Alibi: Pi Wireless Tracker

I wanted to build a dual wireless device with a GPS and fit this into a stock Pi case. I needed the second USB wireless to run Kismet, with the onboard wireless running portal smash . I also needed a way of connecting this to car wiring and attaching this quite quickly. This was part of my Alibi project .

As my goal was to fit all of that into a stock Pi case, I had to make a Diet Pi

This involves ripping out a USB port and soldering other components onto the board

The gear I used was

1 x Raspberry Pi 3

1 x Alpha AWUS036NEH

1 x Glonas

1 x 15W 12v - 5v converter

1 x Quick Splice ScotchLok

1 x Stock Raspberry Pi case.

1 x Soldering iron and solder

Couple of solder cables

Hot glue gun

Side cutters

Drill

Dremel if you have it

Remove all the plastic surrounds, with the Alfa and Glonass it was just a matter of unclipping the plastic with a jewellers screwdriver.

Rest the Alfa board on the Pi and and measure where the connector should pierce through the plastic.

And then drill a hole big enough for the connector

I used a Dremel to saw the top casing but you can get away with just uncliping the clips on bottom of the Pi and then snipping away with side cutters at the metal surround. Then cut away the plastic. The idea is to keep the eight metal connector pins that are soldered to the base board as we will need those to older up our second wireless and GPS.

Hack away the plastic on the Alfa and Glonass.

Put the Pi in the case and slide the Alfa connector into the hole then tape the Alfa to the Pi to keep it in place during soldering. You must place it this way up to ensure the USB ports match. Trim off some of the Alfa's connectors. Bend the back first row of 4 USB pins and solder them directly onto the Alfa connectors.

This is what it should look like after soldering.

Tin some wires and solder to the front 4 USB connectors. You need these connectors I found that when soldering wires directly to the board they tended to fail easier. As we have to flip the Glonass over we need to cross the wires over as well, as shown. Before you go to the next stage get a hot glue gun and pack in between the front and back USB ports to prevent shorting and data corruption.

Solder the wires to the Glonass crossing over as shown.

Put the lid on and you are all done. It is designed so that you can take it out of the case and put a small screen on for checking and mobile scanning.

I will do another Instructable with the Alibi code, portal smash and Kismet MongoDB integration.

Then it is just a matter of finding a 12v feed somewhere in the car that well located. You will need to find a place that is not surrounded by bare metal. I have found that there is always somewhere in the boot space for these types of devices. Attach the Quick Splice to the converter and then connect the Pi. Make sure the power feed is only active when the car is running as the Pi will run the battery flat in 2 days (depending on the age of the battery. I understand that every time the car is switched off the Pi crash stops but small flash cards are quite cheap and some of mine have been going a year with over 200 crashes and still working.