For a work ute, van or truck, the difference is where the tracker gets its power. A plug-in tracker sits in the OBD2 port and a hardwired tracker is wired to the battery. Our OBD tracker does either: plug it in, or wire it in with the A$10 harness. Both update about every 60 seconds and never need charging.
This guide is for a tradie or a small business working out how to fit a tracker to each work vehicle, and it treats the choice as one tracker with two ways to fit it, not as two products. If what you want is a tracker that stays out of sight and leads you to a stolen car, a plug-in tracker is the wrong kind, and our car GPS tracker page covers that instead.
Contents
- What Is the Difference Between a Hardwired and a Plug-In GPS Tracker?
- Which Suits a Work Ute or Van?
- Which Suits a Truck With No OBD2 Port?
- Can the Same Tracker Do Both?
- Will It Flatten the Vehicle’s Battery?
- How Do You Fit Each One, and Does It Need an Installer?
- Which Is Better If I Move the Tracker Between Vehicles?
- Are There Legal Limits on Tracking a Work Vehicle?
What Is the Difference Between a Hardwired and a Plug-In GPS Tracker?
The power connection, and nothing else that matters to a small business. A plug-in tracker pushes into the 16-pin OBD2 port under the steering wheel, the same port a mechanic uses to read the vehicle’s computer, and draws its power through the port. A hardwired tracker is wired to the vehicle’s battery instead, which leaves the port free and keeps the tracker in place until someone undoes the wires.
Both run off the vehicle, so neither one ever needs to come out for charging. That is what sets them apart from a battery tracker, which is the right kind for a trailer or a parked asset with no power of its own. Our guide to the types of GPS trackers sets all 3 kinds side by side, and this article only covers the choice between the 2 that run off the vehicle.
| What changes | Plug-in | Hardwired |
|---|---|---|
| Power comes from | The OBD2 port | The battery, by 2 wires |
| Moving it to another vehicle | Unplug and plug in | Undo the wires first |
| OBD2 port | In use | Left free |
| Vehicles with no OBD2 port | No | Yes |
| Updates while driving | About every 60 seconds | About every 60 seconds |
| Charging | Never | Never |
Australian sellers that offer the two as separate products describe the split the same way. AnyAuto’s guide “OBD or Hardwired?”, published on 15 August 2026, says a plug-in unit suits an owner who wants immediate setup or expects to change vehicles, while a hardwired unit is harder to remove casually and suits work vehicles and long-term fleets. Ctrack, which sells hardwired units fitted by certified technicians, puts a standard install at 1 to 2 hours per vehicle. Neither guide gives a price or a figure for what the tracker draws from the battery, so the rest of this article fills those in.
Which Suits a Work Ute or Van?
Plug-in, for almost every work ute and van on the road. Almost any ute or van sold new in Australia since 2006 has a 16-pin OBD2 port, because ADR 79 made OBD2 standard on new petrol vehicles from 2006 and diesel vehicles from 2007. The tracker plugs in under the steering wheel, shows up on the map in the app, and the job is done before the vehicle leaves the yard.
Hardwire the same ute or van when you want the tracker fitted once and left alone. The usual reasons are a port that a workshop needs clear at every service, a footwell where a plugged-in tracker gets knocked by a boot, or a vehicle that will stay in the business for years and never swap its tracker with another one. Either way the tracker, the app and the updates are the same, so this is a choice about how the vehicle is used rather than about what you see on your phone.
Jason runs a small fleet of delivery vans with our OBD trackers. He sees every delivery van live on one map, and he gets an alert when something is off. For the wider picture on what a tracker shows and costs for a small business, read our guide to the GPS tracker for work vehicles.
Which Suits a Truck With No OBD2 Port?
Hardwired, through the harness. Some trucks and older work vehicles have no 16-pin OBD2 port, and a plug-in tracker has nowhere to go. The A$10 (NZ$10) wiring harness connects the tracker straight to the truck’s battery instead, and from then on it behaves exactly as it would in the port: about every 60 seconds on the move, a check-in every 24 hours when parked.
The harness handles up to 40V, so it suits vehicles that run at a higher voltage than a ute, as long as the tracker is wired in through the harness rather than plugged into a port. If you are not sure what your truck has, look under the steering wheel for the 16-pin port first, and order the harness with the tracker if there is none.
Can the Same Tracker Do Both?
Yes. We sell one OBD GPS tracker, and the A$10 (NZ$10) harness is the only thing that changes between a plug-in fit and a hardwired one. The tracker costs A$199 (NZ$229) once, then A$99.99 a year (NZ$99.99) with no contracts, and that price is the same whichever way it goes into the vehicle. There is no separate hardwired model to compare, no installer to book and no second subscription.
That turns the question around. Instead of choosing a product and then living with how it fits, you buy the same tracker for every vehicle and decide, one vehicle at a time, whether it plugs in or wires in. A business with 3 utes and 1 truck with no port orders 4 trackers and 1 harness, and every vehicle shows on the same map.
| Vehicle or need | How to fit it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ute or van made after 2006 | Plug in | Has an OBD2 port |
| Ute or van kept for years | Plug in or harness | Harness keeps the port free |
| Truck with no OBD2 port | Harness | Nowhere to plug in |
| Work vehicle made before 2006 | Harness | Often no OBD2 port |
| Higher-voltage vehicle | Harness | Handles up to 40V |
| Tracker moved between vehicles | Plug in | Unplugs in seconds |
The harness is a one-time A$10 (NZ$10) on top of the tracker, so a hardwired fit adds about 5% to the price of the hardware and nothing to the yearly plan. Our guide to fleet tracking costs in Australia works out what a few vehicles cost over 3 years.
Plug it into the OBD2 port, or wire it to the battery with the A$10 harness. Either way it updates about every 60 seconds and never needs charging.
Will It Flatten the Vehicle’s Battery?
Not in normal use. When the vehicle is parked, the tracker drops into standby, checks in once every 24 hours and wakes up as soon as the vehicle moves. In that state it can stand by for up to 6 months on the vehicle’s battery, which is longer than most work vehicles ever sit still. The figure is the same whether the tracker is plugged into the port or wired to the battery, because the tracker, not the connection, decides how much it draws.
Standby is the thing to ask any seller about, because a tracker that keeps reporting every minute while parked is what flattens a battery, not the wiring. On a hardwired fit, the harness also carries its own fuse, so the tracker’s circuit is protected in the same way as anything else wired to the battery. A vehicle that will be laid up for longer than 6 months needs its battery looked after regardless, and the tracker is the least of its problems.
How Do You Fit Each One, and Does It Need an Installer?
Neither needs an installer. The plug-in fit takes no tools: find the 16-pin port under the steering wheel, push the tracker in, and open the app to check the vehicle shows on the map. The hardwired fit is a job anyone who can open a bonnet can do, because the harness is 2 wires, positive and negative, with the fuse already built into the harness.
- Order the A$10 (NZ$10) wiring harness with the tracker, or on its own if you already have one.
- Connect the harness to the tracker, then run the 2 wires to the battery: positive to positive, negative to negative or ground.
- Open the app and check that the vehicle shows on the map before it heads off.
If you would rather hand it to an auto electrician, it is a short job for them too, and that is the sensible route on a vehicle whose wiring you do not want to touch. Sellers of stand-alone hardwired units tell a different story because their units are different: Ctrack’s are fitted by certified technicians in 1 to 2 hours per vehicle, and AnyAuto warns that incorrect wiring on a hardwired unit may cause faults, so owners should use a qualified installer when required. Both points hold for the products they describe, and a 2-wire harness with its own fuse is a smaller job than either.
Which Is Better If I Move the Tracker Between Vehicles?
Plug-in, every time. Pull it out of one vehicle, push it into the next, and the tracker keeps reporting to the same account, so the app simply shows the new vehicle’s trips from that point on. There is no limit on how many trackers one account holds, so a business that would rather not move trackers around can give each vehicle its own and still see them all on one map.
A hardwired tracker can move as well, but it means undoing the 2 wires at the battery, and then wiring it in again at the other end. That is fine for a tracker that moves when a vehicle is sold or replaced, and a nuisance for one that moves every month. AnyAuto’s guide draws the same line, with plug-in for owners who expect to change vehicles, and so do we: if the tracker will travel, leave it in the port.
If you are still weighing up which kind of tracker to buy at all, our guide to what to look for in a GPS tracker covers the questions to ask any seller, and the GPS tracker comparison sets out what each kind sold in Australia costs.
Are There Legal Limits on Tracking a Work Vehicle?
Yes, and they are the same whichever way the tracker is fitted. The law is about who you tell, not how the tracker is powered. Tell staff in writing before the tracking starts and get their consent in writing as well, because the 5 states with a tracking device offence need consent and not just notice, and New South Wales and the ACT also set a notice period before tracking can begin.
Hardwiring the tracker changes none of that. A tracker a driver was never shown is still a tracker they must be told about, so settle the notice and consent before the harness goes in, not after. Our guide to GPS tracking laws in Australia sets out the rules for employers state by state.
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| ADR 79/00, Emission Control for Light Vehicles | OBD2 on new petrol vehicles from 2006 and diesel from 2007 |
| AnyAuto: OBD or Hardwired?, 15 August 2026 | Who each kind suits, and the installer advice |
| Ctrack Australia: GPS trackers, read 18 October 2026 | Install time of 1 to 2 hours per vehicle |
| Solid GPS product specifications, October 2026 | Prices, update rate, parked check-in, standby and the harness |
