I found a very small GPS tracker and I was wondering how and where to build it in the car. It has its own built-in GSM and GPS antennas, but will need a power supply (I was planning to connect it to a permanent line of the battery if I can find one). BTW, I have the standard audio, no nav, no GSM in the car.

Does anyone have suggestions? (now that I look at the fin, it does seem too small to house the module. Can anyone help me with suggestions where to place such a module (and an indication where the permanent power should come from)?

 

From my own experience (I have a similar device as well), I can tell you that for the power supply will be better to ask a BMW service to install it for you.
I tried to install one myself, but in the next morning when I start the car I had a warning message on the central console . In fact, there are a limited number of systems that are staying "awake" during the parking period (when the car is locked). Using a supplementary device (consumer) does not let the other systems to go "to sleep" mode. This could lead to a much higher electrical consumption than normal. As far as I understood from the BMW mechanic, they need to "declare" the new power supply (cig. lighter) in the system. By the way, I installed my cig lighteron the trunk and the GPS tracking device is always connected to it. You can ask either for a standard touring slot in one side of the trunk, either for a hidden slot, somewhere behind one of the side cover. About the GPS device, you should check if the GPS signal is still good enough in case that you want to hide the device very well (to much metal on top of it is going to drastically reduce the antenna signal). Hope this help. Good luck.

 

I ran into a similar experience with a DIY of a Valentine 1 detector.... found out that many circuits are monitored for load, and when outside of specs all kinds of weird things happen.

Cal

 

Thanks a lot for the warnings. They suggest to me that I should tap into the battery 'before' the computer, i.e. make a direct connection (fused of course) to the battery. After all, it's all there in the trunk.

 

Sounds reasonable to me, maybe... wonder if the computer is also monitoring the individual and total draw on the battery itself. Might be why the one dealer said they had to "register" the new load.

Cal

 

Don't know how big it is but you might want to see if you can mount it either on the rear parcel shelf or under it (but not under any sheet metal...)

Using that location should allow for GPS reception and should allow for an easy power hookup.