The Clubman comes with a Phantom Tracker system pre-installed. I didn’t know much about the system initially, didn’t know whether it was worth it or whether it was a useful thing to have? Well I can now shed some more light on this anti-theft system.
The Phantom Tracker in the Clubman is connected to the caravan’s alarm. Should the alarm sound, then the Phantom Tracker control center are notified by way of the tracker unit communicating with them via mobile signal. The control center then proceed to call up to 3 telephone numbers you have registered with them, along with sending a text to any mobile numbers on the list. You are then required to call them back and report on the actual status of the alarm ie. false alarm or please track it as it has been stolen. The tracker inside the caravan is capable of being tracked via GPS, so the control center know the location of your caravan at all times.
Our first experience of the Phantom Tracker other than the initial registration was on a very windy day. Winds strong enough to cause some movement of the caravan triggering the alarm to activate. We duly received the telephone calls and texts and reported back to the control center. They tracked the caravan and reported that it hadn’t moved and was still at the storage location. Phew! Relief. The alarm reset itself as it should and triggered again an hour later. Repeat same process! Starting to feel good about this system. Nice to know when the alarm has triggered, even if we are not there.
Our next ‘Phantom experience’ was a Monday morning, around 4am, mobiles and land line start ringing, texts arrive. Phantom Tracker again, this time with a ‘power down’ message. So the battery has gone flat! Looks like we’ll have to invest in a second battery so that we can ‘swap out’ the batteries, or invest in a solar panel to keep the battery topped up in storage. Think we’ll go with the former for now. Battery ordered, a quick trip to the storage site and swapped the batteries over. Note that you have to inform the control center at Phantom when removing the battery, to prevent the system from triggering an alert. So hopefully the fresh battery will last until our next trip out, where it will recieve a charge!
The battery has a 113Ah capacity, quite large, but only lasted 2 weeks before going flat? Well lets look at the usage. The mover was used twice since disconnecting the mains EHU. The caravan alarm triggered twice and consequently the Phantom Tracker made radio contact with the center twice. I don’t know the power requirements of all of these actions, but it seems feasible that all of these actions could have drained the battery in the two weeks. One thing to note, is that the Phantom Tracker uses a variable amount of power depending upon the mobile signal strength. If it is weak, more power will be used. Mobile reception at the storage site is ok, so I won’t pin the power drain down on that alone, but a combination of all of the events. As it’s not good practise to drain the battery too low too many times, I’ll get into a rotation system whereby the battery is swapped out the week following a trip out. Therefore the battery will be fresh and free from mover drain and should last until the next outing, in theory at least!
Phantom Tracker costs £99 per year. Will I pay that next year? Yes, I think it is worth it. The peace of mind it brings knowing that your alarm hasn’t triggered and your battery is working is worth it in my opinion. And should the worst happen, you can get a GPS fix in no time.