Removing a tracker (not a thief, honest)

[.blue]

I made the bad decision to install a Scorpion tracker when buying a new bike from Honda... they had an offer on so the device was free, I just paid the first year's subscription then didn't bother with it.

But after just 3 years I've gone through 2 batteries and my guess is that it's the tracker causing the drain.

Only problem is I have no idea what it looks like. Is it this thing and how do I remove it?

[Jazoli]

That looks like it just follow the wires to where they are connected and remove them, it should be fairly simple to be honest if it's not linked to the alarm/immob.

[Herr Schnell]

Positioned there a thief would've had that out in thirty seconds anyway.

Dealer needs a word for fitting it like that.

[GSA_fattie]

Herr Schnell said:

Positioned there a thief would've had that out in thirty seconds anyway.

Dealer needs a word for fitting it like that.

yes but

there are so few places to fit one and they only get a small fee for installing, its diffcult to justify stripping a bike down to hide it, and some panels are quite complex its easy to bust a tab off

[Pica-Pica]

Check whether your insurance knows you already had/have a tracker. They may be interested if you then remove it.

[anonymous-user]

You're only guessing it's that causing the drain. I suggest putting a multimeter across the battery, disconnecting the tracker and take another battery measurement to make sure.

[OutInTheShed]

pocketspring said:

You're only guessing it's that causing the drain. I suggest putting a multimeter across the battery, disconnecting the tracker and take another battery measurement to make sure.

The tracker must obviously use some power, there must be a spec for it?
It's not unusual for bike batteries to have short lives without a maintenance charger, even without a tracker a lot of bikes have significant drain.

[Fullook]

My BMW GS's battery started to fail - once I told the dealer I had an out of subscription tracker fitted they said there was a good chance it was causing a drain on the battery.

Their logic was that if you're subscribed, the tracker will find a GPS lock and stay locked on, with minimum power drain. If you're not paid up - it will lock on, get disconnected, look again, lock on, get disconnected, rinse and repeat... stress the battery like nothing ordinary.

My suspicion is that most dealers are as good as the last person they spoke to, but, I got my redundant tracker physically removed from the bike - at the same time I fittted a new battery and bought a decent quality trickle charger.

Since then no issues at all - but given the unscientific remove tacker / fit new battery / use trickle charger combo that I implemented all at the same time, I have no idea if the dealers' logic holds any water at all.

Not sure if this has provided any useful input at all, but writing it has proved surprisingly therapeutic for me...

[bongtom]

All trackers use power but if you have a large wattage battery and it is in good condition and gets used regularly (no weekend heroes here!) they are fine. The smaller batteries will get ruined as the trackers drain the battery within a week, which lead acid batteries hate (even the gel ones).

There are some trackers that you can change the settings but if you don't pay for the subs then just get rid. A good lock and being sensible are all that is needed. (not had a car or motorcycle stolen since i passed my test in the 80's, although I did have some BMW 1602 wheels stolen once.)

[OutInTheShed]

The current models of Scorpion Tracker seem to draw less than 1mA when the ignition is off, they will also send you a text message if the vehicle battery is low.
They just drain your wallet at £150 a year or so.