Devices Supporting 12v voltage monitoring in protocol

will4 years ago

Hi,

We are currently using CJ720 units to monitor our boats. Although very cheap (£20 each) we would really like to find an alternative of similar price which transmits the incoming voltage value (12 volt system) preferably to 1 decimal place so we can monitor the boats batteries at the same time.

The CJ720 unit only sends battery level as a %.

Can anyone recommend a unit to do this?

Thanks

Will

Tomte4 years ago

Hello,
It is the battery level of the tracker or the boat? If it is of the boat, why don‘t you calculate the voltage within Traccar? I believe, it should be possible!
If it is of the boat/external power supply, i will buy one and test it.

will4 years ago

Hi Tomte,

Thanks for the message. Yes so it is the Boat we are trying to monitor. The goal is we will be able to record the battery voltage in the Traccar server so that we dont have to pay for separate hardware and sim to monitor the power onward. The boats have 12v and 24 electric motors so monitoring when the boats batteries are low is vital.

If you can help I would happily pay for a unit for you to test. As described above we are looking fo the voltage hopefully to at least one decimal places ie 12.6volts.

Can you help or recommend a tracker?

Tomte4 years ago

Does the percentage give some reasonable value? I get a percentage with my tracker, too. However it is useless, because it is always 100%. So can you observe by percentage, how the boat battery drains?

will4 years ago

The system shows a percentage level but as you say this is nearly useless. For us we need a system which would give an accurate reading to one decimal so 11.9 - 12.0 - 12.1 - 12.2 etc etc.

Do you know of other models of trackers which can help?

Tomte4 years ago

Hello,
I checked yours. Like most of the gps trackers, it does not indicate the boat's battery or voltage, it is its internal battery. Therefore useless for your purpose. Unfortunately, I have the same problem as you. I have not found a suitable tracker, yet. Anyone else?

Tomte4 years ago

The only "low cost" hint I could give you, is the following. Assuming, your tracking device is transmitting the ignition signal to traccar correctly.
Use a "12V Battery Low Voltage Cut off Switch On Protection Undervoltage Controller DC" (search at ebay), and use it to switch off the ignition signal as soon, as you reach a certain voltage, e.g. 11.8V. In traccar, you could start an alert, as soon as the ignition goes off. Does your GPS tracker transmit the ignition signal?

Regards, Tomte.