Anyone using a car tracking 'system' with OH?

,
1

I am looking for:
a) a device that receives a GPS signal and sends the position to something I own; e.g. server
b) works with OH

Quickly looking inot this topic and I found that there is quite a bit of free tracking, but one needs a device which sends the location to something, and this costs money.

The service does not have to be free, but should be very resonable, e.g. $10 per months.

Any hints appreciated. Thanks!

2

Buy a cheap Android phone with a small postpaid plan or a prepaid card, install OwnTracks, plug the charger to your sigarette lighter and go!

3

Beware that a cheap Android phone may come with a weak GPS chip. Been there done that.

4

What did you do then?

5

Probably took an old one - a lot of people keep their old phones, they often have a strong enough GPS Signal…

Jonas

6

When I bought a new one, more expensive, I noticed the difference in satellites picked up and consistency of tracking. Tracking with the new expensive one was far more reliable then before (had times that tracking was missing for hours).

7

Thanks for the replies.

Can I deduct from the replies:
a) good phone
b) use SMS to report location
c) install OwnTrack server
d) integrate with OH

Any examples on how to achieve d)? Intergration with OH; sitemap, rules, bindings used?

8

I have someone write a moj.io binding for openHAB 1.8.3 and I am using it with 4 vehicles. I think they cost about $150 and included a year of service. If you want to go that route, I can share the binding.

9

maybe that can help as well:

10

Thank you for the offer; I may come back to this…

At the moment, I am trying to understand the OwnTracks solution…
While I get the part of coordinates generation and sending.
Where does it go – as in who receives the SMS with the coordinates?
Or does the phone need to make a data connection (e.g. via HTTP) and sends it to my (OwnTracks) server? If so, I need a public IP address on my Internet connection.
I install a server – what does it receive; presumably the coordinates; but where does it get it from.
And finally ‘what’ is used to integrate it with / talk to OH1?

11

Thanks… now I see the connection… reading this now… :slight_smile: