Hey,

When i first got my car i had to take out the cheapest insurance option at the time, that was i-kube, and of course i had to have their tracker fitted to basically give my car a curfew.

A year has gone since i dumped them and went with a cheaper option. The tracker was apparently 'disabled' through its sim card.

A few weeks after the tracker was disabled my car battery died after a week or so of not using it. This has been persisting ever since, even after the garage replace the battery with a new one.

I'm quite certain that its the tracker causing he battery to die, as it may still be active although not sending its collected data. The only other possibility for my drained battery would be a changed lightbulb.

Could anyone help regarding this? Maybe confirm my thoughts about the tracker being the issue?

Even if the tracker isn't the issue i would still like to remove it, so if anyone could help me locate it that would be brilliant. No doubt there would be a charge for their contractor to remove it, so i would rather do it myself.

Alex

Edited 1 July, 201214 yr by CarryOnDriving

I'm assuming that they would have come to fit the unit, so there would be signs of tampering.

The best method would be to find which circuit has the biggest drain by testing with a multi-meter and removing fuses one by one.

These trackers must have a constant live, but also be in a location that it could pick up a good phone & GPS signal, it must also be able to detect when the engine is started. have a look under the dashboard etc for any funny boxes that have new looking wiring coming out of them.

My Ex took this insurance, when she cancelled it they came and removed it..

It was located up behind the dash in the 02' fiesta, you couldnt see it but could feel it & it Had a signal wire and plasticy thing running up the drivers side A pillar.

Find the Signal thing then follow the wires.

Just had a look and the common place is behind the dashboard on the passenger side.

Wonder what stops you removing these units a few days after there installed and just connecting it to a 12v battery in the garage.

I'm Planning on getting Ikube insurance & this sounds good.. i wonder if they'd notice that your car has sat in the same place for 12 months..

Its just something thats been sitting in the back of my head.

What happens if you disconnect your battery?

Does it have a register when you drive into a tunnel or underground car park?

The reason i think they have a constant live is to keep a constant GPS contact, if I've not used my GPS in ages then it take a while to pick up the satellite network.

I wouldnt mind getting my hands on one to play around with

Its just something thats been sitting in the back of my head.

What happens if you disconnect your battery?

Does it have a register when you drive into a tunnel or underground car park?

The reason i think they have a constant live is to keep a constant GPS contact, if I've not used my GPS in ages then it take a while to pick up the satellite network.

I wouldnt mind getting my hands on one to play around with

If it uses a sim card, it will be using both GPS and the mobile network GPRS signals for updates hence why it will still update in tunnels etc.

be useless where i live then, mobile phone signal is dubious at best, and if i use network to find my location then its about 4 miles away. GPRS isnt accurate enough to be of any use

I'm sure the highlanders on here would justify how crap both GPS and Phone signals can be in the mountains.

be useless where i live then, mobile phone signal is dubious at best, and if i use network to find my location then its about 4 miles away. GPRS isnt accurate enough to be of any use

I'm sure the highlanders on here would justify how crap both GPS and Phone signals can be in the mountains.

All depends on the spec of the unit, mil spec are far better than your average Iphone etc

Unless the unit has failed I can't see it draining a battery as it;s consumption will be milliamps afterall a mobile left on standby will last for days and they only have around a 1500mA/hr battery compared to your average car battery 50~60A/hr

Just had a look and the common place is behind the dashboard on the passenger side.

Wonder what stops you removing these units a few days after there installed and just connecting it to a 12v battery in the garage.

Mate of mine had ikube. Used to unplug it at 10:30, then plug it back in the next day. Just made sure he was in the same sort of area. That is until he got lazy, took it out for weeks and drove into the side of a mondeo. They still paid out though, never once got a fine.

Thanks for your help guys. My knowledge about cars is quite basic, but I'm sure how to remove these dashboards will be in the manual. As for signs of tampering i haven't noticed anything like that so will have to have an explore.

I have a 56 plate Polo by the way.

Cymro, your welcome to buy it off me (only p&p costs) once i remove it. Thats if i don't take a hammer to it in the process of removing it.

nige8021, i've been away at uni for like 3-4 months at a time, I'm guessing it could do it over that lengthy period. Especially if the battery was about 6 years old.

I shall report back if i remove it. Thanks again for your help.

Just had a look and the common place is behind the dashboard on the passenger side.

Wonder what stops you removing these units a few days after there installed and just connecting it to a 12v battery in the garage.

Mate of mine had ikube. Used to unplug it at 10:30, then plug it back in the next day. Just made sure he was in the same sort of area. That is until he got lazy, took it out for weeks and drove into the side of a mondeo. They still paid out though, never once got a fine.

Really?!

I'll definatly be trying this!

If I get a fine, fair play, but if I don't I'm onto a winner

Give it a whirl mate, he never had any issues. Introduce a bit of water ingress if youre really clever

Just had a look and the common place is behind the dashboard on the passenger side.

Wonder what stops you removing these units a few days after there installed and just connecting it to a 12v battery in the garage.

Mate of mine had ikube. Used to unplug it at 10:30, then plug it back in the next day. Just made sure he was in the same sort of area. That is until he got lazy, took it out for weeks and drove into the side of a mondeo. They still paid out though, never once got a fine.

Really?!

I'll definatly be trying this!

If I get a fine, fair play, but if I don't I'm onto a winner

Post it up on a public forum too whilst you're at it...

i think ceri is onto something here with the 12v battery idea, just wack it all in the boot every now and again and go for a drive to keep it active

It make sense. Unless they suspect you have it attached to a ride on mower or the cat then its open to being tampered with.

If I can find out how the software works then ill see what I can come up with.

Thanks for your help so far! Managed to remove the main tracker and some other bits of it however i haven't been able to remove the cable connected to the power supply.

This is what i have removed so far its just the thick cable left.

Its connected to a box behind near the fuse box in my polo. Its really no easy to get to through this panel unless i was to take off the dash and i don't know how to take of the dash..

I could only get this photo of it by shoving it round the gap

I don't really have enough technical knowledge to know how to take this out. Do i need to take it out? surely it can't be using any power if its not plugged in to anything.

Any help on how to remove it would be greatly appreciated.

Bloody hell didn't expect that much wiring.

I won't drain any power if it's not plugged into the control box so just remove that and leave the cable tucked out of the way.

Thanks for your help so far! Managed to remove the main tracker and some other bits of it however i haven't been able to remove the cable connected to the power supply.

This is what i have removed so far its just the thick cable left.

-PHOTO-

-PHOTO-

Its connected to a box behind near the fuse box in my polo. Its really no easy to get to through this panel unless i was to take off the dash and i don't know how to take of the dash..

I could only get this photo of it by shoving it round the gap

-PHOTO-

I don't really have enough technical knowledge to know how to take this out. Do i need to take it out? surely it can't be using any power if its not plugged in to anything.

Any help on how to remove it would be greatly appreciated.

Well, that's obviously doing lots more than tracking your location..

No doubt it's tracking your mileage.

Edited 2 July, 201214 yr by charliejennings