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EDIT: In the ensuing comments it was pretty much determined that the device could be easily and safely removed. It had been inactive all these years until we got a cellular booster antenna and installed it 50’ from where the vehicle is parked. It started picking up the cell signal and was looking for a, now nonexistent, home.

Before we could get to removing the device, lightning hit that antenna and our internet satellite dish. Totally fried both receivers along with a whole slew of electronics.

At that point removing the device was pretty much a moot point.

I’ve owned my truck for 5 years and this thing was tucked up under the dash. I found it when I took the dash out. It has an IMEI associated with an iPhone 4S. It’s also has an FCC number. That’s howi found it was a tracking device. It appears to be wired into the computer with red and black wires. There were several other wires of various colors attached but they’ve been cut and are no longer connected.

The lights on the device weren’t blinking and it wasn’t active but recently the lights have started blinking. I’ve determined it’s the cause of the recent perpetual battery drain I’ve experienced of late.

My question is can I cut the wires to this tracker without screwing up my computer, and if not, what do I do to deactivate it?

https://pic8.co/sh/31hdPa.jpeg

Edited to clarify the colors and plurality of the wires.

EDIT: In the ensuing comments it was pretty much determined that the device could be easily and safely removed. It had been inactive all these years until we got a cellular booster antenna and installed it 50’ from where the vehicle is parked. It started picking up the cell signal and was looking for a, now nonexistent, home. Before we could get to removing the device, lightning hit that antenna and our internet satellite dish. Totally fried both receivers along with a whole slew of electronics. At that point removing the device was pretty much a moot point. ***** I’ve owned my truck for 5 years and this thing was tucked up under the dash. I found it when I took the dash out. It has an IMEI associated with an iPhone 4S. It’s also has an FCC number. That’s howi found it was a tracking device. It appears to be wired into the computer with red and black wires. There were several other wires of various colors attached but they’ve been cut and are no longer connected. The lights on the device weren’t blinking and it wasn’t active but recently the lights have started blinking. I’ve determined it’s the cause of the recent perpetual battery drain I’ve experienced of late. My question is can I cut the wires to this tracker without screwing up my computer, and if not, what do I do to deactivate it? https://pic8.co/sh/31hdPa.jpeg Edited to clarify the colors and plurality of the wires.

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[–] [Sticky] • 32 pts (edited )

The IMEI is a unique number that shouldn't be associated with anything. If it does come back as an iPhone 4S, then it's a hacked device used to fool whatever carrier it was issued to.

Since it has an IMEI instead of a MEID, then it's a GSM device. Things of that era were capable of doing HSDPA (4G) connections, but there was no need for that high speed data in a tracking device. You should be able to pull out the SIM card and see who it was issued to. While-label cards were generally T-Mobile M2M, AT&T tended to brand their cards. Regardless, the network it's trying to connect to is probably not there or is in weak capacity (T-Mo still has 2G on the air, I use it for M2M alarm stuff) so it's probably sitting there at full power searching for a network. If it used to have an external antenna, then who knows what it's looking for.

This could be a factory installed option for emergency services, but if there's no connection other than power (red/black) you can probably cut it out with no issues - it can still be operational with just that much connection, locating itself with cell sites and broadcasting to an unknown source. Just be sure to tape any leads well so they don't short, and only cut one of the leads at a time.

Edit:

The FCC ID says this is a Montage Traxit X 2G device. The network it's looking for is no longer there unless it's a T-Mobile device.

https://fccid.io/N69-831000

User manual, it has GPS and cellular capabilities:

https://fccid.io/N69-831000/User-Manual/User-Manual-9-19-1742704.pdf

Either this device was installed to track a company vehicle, or your car was a buy-here-pay-here car at one time, and the device was never removed. It has a relay drive output, so I suspect it was designed to do a remote shutdown if the buyer didn't pay. The red and black are indeed power, and may be safely cut and terminated (one at a time.)

[–] • 8 pts

Awesome!!!! Thank you.

This is really interesting. We live in the boonies. Way in the boonies. Our cell signal sucks terribly. We bought a cell booster antenna and box. I’m not 100% sure but I’m thinking the problems with my perpetual battery drain started about the same time as we installed the booster. It’s installed about 50’ from where I park my truck. I’m now wondering if it’s trying to pick up a signal from that antenna.

[–] • 10 pts

If your booster is wideband, it may be amplifying a weak 2G signal just enough for your device to receive it and try to connect to a network that isn't there, but the signal is weak enough the device is going full bore transmitting constantly to make that connection.

Best to just cut it out. If you know any electronics experimenters out there, pass it to them if they want it, otherwise just dispose of responsibly.

[–] • 2 pts

So throw it in the camp fire?

[+] [deleted] • 0 pt
[–] • 6 pts

What an answer. Poal of the year.

[–] • 4 pts

Exactly why I turned to Poal.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

Pg 17 shows USB+ and USB- maybe rig up a usb connector and plug it into the PC to see what you get.... sounds like a fun way to blow a saturday.

[–] • 3 pts

It's probably a programming link. It may not show much of anything. I'd just smash it and toss it.

[–] [deleted] • 4 pts

certainly get it out of the truck. no need to smash if there is no power. there probably is some internal flash, might be nice to get any files off there and open with a hex editor to see what it is. maybe some location history. could be interesting to see where the vehicle has been previously, and if that jives with what he was told when he bought the vehicle.
but it certainly is a way to blow a lot of time.... better than watching TV or bickering with idiots online, but definitely a time waster.