After 18 months of ownership, I decided today to have a go at removing the annoying aftermarket immobiliser device that was fitted to my car when I bought it in used Feb 08.
I had imagined that the immobiliser was fitted by the original fleet operator of the car when the value was first used and that this would have been a valuable feature when it was worth 20K.
The has always forced me to use a touch-key to disable the immobiliser every time I want to start the car which is a real PITA considering that the OEM security system includes an immobiliser which is more than good enough for a five year old car.
I had presumed that the device was somehow plumbed into the ignition and starter lines between running from the steering column and it would simply need cutting out an restoring the connections to make the car able to be started with the key alone...... well I was wrong !
When I removed the facia trim this afternoon, I was surprised to see a big black box with multiple connections with the markings "EagleEye" and "Mini Vehicle Unit" and a large black relay. At least two of these connections appear to be co-ax and one has a loom with a tied-up PC RS232 type serial cable and there is an Ethernet network socket too !!. There is also a sticker with GPRS and a slot marked "SIM CARD".
I have posted some pics here for anyone who may recognise it.
i140.photobucket.com/albums/r40/clockerharvey/trac...g
I am wondering if this is an anti-theft tracker unit or a fleet management tracking product and is there some Big Brother who has been able to track me for the last 18 months !!
.... Spooky !
Any advice about this would be interesting.
I have decided to leave it in place for now, whilst I try and find out more info.
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looks like an old/early type hands free car phone set up. the coax would be for the ariel and the socket to the right of the gprs sticker would be for the phone/hand set which would have been some where on the dash/centre consol. tracking systems are much smaller and they would never fit it where you have found this.
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This is a fleet management tracking device.An anti-theft tracking device does not use a sim card or touch key pad and would be covertly hidden.hth
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Taxi system. :D
I don't think a phone system, I mean they haven't been like that since the mid 1990s.
Edited by Hamsafar on 15/08/2009 at 23:09
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Maybe it is www.eagle-eye.co.uk
that went bust and came back as
www.eagle-i-telematics.com/
Edited by Hamsafar on 15/08/2009 at 23:16
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The car was originally part of a Fleet operated by Incom telecon. My hunch is that they fitted these to keep track of their vehicles via Cellular phone and perhaps also Satellite global positioning.
The touch-key immobilizer feature may have been an additional feature and I am thinking perhaps there is a facility where the operator could override the immobilizer via the cellular network to stop the car from being used. If so, it's worrying that someone could stop my car by remote control..... creepy eh!!
The weird thing is, I recently rented an action movie on DVD called "Eagle Eye" which was had a sinister super computer controlling citizens using ordinary communication networks ....
www.imdb.com/title/tt1059786/
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check this out. www.lammertbies.nl/comm/cable/RS-232-spy-monitor.h...e looks like it was a company/fleet tracking system.
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Interesting read. I could understand it having a microphone and pinhole camera pointing at the driver from a hidden location in the dash, but the `sniffer cable` mentioned..
That seems a bit extreme even to me. Where exactly is it sniffing?
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>That seems a bit extreme even to me. Where exactly is it sniffing?
The one in the Dutch link is sniffing the data on RS232 Tx and Rx lines.
A sniffer is what us oldies used to call a "datascope". It sits on the network, in this case RS232/V.24, and monitors/records the communication between other devices. The one in the link is very, very basic.
If the device in the OP's car is a fleet management tool the RS232 connector may be hooked into the OBD port to monitor vehicle operating parameters.
The RJ45 socket may be for programming/test purposes.
It's definitely low volume, knocked together in a shed build quality.
Kevin...
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Just a thought, but if you regularly use a TomTom type GPS unit, you now have an effective aftermarket GPS antenna fitted to the car. Most GPS units have a separate antenna connection, and you might notice a huge improvement in acquisition time and tracking accuracy.
Reroute the cable and stick the correct plug on the end, and Bob's your uncle.
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