Fitting a (car) tracker to a pinball machine

[davejuk]

I am technically competent enough to fit one but has anyone ever considered or even done it?

Some games are worth well over £10,000 - I fit them to cars worth much less as standard.

You can buy a decent car tracker for ~£50 these days and all it needs is a 12V supply. Once fitted, the subscription is about £100/year but you only need to get the subscription if the thing is stolen.

Any thoughts?

 

[Supersprint]

The thing is you can’t drive a pinball machine away. Imagine catching mr thief in the act as he drops the pin on his toes after taking off the legs. Just put it on your home insurance

 

[Rob zombie]

I am technically competent enough to fit one but has anyone ever considered or even done it?

Some games are worth well over £10,000 - I fit them to cars worth much less as standard.

You can buy a decent car tracker for ~£50 these days and all it needs is a 12V supply. Once fitted, the subscription is about £100/year but you only need to get the subscription if the thing is stolen.

Any thoughts?

Nobody... and I mean NOBODY is ever going to steal your pinball machines. Moving them even a few feet is a total pain in the ass. The last thing you ever have to worry about is pinball machine theft. Almost all theft is opportunistic and fairly petty. Just insure them. You lose them, you claim. Why track them around the country and abroad? Zero need.

 

[J.C.Rox]

Do you keep them in a secure lockable garage or do you park them on the street?

 

[Rob zombie]

Oh yeah, and mine are downstairs in the basement. So good luck with that. Knock yourselves out thieves

 

[davejuk]

I broadly agree with the sentiments expressed here but it does happen.

google it. One of the first results was only recent.

https://www.news.com.au/national/vi...e/news-story/dd8a00968a374acc2393addabe969334

 

[M4carp]

You could just chuck one of those key ring trackers in, no need for power or subscription.

 

[davejuk]

Those are very short range. Bluetooth I believe.

 

[M4carp]

Those are very short range. Bluetooth I believe.

Think you can get gps too

 

[davejuk]

Sure but how does it communicate the position back to you? GPS chips only receive. It has to send the position back to you somehow... Bluetooth, WiFi, mobile network, ...

 

[M4carp]

SIM card built in

 

[Rob zombie]

The example theft you've shown is hardly indicative of a problem that needs a solution. We also don't know if it was an inside insurance job. You'd have to really know what you're doing in order to steal a pinball machine. Especially if the keys aren't present. And then you have the problem of trying to shift it on in a tiny market where everyone knows each other. It's just not an issue.

And for that reason, I'm out.

 

[M4carp]

Me too, mine are insured if they get past the dogs and wife.

 

[Chief]

www.gpcats.com/product/gps-tracker-cat/

 

[Sako-TRG]

The average Scallywag would take around 6 hours thinking time to fathom out how to steel one
I think it’s not really an opportunist steal-able item.

 

[Kman]

I guess it takes all sorts and next thing is we'll hear about the bloke who woke up to find his pins resting on bricks as the legs had been nicked

 

[Rob zombie]

Simplest and cheapest solution would be to have security bolts on the legs that need a special tool. Like alloy wheels locking nuts.

Or just chain it to the floor.

 

[Sako-TRG]

Hacksaw legs off

 

[Kman]

Sounds like poaching Ivory now

 

[Tony]

I’ve been thinking about this, in a home environment can’t see it being required, but has anyone had a pinball go missing while on site? I’m guessing that due to them being so big and heavy they might get broken into but not removed?

 

[DRD]

Odds of house burglary, 1 per cent ? 5 per cent ?

Highest risk items - toilet paper, cash, jewellery, car keys, small tech like phones/ laptop ..

Middle risk items - tools, bikes, tech ..

Odds that during this burglary that a 120kg pinball machine gets stolen ? 1 per cent ?

Extremely long odds that your game would get nicked. It would need to be a fake house move type burglary or similar unicorn event.

 

[Wayne J]

When I was a licensee I had 2 guys come in with a sack truck saying they were from the company who provided the fruit machines and they had a new one in the truck ready to swap out. They were going to put the old one in the lorry before bringing the new one in.
Obviously chancers who had every intention of just wheeling the machine out and scarpering to get at the cash box/hoppers.
Fortunately my staff were on the ball and asked for paperwork first.

The only way I could see a pinball machine going missing would be something similar.

 

[Tony]

I remember hearing about a full sized stuffed bear going missing from a Brewburger’s near me years ago, it was allegedly last seen dancing down the road?

 

[puddlewick]

We have a couple of rewire security units in our cars & put one of these in a ghostbusters on site just in case it went Walkie’s !

You can set a home area around where the machine is sited & if it moves out of that area then it should alert you on your phone !

The price often includes a SIM card (think ours is gifgaf) with a £5 topup on it & one years access to the tracking ! (I think over the year I possibly topped it up once with a tenner !)

Just connect the unit to a 12v supply & the ignition wire to the positive of the 12v & it can let you know if & when the machine is switched on !

There is a battery inside that charges when the power is on & still sends data for a while when the machine is off !

We left the unit in just lying in the main body but connected into the back box just in case there was a faraday effect with the shielding in the box restricting the signal !

 

[Sako-TRG]

When I was a licensee I had 2 guys come in with a sack truck saying they were from the company who provided the fruit machines and they had a new one in the truck ready to swap out. They were going to put the old one in the lorry before bringing the new one in.
Obviously chancers who had every intention of just wheeling the machine out and scarpering to get at the cash box/hoppers.
Fortunately my staff were on the ball and asked for paperwork first.

The only way I could see a pinball machine going missing would be something similar.

Did this happen years ago? Nowadays CCTV everywhere..... on most premises... so unless they come in with crash helmets on or balaclavas id say it was highly unlikely.

 

[puddlewick]

We had a machine go missing from a site years ago ?

We couldn’t get into the building where the machine was sited as the guy had done a runner but turns out he had sold the machine to someone local who happened to get in touch with us to repair it

Luckily, we got it back !

 

[Wayne J]

Did this happen years ago? Nowadays CCTV everywhere..... on most premises... so unless they come in with crash helmets on or balaclavas id say it was highly unlikely.

'97 or maybe '98.
It was at Yates's in Hounslow. We had cameras all over, but some people don't give a f**k

 

[Judderman]

Where was the Yates's in Hounslow? It wasn't either of the Chariot or Tankerville, was it (I left in about 1990)

 

[Wayne J]

Opened in '96 Bell Corner, where the post office was

 

[Judderman]

Ah, fair enough - explains why I can't place it, cheers.