A Device Tampering alert is triggered when the Fleetsu telematics device has lost its connection to external power or had its external antenna disconnected in the case of hardwired devices. The device could have lost connection to external power for a number of reasons. In this article, we will provide some quick steps to assess the device and identify the reason for the Device Tampering alert.
The Asset has been stolen:
The primary reason for the Device Tampering functionality to is to notify you of a possible theft, where the device has been unplugged or its power/antenna cable has been cut in the case of a hardwired device. To assess whether theft is the cause of the Device Tampering alert, follow the below steps:
- Check the time of the Device Tampering alert and location where the event was triggered, was it triggered at a suspicious time of the day or location when you Asset should not be in use?
- If yes, log into Fleetsu and go to Full Event Report. Load the events for the Asset in question
- In a theft scenario, you will usually see that the device has been removed just prior to or during a trip. You will see one External Power Lost event and then a Low Internal Battery event within 30-minutes to 3 hours of the External Power Lost event. Fleetsu devices have a built-in battery to enable them to keep working for a period of time (dependent on activity) even after losing external power
- If the device has been disconnected from External Power but has been left in the Asset, the device will continue to track the Assets location until its internal battery runs out. This will allow you to track its location and to hopefully recover the vehicle
- If the device has been disconnected and removed from your Asset you will unfortunately not be able to track the location of your Asset
The Asset is being Serviced:
You will receive what appears to be Device Tampering alerts triggered by theft if the device has been removed during a service on the Asset. This is why it is important to check the location and time of the Alert when you receive it to make sure the device has not been removed for a known reason such as servicing.
The Connection/Device is faulty:
- If you are receiving multiple Device Tampering Alerts from a single device, it is most likely being caused by;
- A loose connection OR faulty port in the case of the Fleetsu Plug-N-Play device
- A faulty power connection in the case of Fleetsu hardwired device
- A device firmware OR configuration issue
- A hardware fault on the device
- If the alerts are coming from a Plug-N-Play device you should first check that the device is seated in the diagnostic port correctly.
- If it is not you will resolve the issue by seating the device correctly
- If the device is seated correctly and the Device Tampering alerts persist, please open a Support Ticket so that we can investigate the device further
- If the alerts are coming from a Hardwired device, please open a Support Ticket and we will schedule an assessment of the device by our Installers
- You can investigate the device further yourself also by reviewing the data received from the Device in the Full Events Report. In the case of a loose connection OR faulty port specific to Plug-N-Play devices or faulty power connection for Hardwired devices, you will see repeated External Power Lost events, followed by Internal Power Lost, External Power Connected, Device Charged. This would confirm that the device is losing and gaining external power sporadically.