coprolite Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 4 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said: Does nothing to the vehicle, so far as I can see. Probably a hidden compartment full of drugs, dead bodies or maybe a gimp. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carpetmonster Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 12 hours ago, Boghead ranter said: What's this device in my upgraded van? There are 2 of the wee doofers I'm holding, and when I went to remove the device screwed onto the dash, there's a wire connected that disappears into the fascia. Is it critical to the van working, or, as I suspect, on old mobile phone fitting? If the wee button doesn’t heat up when you put it back into the mount it could be a cigarette lighter for quitting smokers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 12 hours ago, Boghead ranter said: What's this device in my upgraded van? There are 2 of the wee doofers I'm holding, and when I went to remove the device screwed onto the dash, there's a wire connected that disappears into the fascia. Is it critical to the van working, or, as I suspect, on old mobile phone fitting? Could be something for enabling tracking for a nosey employer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'WellDel Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 12 hours ago, Boghead ranter said: What's this device in my upgraded van? There are 2 of the wee doofers I'm holding, and when I went to remove the device screwed onto the dash, there's a wire connected that disappears into the fascia. Is it critical to the van working, or, as I suspect, on old mobile phone fitting? The apprentice device installation technician in your company's 'covert employee surveillance and tracking department' has some explaining to do. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plumpy Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 iButton device, probably somekind of datalogger. https://www.analog.com/en/resources/technical-articles/what-is-an-ibutton-device.html 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkerbelle Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 They forgot to take the security tag off when it left the garage.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boghead ranter Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 4 hours ago, Plumpy said: iButton device, probably somekind of datalogger. https://www.analog.com/en/resources/technical-articles/what-is-an-ibutton-device.html Thank you, van was previously a company van, so makes sense the drivers whereabouts could be being tracked. I'll be uninstalling it then. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alta-pete Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 2 hours ago, Boghead ranter said: Thank you, van was previously a company van, so makes sense the drivers whereabouts could be being tracked. I'll be uninstalling it then. Good idea. It’ll make it easier to cover your tracks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florentine_Pogen Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 46 minutes ago, alta-pete said: Good idea. It’ll make it easier to cover your tracks. But does he have a basement / dungeon ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alta-pete Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 10 minutes ago, Florentine_Pogen said: But does he have a basement / dungeon ? Doesn’t matter all that much if he can’t be found. (so my friend tells me..) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boghead ranter Posted May 9 Share Posted May 9 20 hours ago, Plumpy said: iButton device, probably somekind of datalogger. https://www.analog.com/en/resources/technical-articles/what-is-an-ibutton-device.html 16 hours ago, Boghead ranter said: Thank you, van was previously a company van, so makes sense the drivers whereabouts could be being tracked. I'll be uninstalling it then. Actually, the van has TomTom, though integral in the dash, rather than a wee device. Could it be part of that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxRover Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 On 08/05/2024 at 09:17, Boghead ranter said: Thank you, van was previously a company van, so makes sense the drivers whereabouts could be being tracked. I'll be uninstalling it then. Any tracking via iButton could only be accomplished by physical action. The iButton was likely attached to the key as part of a checkout/checkin system for the van. As it sits, unless there is a logger and transmitter attached to that socket, it seems harmless enough…unless it’s a required item to be in place to start the vehicle, in which case you’ll need to trace it to the control unit and uninstall that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacky Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 (edited) Sorry if posted before. Just a warning to the unwary and uninformed. If your cars steering starts to feel “different” loose/tight etc, be aware that garages will offer to change the track control arms “to see if it will save you the cost of a new steering rack” this only works on a very very small percentage of vehicles, and is a bit of a revenue collector for garages. A garage just did this to my sons car, and his uncle, a car mechanic of many years pointed this out to us. Also says to never tell a garage what you think is wrong, they could replace parts you don’t need and tell you that you said that’s what’s wrong. Edited May 10 by Wacky 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted Friday at 08:12 Share Posted Friday at 08:12 Had to take the car in for a service and Mot this morning, and it wouldn't start, dead battery by the looks of it. Stuck the charger on and nervously tried the key again straight away, and it started no problem. Q1 Is this a daft thing to do and Q2 what does it all mean? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alta-pete Posted Friday at 14:31 Share Posted Friday at 14:31 6 hours ago, welshbairn said: Had to take the car in for a service and Mot this morning, and it wouldn't start, dead battery by the looks of it. Stuck the charger on and nervously tried the key again straight away, and it started no problem. Q1 Is this a daft thing to do and Q2 what does it all mean? It won't start off a charger - my guess is one of the battery terminals was loose and you attaching the charger gave it enough of a nudge to re-establish enough of a connection. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted Friday at 15:01 Share Posted Friday at 15:01 27 minutes ago, alta-pete said: It won't start off a charger - my guess is one of the battery terminals was loose and you attaching the charger gave it enough of a nudge to re-establish enough of a connection. Google tells me it might be something to do with the immobiliser, didn't even know there was one. Just picking the car up, hopefully I'll find out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxRover Posted Friday at 15:06 Share Posted Friday at 15:06 3 minutes ago, welshbairn said: Google tells me it might be something to do with the immobiliser, didn't even know there was one. Just picking the car up, hopefully I'll find out. Well hopefully you didn’t tell them about it, or you’ll probably be looking at a £500 charge for changing the blinker fluid, cleaning your doohickey and recalibrating your whatchamacallit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted Friday at 17:01 Share Posted Friday at 17:01 Garage tested the battery which was fine and couldn't find anything else wrong, starts fine now, so I'll tighten the battery terminals as @alta-pete suggested and hope for the best. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted Friday at 19:45 Share Posted Friday at 19:45 Anyone failed their ULEZ rating yet? My car is more than 12 years old, petrol, 1600 cc, and pàssed easy. Are SUV school run tanks taking a hit? https://lowemissionzones.scot/vehicle-registration-checker 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted Friday at 20:37 Share Posted Friday at 20:37 3 hours ago, welshbairn said: Garage tested the battery which was fine and couldn't find anything else wrong, starts fine now, so I'll tighten the battery terminals as @alta-pete suggested and hope for the best. Attach the cables from the battery to your baws. All going well you'll feel a "message of hope" that the car is OK. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.