In my BMW, I leave an old iPhone with a pre-pay SIM in it in the car boot, to use it as a cheap tracker device. It’s plugged into the USB socket of a 12V charger, in the 12V socket in the boot. I can see it using the Find My app on my iPhone. The 12V socket is automatically powered down when the ignition turns off. Even if the phone battery dies, it will power up again when the ignition is turned on.

 

This works fine in my BMW, because the 12V socket is automatically powered down when the ignition is turned off. I would like to do something similar in my wife’s Skoda Karoq. But I believe that all the 12V sockets in a Skoda remain powered even when the ignition is turned off. So if I leave an old iPhone plugged in permanently, it’s eventually going to drain the Karoq’s 12V battery.

 

Can anybody think of a way to ensure that the phone powers up when a Karoq is on the move, without it draining the car’s battery if the car isn’t used for a few days?

Do you have the towing package ? if so you could get an ignition ON supply at the towing detection unit 

6 hours ago, nige8021 said:

Do you have the towing package ? if so you could get an ignition ON supply at the towing detection unit 

Unfortunately no, I don’t.

I would use a piggyback fuse on an ignition controlled fuse,  (check whether standard or mini fuse needed!) and run this to a trailing female 12v socket (like the pic, but ditch the crocodile clips).  This could be hidden behind the dash/glove box.  There could well be room even to hide the phone as well.

 

However, if you wanted it more accessible, use a fixed 12v socket attached wherever convenient.  

 

You could also search on here for “Octavia Mk3 rear USB install” for an excellent how-to for adding OE-style USB sockets to the rear of the centre console, but you would need to power them from an ignition controlled fuse as above.

 

 

Edited 24 May, 20224 yr by Baxlin

Surely the charge needed for the phone is negligible compared to other parts of the car electrics which are always live? Any car will go flat after a few weeks standing. As long as it is driven occasionally it should be fine.

Bigger risk is surely that leaving a phone plugged charging with a dead battery in it may catch fire as the battery degrades and overheats trying to charge?

Just wire the phone through a switched relay then you can place it anywhere in the car.

 

As an aside, if my iPhone needs charging and I am away from home I will leave it plugged in the car overnight.  I've not yet had a problem.

 

tom

 

12 hours ago, Sanqhar said:

Just wire the phone through a switched relay then you can place it anywhere in the car.

 

As an aside, if my iPhone needs charging and I am away from home I will leave it plugged in the car overnight.  I've not yet had a problem.

 

tom

 

Yes but you are not using an old phone with a dead battery in it which can overheat if left plugged in to a charger, possibly causing the battery to swell up and burst into flame.

Why the need for a tracker in the first place?

Is there a high likelihood that your car will be stolen?

Thankfully Skoda’s are not high on the list of most popular cars to steal.

8 hours ago, vegit8 said:

Why the need for a tracker in the first place?

 

The MySkoda app acts as a kind of tracker - giving the 'parking position' of where the car is parked.

Buy an AirTag. 

What about one of those Tile things? Smaller than an old phone and could be hidden anywhere realistically.

58 minutes ago, SC03OTT said:

Buy an AirTag. 

The problem is, that if the thief has an iPhone, their iPhone will start beeping because it thinks the AirTag is a stalker who has put the AirTag on them

On 25/05/2022 at 22:34, Mark-Surrey said:

The problem is, that if the thief has an iPhone, their iPhone will start beeping because it thinks the AirTag is a stalker who has put the AirTag on them

Doesn't that only happen if the AirTag owners iPhone has been out of range for 3 days ?

Just checking as I have just ordered an AirTag to try similar.

 

I was hoping it would work and not need the £50/year subscription for Skoda Connect.

On 25/05/2022 at 22:34, Mark-Surrey said:

The problem is, that if the thief has an iPhone, their iPhone will start beeping because it thinks the AirTag is a stalker who has put the AirTag on them

Yes, that’s correct. I currently have an AirTag in the boot. But it did indeed cause alerts on my wife’s iPhone, because the AirTags are registered to my Apple ID, not hers. So it’s not a great solution. It wouldn’t take a thief very long to find the AirTag and discard it.