Asset tracking for equipment with no power supply
Trailers, containers, generators and excavators do not have an ignition to wire into — and are stolen precisely because nobody is watching them.
Asset tracking uses a self-powered magnetic tag with up to three years of battery life, fitted to equipment that has no permanent power supply — trailers, containers, generators and construction plant. It reports on a schedule or when it detects movement, raises alerts for movement outside working hours, and meters engine hours for hire billing and service intervals.
The assets nobody is watching
A truck has a driver, a route and a schedule. A trailer parked at the back of a yard, a generator on a site, a container in a depot — none of those has anyone accountable for it overnight, which is exactly why they go missing. They also have no ignition circuit to wire a conventional tracker into.
A tag that brings its own power
The unit is magnetic or bolt-on, weather-sealed, and runs up to three years on its internal cell. You choose how it behaves:
- Scheduled reporting — a position once or twice a day for assets that should be stationary, which preserves battery.
- Motion-triggered — the tag wakes and reports continuously the moment it detects movement.
- Site geofences — an alert the instant an asset crosses the boundary, with a separate rule for outside working hours.
Engine hours: the number that bills correctly
Plant and generators do not accumulate kilometres — they accumulate hours. Metering run-time properly changes two things:
- Hire billing stops relying on an operator's logbook and starts reflecting actual usage.
- Service intervals come due on real hours, so maintenance is neither early and wasteful nor late and expensive.
The idle-versus-working ratio is also the number that tells you honestly whether you over-hired for the site.
Generators leak fuel faster than vehicles
On most construction sites the generator is the single largest fuel loss, because it runs unattended for long periods with a large accessible tank. Pairing an asset tag with a fuel probe is usually the fastest payback available on a site.
Typical assets we tag
| Asset | Why | Typical setup |
|---|---|---|
| Trailers & chassis | Detached from the prime mover for days | Motion-triggered + yard geofence |
| Shipping containers | High-value contents, long dwell times | Scheduled + door sensor |
| Generators | Fuel loss and theft | Engine hours + fuel probe |
| Excavators & plant | Hire billing and overnight movement | Engine hours + site geofence |
| Reefer bodies | Cargo integrity | Temperature probes + door contacts |
Device options and pricing are quoted per asset — see pricing, and the construction configuration is covered under solutions.
Asset tracking FAQs
Direct answers to what customers ask before they commit.
Ask something elseUp to three years, depending on how often it reports. Assets that should be stationary are usually set to one or two scheduled reports a day with motion-triggered wake-up, which preserves battery while still catching unauthorised movement immediately.
Yes. That is exactly what a self-powered asset tag is for. It is magnetic or bolt-on, needs no wiring, and reports on its own battery.
The device detects when the machine is running and accumulates run-time. That figure is used for hire billing and for scheduling service by hours rather than by date, which is the correct interval for plant and generators.
Yes. A site geofence with a time condition raises an alert the moment an asset crosses the boundary outside working hours, and the tag then reports continuously while it is moving.
Within the coverage of the mobile networks the SIM can reach. For cross-border movement, tell us the route and we will confirm coverage and roaming arrangements before you commit.