LAND-ROVER SERIES II
When a friend had his Series II Land-rover stolen last year, I realised I needed to be less cavalier with the security of my vehicle. I’ve been using a pedal lock for years and recently added a steering-wheel lock, but I had been looking at trackers for some time. Being alerted to any attempt to move the 88in seemed ultimately desirable.
Naturally there are dozens available. Some are specifically marketed at owners of classics, while others cost the same as a couple of pints and come with very little support. After a chat with the chaps at Rewire Security, I opted to fit one of the firm’s DB2 trackers – as featured in Garage gear last month (March, p48) – to see if the claims about ease of installation were true. And, more importantly, to see if it would be an effective addition to the Series II.
The tracker itself is priced at £59, and another £5 per month activates the subscription that enables location tracking and the necessary alerts. So it’s not going to break the bank, costing £120 in total for the first 12 months.
My first question was whether it can be fitted to a positive-earth car. The answer was “yes”. The whole unit is insulated so you still connect it to the positive and negative of the battery, regardless of the polarity of your vehicle.
As trustworthy as the readers of C&SC are, I’m not going to publish pictures showing my tracker’s ‘cunning’ install…
Initially, I started with a dry run by just attaching the feed and ground wires directly to the battery and then securing it to the top.
Strangely, some trackers don’t work too well beneath layers of metal. Fortunately, the DB2 has a strong GPS receiver and in a matter of minutes it had a fix on the location. The next step was to download the GPSLIVE app on my smartphone. Some units only provide feedback when you log on to a website, but I wanted to be able to check that the Series II was where I left it no matter where I was.
Setting up was easy: create a username and password, then enter the IMEI number of the tracker and a few seconds later the GPS had locked on to my position.
I set up triggers for movement, ignition (detecting the rise in voltage in the circuit), tow (with the ignition off), and if the power to the tracker is cut or an attempt is made to jam the signal. These are only a fraction of what’s on offer, including ‘geofencing’ so it would alert me if the 88in left a specified area.
Anxiety then got the better of me and I had to go for a drive to see if it told me I was ‘stealing’ my own vehicle. The good news is that as soon as I turned out of the end of the road, an alert popped up informing me that the ignition was on and that the Series II was on the move. Checking the app after my journey I was able to log the route taken and see where I was now parked. Only time will tell how effective it is – and only in the event of a criminal act will I see if it proves to be the difference between bidding goodbye to my pride and joy or seeing it safely back on my drive. Hopefully I will never be in that situation.
Meanwhile, after investigating a dull headlight, I finally decided to do something about the blown sidelight bulb. Except the bulb was fine, and as I extracted it from the unit, the plastic holder disintegrated. I now have a reason to renew all four sidelight/indicator internals because they are far from reliable. The original Lucas lenses and chrome rings will be retained, but new rubbers and holders will be used. Handily, they are similar to those used on the Morris Minor.
I also, at last, found a copy of Punch from 14 May 1958. Why that date? That was the issue from which Philip Kohler, the first owner of the Series II, cut out an advertisement for the new Land Rover model. He subsequently wrote to the Rover Company asking how to order one of its 88in models and have it delivered to his base in Bulawayo!
‘Anxiety got the better of me and I had to go for a drive to see if it told me I was “stealing” my own SII’
THANKS TO
Δ Rewire Security: www.rewiresecurity.co.uk