Smart Boat Alarm FAQ

Please check Trek Transponder against any other available. We believe you will find Trek Transponder the best on the market today, as have hundreds of boat owners and boat managers.

Quoting Trek Transponder model SM100A – If you are considering a boat alarm compare these vital features before buying :

• • • Nine monitoring inputs for bilge, PIR intruder sensors, hatch and door entry points, gas and smoke detectors

    • Monitors 4 battery banks, 12V or 24V, solar panels and shore power

    • Optional HD 1920×1080 Colour Cameras with automatic IR lighting for night

    • Operates from 8V to 32V – even if your batteries are nearly dead or burning Trek Transponder is fine

    • Incredibly low power use – less than 0.2W while scanning. Trek Transponder wont load your batteries

    • Sends SMS text message alarms to owner and up to 5 additional mobile numbers

    • Can call you in case you think you might miss an SMS

    • Can send time date stamped emails for record keeping and high quality photos

    • Opto isolated shore power input (for safety and stops galvanic action)

    • All inputs re-namable to make the SMS text and alarm messages easy to read  

    • All inputs can be software commanded to use either NO or NC sensors

    • Built in accelerometer to sense pitch and roll sea state / boat listing / impacts

    • Real 4G including 700MHz band, with fall back to 3G and 2G

    • Precision built-in GPS to monitor boat location

    • Lithium Batteries specifically excluded from design because of their inherent risks

    • 3 x 30V 5A relay outputs for siren and remote control (decklights, fridge etc)

    • Either SMS or keyswitch input with delay for entry and exit arm/disarm

    • 24hr monitor function when cruising or sleeping on board (ie monitor bilge 24/7)

    • Temperature monitor alarm from -25 to 120 Deg C (monitor fridge, engine coolant etc)

    • Ruggedised IP67 construction for marine environment

    • Two 6V or 12V stabilised outputs for external sensors regardless of vessel battery voltage

    • Optional expander for up to 6 cameras, multiple inputs, outputs and engine monitoring

    • Two year warranty

    • Does not need any App, plan or subscription

Yes, you can send a status command to see all your monitored inputs (which are bilge, security, batteries etc) or specific commands to watch particular things such as bilge or security and the SM100 model can send you pictures from 2 cameras.

Yes. You can manually turn ON and OFF three 30V 5A output relays. The first is called “Autorelay” and is reserved for a siren/blinking security light. However you an also manually control it. There are two further output relays that you can turn ON and OFF manually. These can be used for functions such as deck lights and refrigeration.

No. You can operate the Trek Transponder with three simple one letter commands we  call “one tap commands” that you send the the Trek Transponder by SMS text. They are A (arm), D (disarm), S (status).

However because the Trek Transponder is a smart system there are many commands available to perform other functions. Important ones of these include CAM1 (get picture from camera 1), CAM2 (get picture from camera 2), SS (show sea state / vessel attitude in water), M (show how far vessel has moved from home) and L (show location on Google Earth).

Further commands allow you to customize the status reports and emails, set the battery limits to suit chemistries, adjust Geofence and set up the Trek Transponders installation.

Click here to see a detailed list of most of the commands.

Finally if you send the word HELP or a simple ? to the Trek ransponder it will send you back a list of commands.

No, an ordinary SIM card will work fine. We supply an Aldi SIM which uses the Telstra network with every unit so you can get your boat safe without delay.

Ever seen that circle going round and round while the Internet is stuck? You dont need that when your boat is in trouble.

We found Internet slow and unstable compared to SMS.  A pretty App on your phone is no use if the Internet is down. Worse still, if you try to use a system relying on an App, and you dont have a phone with the App on it, you cant check you boat! Do you really want to install an App on your partners phone, the marinas phone, your kids phone! No thanks. SMS is quicker, easier, cheaper and smarter.

The famous and well known internet video calling company Skype summarizes why the Internet and Apps is an expensive bad choice for a boat monitor with their disclaimer Skype is not a replacement for your telephone and can’t be used for emergency calling. They cant guarantee the Internets reliability and we agree. That’s why Trek Transponder is fast reliable 4G SMS.

The standard SM100 can monitor two cameras directly. With a Trek Transponder MX-045 Expander this can be increased to six.

You can choose from  two camera types. The cheaper 640×480 camera is standard “security camera” resolution and is more than adequate to see whats happening on your boat. However we suggest our true HD camera which is 1080×1920 resolution. These cameras return a very high quality image that can be zoomed. If desired they can be set at 640×480.

Yes, if you enable an input for 24 hour watch. For example you can leave the bilge monitor function on 24/7 so if you are asleep onboard you are protected.

Otherwise if an alarm condition occurs on an input you get one SMS alarm message for that particular input. This is to prevent your phone being overrun with messages. However if you issue the “Arm” command and the alarm condition recurs you will once again get an SMS alarm message for that input. If you are worried about missing an SMS you can enter your same mobile number up to 5 times in the Trek Transponder Add Number function and you will get that number of SMS messages for an alarm.

Yes. The Add Number function lets you enter up to 5 mobile phone numbers. If an alarm condition occurs the owner and all five mobile phone numbers entered will get a copy of the alarm SMS.

No. Enormously cheaper. All Trek Transponders shipped within Australia are supplied with an Aldi or Telstra Prepaid Mobile SIM. Aldi use Telstra’s extensive 4G Network. Selecting Aldi’s PAYG $30 plan, your cost is $30 prepaid per year and each SMS is 0.12c deducted from that and each MMS (picture) is 0.35c. These costs are current October 2021. Of course if you prefer another mobile network and plan you can simply switch plans or SIM cards.

If you are familiar with basic wiring and can use a multimeter probably yes. Wiring the Trek Transponder to the boats batteries and sensors is straight forward.  However we have a list of preferred marine electricians who can do the job for you if you prefer.

If you have the Bluetooth option fitted to your Trek Transponder you can directly control the Trek Transponder via Bluetooth on your phone. You don’t need the Mobile Phone network. The buzzer option creates a loud alarm sound on board in additon to the Trek Transponder sending messages. This is intended for times when you may be on board and a sound alarm can alert you to flooding bilge for example.