Hardwired trackers (CT-V06): simple two-wire installation guide

The CT-V06 is a slim hardwired 4G tracker that runs on anything from 10 to 90 volts: 12 V cars and utes, 24 V trucks and buses, motorbikes, and the higher-voltage batteries in e-bikes and e-scooters. It has five wires, but it only needs two to work: power and ground. This guide covers that simple two-wire install. If you also want an ignition wire, the analogue input or a starter-cut relay, see the CT-V06 advanced five-wire install.

We recommend having a professional auto electrician fit your tracker, and an e-bike or e-scooter should be wired by an auto electrician or an e-bike specialist. Damage caused by incorrect installation isn’t covered by the warranty.

Before you start

If it isn’t going in a car or ute with an ordinary 12 V battery, tell us what it’s going in. We set the tracker up for the vehicle; there’s nothing for you to change on it.

What’s included

Nothing else is included. You’ll also need a 3 A inline fuse and holder (see step 3), connectors to suit your vehicle’s wiring, insulation tape or heat-shrink, cable ties and a multimeter.

The tracker’s wires

Fit the tracker, step by step

1. Find permanent power and ground. Do this with the battery still connected. Permanent power is a supply that stays on when the vehicle is switched off. With the key out, put the multimeter’s black probe on bare metal and find a supply with the red probe that reads the battery’s voltage. Good places are a permanent circuit at the fuse box, or the battery’s positive terminal. Ground is the vehicle body: a bolt through bare metal, or the battery’s negative terminal. Never connect to the wiring of an engine computer or any other control module.
   • Stop-start cars: if the battery’s negative terminal has a sensor clipped on it, ground to the body instead, not to the terminal.
   • E-bikes and e-scooters: connect at the controller’s battery input, after the battery’s own protection circuit. Never open the battery pack.
   • Caravans and boats with a battery isolator switch: connect on the battery side of the switch, so the tracker keeps working when the switch is off.
2. Switch off and disconnect. Now you know where you’re connecting, switch the vehicle fully off and take the key out. On a car, ute, truck or motorbike, disconnect the battery’s negative terminal. On an e-bike or e-scooter, switch it off and take the battery out if it’s removable.
3. Fit the fuse in the red wire. Fit a 3 A fuse rated for at least 125 V DC in the red wire, as close to where it connects to power as you can. This applies whatever the vehicle’s voltage. Ordinary automotive blade fuses are rated for only 32 V, so they don’t meet it.
4. Connect the black wire, then the red wire. Black to ground, red (through the fuse) to permanent power. A ring terminal under an existing body bolt is the best ground: scrape any paint off under it first. A splice or a tap connector sized for the wire suits the power connection.
5. Insulate the three wires you’re not using. Tape or heat-shrink the ends of the yellow, grey and white wires, each on its own so they can’t touch each other or anything metal. Tie the lead to existing wiring, away from anything hot or moving, and add extra sleeving where it’s exposed on a bike.
6. Plug the lead into the tracker. Push the plug fully home.
7. Reconnect and check. Reconnect the battery (or refit the e-bike battery). The tracker’s two lights should come on within a few seconds. Measure the red wire again with the tracker connected: it should still read the battery’s voltage. Check the lights now, before it goes out of sight (see Check it’s working below).
8. Mount the tracker. Label side up, with no metal above it: its GPS and 4G antennas are built in. Tie it firmly with cable ties so it can’t rattle or move.
   • Cars, utes, trucks and buses: inside the cabin, high up under the top of the dash, as close to the windscreen as you can, with the label facing the glass. Keep clear of the pedals and steering column, and never put it on, behind or near an airbag (anything marked SRS or AIRBAG), or tie it to yellow airbag wiring.
   • Motorbikes, e-bikes and e-scooters: the tracker is made for fitting inside a vehicle, not outdoors. Fit it inside a small weatherproof box or a sealed plastic compartment, out of rain, spray and direct sun, for example under a plastic seat or body panel. Not inside a metal frame, deck or battery case: metal blocks its GPS and 4G.
   • It isn’t built for engine heat: keep it away from the engine, exhaust, motor and anything that gets hot.
9. Check the power stays on. Switch the vehicle off, lock it, and wait 30 minutes. Then check with the multimeter that the red wire still has the battery’s voltage, or that the tracker is still online on the Open Platform. Some vehicles switch circuits off a while after they’re locked; if yours has, move the red wire to a different permanent supply.

Check it’s working

Status lights

The tracker has two status lights, Navigate (GPS) and Status. They should come on within a few seconds of the power being connected. If no lights come on at all, see Troubleshooting below.

If we’ve set your tracker to sleep deeply while it’s parked, both lights go off while it sleeps. That’s normal: check them with the vehicle switched on.

On the Open Platform

Take the vehicle outside with a clear view of the sky. Log in to the Open Platform at platform.crucialtracking.com.au and check the tracker shows as online with a position. Out in the open, the first GPS fix usually takes under a minute. Then take a short drive or ride and check the position moves.

Troubleshooting

Need more?

For an ignition wire, the analogue input or a starter-cut relay, see the CT-V06 advanced five-wire install. Full specifications are on the CT-V06 product page.

Stuck on a step? Call us on 0413 418 743 during business hours, email team@crucialtracking.com.au or request a callback and we’ll walk you through it.