Thank you for actually being Knowledgeable & staying all the facts correctly. Everyone thinks the beacon tracks you when its only job is to wake up your phone. You are spot on with everything. Keep up the amazing work
I just took mine apart and destroyed it as my discount was only $4 with a good driving score, but a lot of miles. So screw that. They don’t need to know my every movement.
You could just pull it starting at a corner but it might make you feel better doing it to get a small putty knife and push it between the unit and the glass from a corner. The putty knife will help separate the adhesive from the glass. You should do it on a hot day when the car is hot or run your defroster on high for a while. That should help loosen up the adhesive some. If there is any adhesive left on the window you can get some goo gone or lighter fluid to remove it.
The battery is a 3V battery - BR2477A. Could be replaced if you think that about $10 for a battery is worth it and you have good soldering/de-soldering skills. Hm, wonder if it could be modified with a double AA battery pack. According to the data sheet it should take 1.71V to 5.5V. The battery is rated at 1000ma.
Well, the BT transceiver module (the silver square with the antenna) alone goes for $8.65 if you buy just one, or for $5.95 each if you buy 250 units… Buying hundreds of thousands must be like 1 dollar per unit, way cheaper than a battery 😂
I did just that after a replacement unit sent by State Farm arrived in a non-working manner (wouldn't connect to my phone via BT). Not sure how long the two AA batteries will last but everything is working perfectly for me. Too bad I can't attach an image.
It's double sided tape, more or less, that they use. You might try taking a piece of string, something like fishing string, putting it between the beacon and the windshield and then pull back and forth to sort of saw through the tape. Then you could use Goo Gone or something to remove what's left. Or, I'd likely just try and pull it off.
State Farm sent me another one but the replacement didn't work. Since this program has saved me a significant chunk of change and I have some electronics background I removed the thick lithium ion button cell battery. I hooked up a 2 cell AA battery holder and soldered the wires to the circuit board. I know they say not to open it up, but it was easy, I'm preventing further electronics waste (we throw away way too much electronics like microchips) and my old one works perfectly again. It was a fun and educational project, for me anyway.
LOL, something like that. The app on your phone sees the Bluetooth beacon, recognizes what vehicle you're in, and then your phone app does all the tracking.
Probably. it is a low-energy Bluetooth module. It is a Cypress CYBLE-012011-00/CYBLE-012012-10. Quite interesting data on that Cypress module kind of like an old Basic Stamp, but much more complex.
Taken apart really good :). So i saw the microchip that named MX25R3235F on the state farm pcb. The datasheet says its a 32M-bit Cmos Flash memory. I didnt understand what is that for?
Maybe they write the serial beacon ID to it? I thought they just used the Bluetooth ID but maybe not. It could be a short program that tells it how often to transmit the Bluetooth or something like that.
You have to have to Bluetooth on do the phone can talk to the beacon. I think you'd need the mobile data so the app can talk to state farm although it might keep data until you get back to wifi if you don't have data. One way or the other the app on your phone needs to send data to the mothership.
Unless someone in the car has the app on their phone and it is linked to the beacon in the car nothing is recorded. The phone is what actually keeps track of the activity. The beacon just lets the phone app know it should start tracking because it's in (or really close to) the car. So, if you drive the car without your parent in the car it wouldn't track. But if they are, and you're driving, your driving may be counted on their account. Not really sure how multi drivers work within the same household.
You should be able to mount it in the glove box or the underside of the dash. The trunk might be to far away. You could toss it in the glove box and see if it works and if it does then peal the stick tape and mount it.
@@ChristopherFarms You commented right when the thing arrived. Thank you! I mounted it under the center console lid. Dunno if it's working, yet... but I appreciate ya. Cool video, too. Nice to know it's basically a bluetooth receiver and nothing else.
It does not. The app on your phone uses Bluetooth to find the beacon to know when you're in your car. When you turn Bluetooth off the app will pop up a notice saying you need to turn Bluetooth on to record a trip.
