Affordable DIY Tracking With Mobile Sensors

In this How To tutorial you’ll learn how to do affordable asset tracking with Valarm. Valarm is an app for Android devices like phones and tablets so you can use an inexpensive, dedicated device to do this such as a Huawei Comet or Samsung Dart. This could be with a fleet of vehicles where sensor readings (e.g., temperature, humidity, air quality) are critical: cold chain transport, frozen goods, organs such as kidneys or hearts. Or it could be used to track a single vehicle that may be driven by a sneaky teen. Valarm provides an inexpensive way to track a stolen motorcycle, plus any expensive asset such as a guitar or camera equipment, pets, or anything else!

Valarm responds to sensors or triggers (e.g., the phone is shaken, temperature drops or increases, or speed exceeds your custom maximum) by doing things like sending you an SMS / text message, email, and/or posting all data and location to web-based mapping tools at tools.valarm.net.  Valarm also has an interval timer so you can get Valarm updates as often as you like, e.g., every 15 seconds, every 5 minutes, or any other amount of time.

Valarm compatible sensors are available at shop.valarm.net.

For basic asset tracking you can use either the motion sensor (accelerometer) or the interval timer.

If you have the motion sensor active you will only receive Valarm alerts when the device is being bumped and the accelerometer is triggered, which is pretty dependable on most devices we’ve tested, see a list of hardware we’ve tested and let us know how Valarm works on your device!  So this is useful for tracking a stolen asset since Valarm won’t alert you until the device has moved, e.g., your motorcycle is parked but then suddenly someone bumps it or picks it up trying to steal it.  Note: A relatively sensitive accelerometer, combined with an auto-reset of 30 seconds and SMS or email throttle of 1-3 minutes is a great theft-tracking setup.

If you use the interval timer we’ve found that 15 second intervals work well for tracking an asset but experiment and play around to fine-tune this to what works best for your situation.  With the interval timer Valarm alerts will be created in the alert log on the device each time the interval passes, e.g., 4 every minute with 15 second intervals.  If enabled, these alerts are sent out via SMS / text message, email, and/or uploaded to tools.valarm.net.  Note: Longer intervals may help increase battery life, but will reduce statistical accuracy for reports. (especially for vehicle tracking – a non-issue if you’re plugged in)

After you’ve installed Valarm you will set up your device for tracking.  First launch Valarm then go to the All Settings menu seen in the screenshot.

Step 1: Basic Settings

Under Basic Settings you have options for an arming countdown, pop-up messages, alarm sounds, and more.  Important to note on this page is the Arm/Disarm on External Power option which will automatically arm Valarm whenever the device is plugged into a power source.  It is common to use this for vehicle tracking with a car charger.  This way Valarm will only record and report data when the vehicle is turned on.  In the screenshot below you see this option enabled.

Step 2: Interval Timer

For this example scenario you will use the Interval Timer so Valarm will report status every 15 seconds.  Turn on the interval timer under Interval Timer settings and set your desired interval based on how often you want to get Valarm updates.

Step 3: Triggering Alerts

For more information on setting up Valarm’s responses that will be triggered by the interval timer, motion sensor, and/or other sensors, see the tutorials on SMS / text message alerts, e-mail alerts, and linking your Valarm device to tools.valarm.net.

Step 4: Web Tools for Tracking

Now that Valarm is armed, you’re tracking!  In the screenshot above auto-upload to web tools is enabled so all data can be visualized and analyzed at tools.valarm.net as seen below.

Step 5: Deploy Your Dedicated Device

You can put Valarm in the glove compartment for teen tracking or anywhere you think appropriate for tracking any of your assets such as a musical instrument or motorcycle.

Step 6: Vehicle Tracking

Here’s an example showing Valarm in a vehicle’s center console with a car charger. That’s Valarm for vehicle tracking: affordable, easy, portable, simple.