Bluetoothed power tools

[Adam Aglionby]

What no one asked for, ever, what could possibly go wrong....

[The Natural Philosopher]

so you can keep track of tools that are now so expensive they need keeping track of..

[TMH]

There is a huge number of power tool thefts from vans, the idea is yu can disable the tool and/or track it's location.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Hum, when I was in the US a few years ago, there were lots of thefts of Apple laptops, iPhones, and the like from parked cars, and clearly very precisely targetted. Someone had worked out you could tell what was in the car by the bluetooth signals emerging.

If they haven't got this exactly right, that white van is advertising a significant bounty to the tech savvy criminal...

[Brian Gaff]

Why would you want one?

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Hmm, well sledghammers and nuts come to mind on this one. How about some kind of rfid chip in the handle? Brian

[Bob Minchin]

You would have to get within less than a metre with tracing equipment for rfid to work. Less than that usually as most of the systems are designed for 100mm range (car keys, pet chipping etc) Some industrial systems can read a pallet ID as it passes through a warehouse door but the tags have to be bigger too to get a decent aerial aperture.

[Adam Aglionby]

Good to see you around Dave :-)

Metabo used to have a range with a remote locking fob, cannae find it now.

Tracking with Bluetooth isn`t going to be beyond a few meters unfortunately.

Getting your drill hacked would be annoying ;-)

For Brian, meme, picture of gun in holster with text " my wife asked why I carried a gun in the house, I looked at her and said `decepticons`, She laughed, I laughed, the toaster laughed, I shot the toaster, it was a good time"

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But could well help a prospective thief to know for sure they are in the van. ;-)

[Andy Burns]

It claims to tell you where your phone was when it was last within 100m of the tool.

There is *some* value to such a hint, e.g. I managed to leave my phone in the back of a dingy 19" rack last Thursday (I'd been using it as a torch).

By the time I realised on Friday that I didn't have it at home, the battery was flat, but the Device manager app on my tablet could tell me where it was last, so I didn't have to worry about it having fallen out of my pocket in a supermarket or polling station car park!

[Bob Eager]

Faraday cages in vans next.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yup. Make it out of something strong and it will be more used against theft than BlueTooth.

[Vir Campestris]

Yes, just think. You could make the van out of metal...

I suspect an all-tin back - no windows - would kill a lot of signal. Anybody know how well a mobile phone works in the back of a no-windows van?

Andy

[Bob Minchin]

Should be perfectly fine, the doors with only two or three hinge grounding points and rubber seals will act as secondary radiators for the signal.

[whisky-dave]

Good idea, and we;re loking to spend some money not sure if this is the right thing to spend it on though.

[Vir Campestris]

My house is partly covered with metal mesh (rendered - it used to be lath and plaster once) and pretty well kills mobile signals.

Andy

[Bill Wright]

That is my experience.

Bill