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Show HN: Undetectag, track stolen items with AirTag

(undetectag.com)
114 points pompidoo | 2 comments | 15 May 25 15:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.442s | source

I developed a device that turns an Airtag on and off at specific intervals. Current Airtags are detectable right away and cannot be used to track stolen property. That device allows you to hide an Airtag in your car, for example, and someone that steals your car will not be able to use some app to detect it. The Airtag will also not warn the thief of its presence. After some hours, the Airtag turns on again and you can find out its location. It’s not foolproof, as the timing has to be right, but still useful.

What do you think?

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ale42 ◴[15 May 25 21:31 UTC] No.43999519[source]▶
Half-related question: the chip on the board looks like an STM32 microcontroller, wouldn't a 6-pin 8-bit PIC10 or similar µC be sufficient and cheaper for the purpose? And possibly use less power, a PIC10F322 in sleep mode with the watchdog timer enabled is around 0.5 µA, while a small STM32 is more in the 100 µA range in the best case.
replies(2): >>44002076 #>>44006012 #
1. zxcvgm ◴[16 May 25 05:24 UTC] No.44002076[source]▶
Probably. Or something like the TPL5110 might actually suffice, purpose-built timer for power gating at 35nA, but only goes up to 2hr at max.
replies(1): >>44003173 #
2. ale42 ◴[16 May 25 08:52 UTC] No.44003173[source]▶
Nice, didn't know this one! This combined with a PIC10 without watchdog timer might also be an interesting combination to do more complex things. Or perhaps simply a TPL5110 with a ultra-low-power flip-flop (does it even exist?) used as a divider to get to 4 hours.