I wanted to see if someone can help me out, I have a friend that wants to add some kind of device...

[G+_Donald Kloss]

I wanted to see if someone can help me out, I have a friend that wants to add some kind of device to notify him if his vehicle moves ( can’t install an alarm) I checked the odb2 automatic device and it won’t report if the vehicle moves, I don’t have any other options to look into

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

Are you sure that you can’t do that with IFTTT and an Automatic Pro? You can definitely automatically log trips and you can also geofence. I’m not sure if there’s a “start of trip” event but a geofence trigger should be sufficient, as long as your friend isn’t trying to catch his kid driving the car up and down the driveway or something.

[G+_Donald Kloss]

Akira Yamanita the issue with going with automatic is that the vehicle needs to move, basically he works for a big company and he’s on standby for most of the day, the apartment complex he lives at has limited parking so he wants to park his vehicle close to the garbage cans and he’s worried about the truck being towed, the automatic won’t turn on unless it senses the ignition turn on and won’t report if the vehicle is moving

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

Ah. You’re looking for something like a bump sensor, although for a different purpose. You could use something like this (swiftsensors.com - www.swiftsensors.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/DS_SS_SEN_501R.pdf) but it’s probably going to be too late once the vehicle is hitched to the tow truck.

[G+_Donald Kloss]

Akira Yamanita thanks for that I’ll look into that, hopefully it will send the text right away and he can go down and stop the guy, I really don’t think the tow truck driver will give him any grief because he does respond to emergency situations but who knows now a days

[G+_Akira Yamanita]

That particular one says that it has a polling rate of a minute, so you’ll probably want to look for other options. It was just the first one that came up.

[G+_Donald Kloss]

Akira Yamanita I emailed the company and we would need to add a cellular device which is $30 a month and $1000 for the actual stuff to setup trying to go as cheap as we can

[G+_Giligain I.]

• I'm not sure of the intent, so my suggestions may be off kilter some.

 

• depending on level of activity needed and immediacy of alert sent, the choice of sensors will warrant need:

> Hall effect sensor located either temporarily or permanently on any one wheel.

> A vibration sensor located under the car/hood.

> An acceleration sensor placed on a wheel either temp/perm.

> A "near presence" sensor detecting person very near car; usually these sensors are only a yard or less distance.

> a camera inside car with remote capabilities to pan/zoom and do facial recognition...sending notifications when setup criteria are met (to help eliminate false alarms).

> ...next?

 

• the choice to collect and send and power the micro controller is vast...and another post/topic.

[G+_John Sullivan]

Your friend is worried about being towed, so that means he is parking illegally, right?

You could put a tilt sensor on it that activates a RaspPi or other to send a text message, but in my limited experience with tow truck drivers, once they have a vehicle "on the hook" they don't release it.

Perhaps your friend should park in a legal parking spot and walk?

[G+_Donald Kloss]

cosmic Ray I think parking is sparse in his complex everyone is assigned 1 spot and the rest is up for grabs, that is true about the tow truck thing too, he’s still working on the logistics of what he is going to do about staying home or sitting somewhere else on standby, he parks next to the garbage cans, I junk he said there are no signs posted for no parking but I’m not sure

[G+_Ben Reese]

Not sure how far he parks from his apartment, but how about something like the Arlo security cameras? For home security they're garbage, but sticking one or two inside his truck might help alert him when someone gets near - and provide a video clip. Probably some false positives too when someone walks a by, but that may be acceptable.

[G+_Donald Kloss]

Ben Reese thanks for the arlo suggestion just looked it up and they offer lte cameras for on the go, that might work out too

[G+_Graham Evans]

If you do an Email search for "Car Tracker" or "tk 102" you will see there are loads of simple devices that can send a text message (or report via GPRS) when the car moves. Most have a rechargeable battery so they still work when the ignition is off.

[G+_John Sullivan]

If you friend is worried about his car being stolen, that's one thing. If he's worried about being towed, then any device that notifies him when the car "moves" is too late. By then the tow truck already has the car in the air and good luck getting the driver to release it. That doesn't happen in my neighborhood, although some drivers will let you ride along with them to the tow yard so that you can pay the fee and get your car back.