[Geowanking] low cost gps location broadcasting hw / sw

[Paul Faunik]

Thanks for the great suggestions.
I bought a Motorola i290 on ebay for $13.

I'll still have to experiment with putting this in an box and either 
strapping a bigger battery with it or try some way to see if solar is an 
option.

I'll be trying it out with the mogologo sw and will report back with the 
effectiveness.

-Paul

On 2/1/11 11:21 AM, M. Adam Davis wrote:
> Another free services is mologogo, and it turns out that the wireless 
> web feature is not needed for packet data, therefore you don't have to 
> pay the $0.35/day.  You can get a $20 credit every 90 days (which is 
> never used but you have to add money every 3 months regardless of 
> usage) and get tracking down to $0.22 per day.  You may be able to 
> find some convenience stores and other shops that sell $10 credits, so 
> you'd then only need to pay $0.11/day for tracking.  See 
> http://mologogo.wikispaces.com/message/view/home/5054205 for details.
>
> Mologogo is another service you can use, and it appears to be more up 
> to date than instamapper: http://www.mologogo.com/  with better 
> instructions for installation of the java mobile app on a wider 
> variety of phones.  Troll ebay and craigslist for a cheaper, older 
> boost phone using the phone compatibility list: 
> http://mologogo.wikispaces.com/Phone+List and you may be able to find 
> one for free or cheaper than a new one at Target, etc.
>
> -Adam
>
> On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 2:07 PM, M. Adam Davis <adavis at ubasics.com 
> <mailto:adavis at ubasics.com>> wrote:
>
>     Go to http://www.instamapper.com/diy.html and follow the
>     instructions.  $50 prepaid phone from Target, $0.35/day for
>     tracking ($50 phone includes $10 credit, so you're good for about
>     a month before having to buy more credit). 3-6 days standby time
>     (significantly less depending on cellular conditions and your
>     update rate - one minute update rate will drain the battery in
>     8-12 hours).  For more time, strap a larger battery to it - the
>     one it has is under 1AH, so you can easily double or triple that
>     time with 3 AA NiMH 2000mAH cells, or some Li-Ion cells such as
>     http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8483 and
>     http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8484.  You'll need to charge them
>     externally, of course.  Works on Nextel/Boost network (make sure
>     you have coverage in the areas you're interested in).  Cellular
>     accessories, such as car chargers, holders, etc may come in handy
>     if you simply want the tracker to work whenever a vehicle is on.
>
>     I have built other GPS tracking devices, and it's unlikely that
>     you can beat the cost if you need cellular coverage.  For short
>     range work a hacked-together FRS radio pair, microcontollers (such
>     as arduino), and GPS is still more expensive to start up, but
>     there are no ongoing costs so might be better savings in the long
>     run.  Note that it may be illegal to use FRS radios this way.
>
>     -Adam
>
>     On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Paul Faunik <paulfaunik at gmail.com
>     <mailto:paulfaunik at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>         I'm looking to build a location transmitter that would have
>         the following constraints
>
>         - low cost (sub $50) for the hw
>         - long battery life. based on the device broadcasting location
>         every 5 min and doing nothing else. days between charges?
>         - two simple buttons : start broadcasting : stop broadcasting
>         - the geo coordinates are relatively accurate most of the time
>         - 30 meters (used almost exclusively outdoors in San Francisco)
>
>         One thought is it could some super cheap older model cell
>         phone, some simple native app to send geo coords to web
>         service or send sms (if this circumvents a data plan), super
>         cheap pay as you go phone plan, put it all in a box and just
>         expose two buttons and the charging plug.
>
>         Other alternatives?
>
>         Anyone ever built or heard of such a project?
>
>         thanks,
>
>         Paul
>
>
>         _______________________________________________
>         Geowanking mailing list
>         Geowanking at geowanking.org <mailto:Geowanking at geowanking.org>
>         http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
>
>
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://geowanking.org/pipermail/geowanking_geowanking.org/attachments/20110204/95d3f1a4/attachment.html>