s the problem.

If the tracker cannot locate a good GPS signal, then it will report the last reported location instead. You can notice this from the time and date accompanying the location in the text message.

Click here to set up online tracking.

If you follow the guide (above) correctly, it will work – look closely to see what you might be doing wrong. Here are some common mistakes:

• You haven’t sent the relevant texts (“apn123456 giffgaff.com” and “adminip123456 IPnumber PORTnumber”).
• Your SIM card doesn’t allow data (if you used a GiffGaff SIM then this isn’t going to be a problem).
• The SIM is out of credit?
• You selected a device type other than xexun tk-102.
• You haven’t put in the correct fifteen digit IMEI number – check your location texts

Its absolutely minimal – over the course of a month, it will only amount to just a few megabytes. GiffGaff only charge 5p per mb, so it shouldn’t be more than 10p a month!