Hi!
I’m looking for a small portable GPS tracker that I could put in kid’s stroller and another one in my car, what are my options? Ideally something that could work directly with Hass, or maybe through Traccar.
DIY solutions are also an option, if they are not too bulky. Naturally I’d like long battery life (week+), and I don’t need very frequent reporting, once in 5-10 minutes should be enough, could be even less.
Thanks for your time and attention!
when is comes to long battery life, you need to look at things like LoRa as a communications protocol… the best you will get out of 2/3/4G devices + GPS will be around 3-4 days…
What you could do is look at devices such as this: https://www.zane.hu/hu/iot/
You could then use this component -> https://www.home-assistant.io/components/thethingsnetwork/ once you have built your application…
If exact (a couple of meters) is not that important and you are happy with 100+ meters accuracy, then you could use cellular LBS (Not GPS) devices on 2G which will last a little longer (maybe 5 days or so) which can then be plugged directly into traccar…
It all depends on:
For my child, I use this watch: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Child-Smart-Watch-Q90-Q80-Q50-Color-touch-screen-SOS-Call-Location-Finder-Locator-Device-Tracker/32782113973.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4doWniWA
I then use traccar and device tracker to get it into Home assistant… The battery however is only around 3 days…
There are then these devices, which I use as remote open close sensors which also have (LBS) tracking… their battery lasts around 5 days: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-RF-V13-GSM-Real-TimeTracker-Smart-Door-Alarm-Support-Open-Close-Door-Alarm-Function-designed/32389309196.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4doWniWA
The second device comes from a compnay called ReachfarGPS - http://www.reachfar-gps.com/
Some things to consider:
LoRa device without GPS - around 10 years battery life…
GSM (2G) without GPS will then be the next best performing
LTE 4G + devices use much higher frequencies and therefore will chew through batteries…
I would start with something cheap from ali-exress and take it from there as you improve/refine your use case and supporting hardware…
You can look at small GPS trackers like tiles or Rinex, but they all use Bluetooth for tracking, which means they have a small tracking range. If you want to track on a larger scale, you’d better use a wireless network. You can place a mini GPS tracking device in a stroller or car without being noticed by a thief, so you can track its location in the first place lost.
Hi, can you pls ellaborate about the kids gps tracker and home assistant integration? I have also cheap stuff for my kids, would be great to know how to identify them for traccar. Appreciate it in advance
You need to identify the protocol the device uses. It os possibly the watch protocol.
You will then need to open the corresponding port on your router
You then need to change the reporting url of the dwvice to match tour traccar instance.
Once you have added the device to traccar and you have implemented the traccar into home assistant with the traccar component(not to be confused with the addon) the devices in traccar should show up in home assistant.
Read up in traccar as to how to identify the device protocol… that is possibly the most difficult part, followed by changing the device reporting url
Anyone have any recommendations on GPS trackers that are popular or known to be easy/reliable to change the reporting url?
It all depends on the use case.
Is this for a car?
For a motorbike?
For a person? --> Have you tried the Traccar client on mobile?
Asset?
The key things are battery life if this is not going to be in a car/motorbike.
For best battery/connectivity, you should look at a 2G device but this will depend if your country still has a 2G Mobile network.
You can also look at things like LoRa, but again, you will need sufficient network coverage…
PM me if you need any links to products based on what you looking for…
Have you managed to find a solution yet?
Looking for something to put into my motorbike without the subscription fees
@RKor → There are loads of solutions all depending on your use case.
For a motorbike, I would use Traccar and then get a sim card to place into one of these: Mini GPS Tracker ST 901M Built Battery Vehicle Tracking Device Car Motorcycle GSM Locator Remote Control With Real Time Free APP|GPS Trackers| - AliExpress
OR if you don’t want to pay form monthly sim card fees, then you will not be able to track everywhere you go…
I am a bit confused about the information in this thread, seems like a lot of data.
I am contemplating the GPS tracking for the vehicle. Which that being said, battery life is not a concern ideally it should be hardwired. Of course it would have data LTE plan, so SIM card slot.
Is there any generic integration into home assistant as a device tracker ? Any standard they follow ?
Like for example if you get cheap aliexpress tracker, or same on Amazon for like $10more https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09BCHV5ZB/ is there a way to integrate such thing ? It was mentioned Traccar, how do I know if the device is supported ?
Traccar’s website has a list of supported devices. You’d need to know what protocol the GPS is using first though:
https://www.traccar.org/devices/
Thank you @moto2000 and @uiguy for the helpful responses
I would like to know 1 thing
Would it be possible to adjust the update interval of the trackers from HA?
For example, when the bike is parked, update every 60 mins.
When the bike is on the move, update every 5 seconds
Another thing that would be a huge bonus, is if I could remotely trigger a kill switch so the bike shutsdown
I have ODBII trackers that do exactly this. when ignition is off, they send updates every like 30 minutes, but when moving, then you can set it differently. This type of functionality is generally at the device level, not application level.
Hello, I also buy the watch as you us for your child. I also have the traccar running with Home assistant to track my mobile phone and motorbike. Would you please tell me how to make the watch send the gps data to traccar? I can’t fine anywhere the set the config.
Thank you very much.
you need to change the URL in the watch to point to your traccar instance. Typically this is done by sending a command via SMS to the watch
Would you please tell me what is that command?
Thank you very much.
It will depend on your device. There is no universal command. It is device specific. I would ask the supplier for the command set
I mean I buy the watch same as you use at this link: Child Smart Watch Q90 Q80 Q50 Color touch screen SOS Call Location Finder Locator Device Tracker GPS Kid Safe Anti Lost Monitor|Smart Watches| - AliExpress. So the command should be the same.
And the supplier don’t give me the command. So I need to find out by myself. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
