Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[G0HZU]

Unfortunately my finger was hovering on the buttons and the message was only brief.

It came up as a messagebox saying there was a fatal error. But it then went away.

It could be that I followed the instructions too literally because I didn't turn off the camera before removing the battery. Was this wrong?

Could this have caused the error?

[ixfd64]

Mike, I think it might be a good idea to include the steps to undo the hack in the instructions just in case someone needs to send in their camera for repairs.

[Taucher]

I've got a question regarding Hack#3 via FW-Update in conjunction with RNDIS:

It's still a bit unclear to me whether the FW-Update will work after adding a file to switch USB into RNDIS mode... is there a way back without need for the serial console?

I'd love to poke around the camera's inner workings (telnet etc) without bricking it

[G0HZU]

I guess I should have filmed it during the reboot.

It seems to be working OK but I was quite alarmed when it gave that message with 'fatal error' included.
This message was on the camera screen and not the PC.

Maybe the next person to do this should film the reboot sequence in case it happens to someone else too.

No Flir tools came with the camera and I downloaded these from Flir and installed them. Was this correct?
I also zipped the flashfs folder tree with the camera.cmd file included outside the folder. Was this correct?

I put the CRC in exactly as per the screen. i.e. the letters displayed in the check were lower case and I entered them as per the instructions with CRC in uppercase but I used lower case for the actual letters inside the CRC because this is how it appeared on the PC screen. Was this correct?

I think the mod instructions need a fair bit of work if this mod goes mainstream because some people will get confused (more than me?).  A video 'howto' would be the best method to show how to do it or failing this a decent word doc with screenshots of every stage

[georges80]

Excellent hacking job by all concerned and especially Mike.

Funny thing: I've been keeping an eye out for an inexpensive (but good) TIC for some time... obviously without luck

Then I saw the E4 on some sites and did some research and then found Mike's vid & tear down vid. Was pretty convinced that the E4 would be 'ok' for my needs. I design LED driver boards and felt it would be a great tool for verifying component temps and thermal paths versus the spot IR fluke I have or thermocouple measurements.

Then just two days google search found this thread while still trying to convince myself to purchase the E4. This thread of course was an instant sell and I'll be receiving my new E4 tomorrow (staying home to make sure I'm there to sign for it).

cheers,
george.

[Taucher]

-snip-
I think the mod instructions need a fair bit of work if this mod goes mainstream because some people will get confused (more than me?).  A video 'howto' would be the best method to show how to do it or failing this a decent word doc with screenshots of every stage

Sounds all fine - esp. if you have the E8 featues now - just don't worry.

[G0HZU]

-snip-
I think the mod instructions need a fair bit of work if this mod goes mainstream because some people will get confused (more than me?).  A video 'howto' would be the best method to show how to do it or failing this a decent word doc with screenshots of every stage

Sounds all fine - esp. if you have the E8 featues now - just don't worry.

Yes it's a decent TC now. I guess if anyone else sees the same fatal error message they don't need to panic too much

I'm getting better results from it now for PCB stuff because I've used the 'lock' feature on the temperature scale. i.e. I hold a soldering iron set to 100degC  just out of shot and use it to set the upper range before locking the range. This makes a PCB look less bloomy if there is a small hotspot.

In terms of using it casually to wander around and look at 'stuff' it is miles ahead of the older 160x120 Irisys 4010 camera because the Irisys needs constant manual focussing and this can be a real chore.

The screen update rate seems quicker on the E4 too. Also it is very quiet. The 4010 makes a really loud noise when gating. it really is as if the camera is hollow inside and a marble drops from the top of the camera to the bottom of the handle. Clonk! Clonk! and you can feel the clonk as if it is a falling marble too. The Flir E4 is very quiet by comparison. It looks and feels good too.

The 4010 camera is very big boxy by comparison and not as well balanced either. It looks a bit odd as well.

I just need to sort the closeup stuff on the E4. I think I can make a tool on my T-Tech 7000S CNC machine for this.
It is normally used for PCB milling but it can also make tools from flat materials.

http://t-techtools.com/store/

[mikeselectricstuff]

Is there an easy way to adjust the focus for closeup work?

Just screw out the lens - check the video Mike did - it is not difficult, but if you do not want to remove the front cover you need to build yourself a tool to be able to turn the lens.

I will do a vid on this at some point. One option is to screw out the lens, but needs a tool to do it as it's hard to physically get hold of. The lens is lightly held by the rubber surround, so it can be turned but will stay where it's put.
Another option is to use a cheap CO2 laser cutter lens in front - a 20mm dia 50mm FL lens works pretty well - again I will show this in a vid - I mounted the lens in a plastic disc, retained with a wire clip

[mikeselectricstuff]

I've got a question regarding Hack#3 via FW-Update in conjunction with RNDIS:

It's still a bit unclear to me whether the FW-Update will work after adding a file to switch USB into RNDIS mode... is there a way back without need for the serial console?

I'd love to poke around the camera's inner workings (telnet etc) without bricking it

Yes. You can add USBMODE RNDIS to the camera.cmd file, and it will enable it but only til a restart.
For permanently enabling RNDIS you can add the rndis.rsc config file to the appcore.d\factory.d folder, but probably need to prefix the filename with a z (=zrndis.rsc) to make it override the default setting.
You can remove the hack and/or permanent RNDIS with a camera.cmd using the delfile command - this is shown earlier in the thread - I'll add some .fif  files to do these when I get a chance.   

[mikeselectricstuff]

I guess I should have filmed it during the reboot.

If you press any key during startup you do see a small scroling window showing bootup messages as wmall white text on a black background. I've never seen any fatal messages though.

No Flir tools came with the camera and I downloaded these from Flir and installed them. Was this correct?
I also zipped the flashfs folder tree with the camera.cmd file included outside the folder. Was this correct?

yes.
BTW may be worth keeping an eye on the Flir tools version in case Flir slip a "fix" in . Flirinstallnet.exe I have is 29/08/2013, length 237,888.

I put the CRC in exactly as per the screen. i.e. the letters displayed in the check were lower case and I entered them as per the instructions with CRC in uppercase but I used lower case for the actual letters inside the CRC because this is how it appeared on the PC screen. Was this correct?

Yes.

I think the mod instructions need a fair bit of work if this mod goes mainstream because some people will get confused (more than me?).  A video 'howto' would be the best method to show how to do it or failing this a decent word doc with screenshots of every stage

Go for it. I'm too busy to write baby steps instructions.

[G0HZU]

One other quick question:
Was I correct to unplug the battery directly rather than switch off the camera first? It did seem a bit odd to pull the battery but I did what the instructions said in case turning it off caused it to cancel the process.

[Pinkus]

One other quick question:
Was I correct to unplug the battery directly rather than switch off the camera first? It did seem a bit odd to pull the battery but I did what the instructions said in case turning it off caused it to cancel the process.

I do this all the time (to be the first who find out how to get to the secret menu - without any success yet). No problem at all until now.

[Pinkus]

Another option is to use a cheap CO2 laser cutter lens in front - a 20mm dia 50mm FL lens works pretty well - again I will show this in a vid - I mounted the lens in a plastic disc, retained with a wire clip

Cool idea!!!! You mean something like Ebay item #230838327998 (50mm FL then) would be what we need?

[csshih]

Excellent hacking job by all concerned and especially Mike.

Funny thing: I've been keeping an eye out for an inexpensive (but good) TIC for some time... obviously without luck

Then I saw the E4 on some sites and did some research and then found Mike's vid & tear down vid. Was pretty convinced that the E4 would be 'ok' for my needs. I design LED driver boards and felt it would be a great tool for verifying component temps and thermal paths versus the spot IR fluke I have or thermocouple measurements.

Then just two days google search found this thread while still trying to convince myself to purchase the E4. This thread of course was an instant sell and I'll be receiving my new E4 tomorrow (staying home to make sure I'm there to sign for it).

cheers,
george.

Thought your name was familiar. I signed up (about time!) just to say "+1"! I'll be using mine for thermal analysis on LED drivers too

Excellent job, Mike!

Craig

[Fraser]

Mike,

Nice work with mounting the ZnSe CO2 laser lens 

You state you used a 20mm x 50mm FL lens....wow that is close-up to the action ! The ones I bought were 100mm FL as I wanted a bit of distance between me and the target in case close up access was not possible, like when looking inside an equipment chassis. I will be very interested to see the images that your lenses produce as they are far better matched to the lens of the E4 than any of my TIC's. My primary lenses are all 30mm or greater diameter.

I think I will buy some 50mm FL lenses as well. I bought a GaAs lens to play with as well. It came from the same supplier and cost a little more. On the down side it's bandwidth is lower and its transmission is a lot lower than the ZnSe lenses. On the plus side it is a far harder material so less easily scratched. These lenses are pretty good value at $30 though.

[Fraser]

PeterK13,

I bought my CO2 laser lenses from here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZnSe-GaAs-Focal-Lens-for-10-6um-Co2-Laser-Engraver-Cutting-Machine-12-25mm-1-4-/321078811086?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item4ac1c9d9ce

The bi-convex lens acts much like a jewellers Loupe for the camera. The FL sets the distance that the target should be placed in front of the lens. The image is then in focus at that distance and passed to the cameras primary lens without the need for additional optics. very simple and effective. My Inframetrics close-up lens is a positive meniscus type so that must have advantages but the bi-convex works OK as well. 

I bought 19mm ZnSe lenses that fit into old camera filter holders. These lenses work well and I hope Mike will get good pictures with his. I am impressed with Mikes clever filter holder to fit his E4. 

As I have stated in my last message, I bought 19mm x 100mm FL lenses as that gave me a nice 4" stand-off from the PCB and decent field of view.

My Inframetrics professional close-up lens has a 6" FL which is favoured for general close-up work. I couldn't find a cheap ZnSe lens with that FL as they are designed for use in Laser cutters, and that is usually done at relatively close range.

As a side note. The thermal camera manufacturers normally use Germanium close up lenses and charge many thousands of dollars for them. Owning both I can confirm that , for hobby use, the ZnSe lenses are more than up to the task.

[mikeselectricstuff]

From some very quick tests I found 50mm was a good compromise
The figures I got were :
Lens FL / focus distance from front of rubber housing  / width of field of view
100mm  / 80mm / 60mm
50mm / 40mm / 35mm
25mm / 25mm / 20mm

As FOV is nominally about 60 deg, the focus distance and field of view is roughly the same as the lens focal length

An improvement on the plastic disc would be a disc of 1.6mm PCB, slightly oversized with some long slots machined to form a couple of springy arms to hold it in place, plus a couple of screws/studs to allow fingers to grip to squeeze to release tension.

[okent]

Also look forward to seeing if anyone can figure out how to get 30/60hz.

Well, is this really important? For me it is quick enough, but maybe there are application-areas where this is needed.

At least for me, it would be much more important to get bluetooth or WIFI. As the Flir E4 boots up including the bluetooth code (you can see this in the debug-windows which pops up if you press middle joystick button during cold start), it might be only a matter of soldering a connector to the unpopulated areas on the PCB (and then getting hand on such a module for connecting it of course). I wonder if the E40 has such extra modules installed.

Anybody with an Exx want to join in with a teardown? ...... just a second: didn't Dave had an E60?

9hz is not bad but I have spent some time behind 30 and 60hz units and it's more functional for panning.  For stationary objects the 9hz is just fine.  This will be more for a hobby/fun unit and higher frame rate would be awesome.

I am wondering where wifi or bluetooth would be helpful.  Maybe file transfers for pictures through the unit?

Has anyone tried using this for things at a distance?

Mine gets here Friday!!!

[mikeselectricstuff]

I've updated the Hack details post with a new zip that includes scripts to unhack, and also install/remove permamnt RNDIS and enable temporary RNDIS.

BTW the FLIR install tool works fine over RNDIS - it auto-detects. You probably need the RNDIS driver there though.

[G0HZU]

I'd be very interested to see the results using the lenses as I'd much rather use a lens than fiddle with the mechanics of the existing lens.

I mainly want this camera for PCB work as I often have to make sure that components don't get too hot in circuit.

I do RF design for a living so a typical use for me will be looking at the performance of high power PIN diode switch designs when driven with high power into a poor load or for looking at the RF power handling of RF filter designs or even just looking at individual components. eg to see how hot a DC blocking cap gets when passing high power at maybe 4GHz. I need to be able to see SMD components really clearly.

The old Irisys 4010 was just about adequate for this but I'm really hoping the E4 will be better.

[Taucher]

Yes. You can add USBMODE RNDIS to the camera.cmd file, and it will enable it but only til a restart.
For permanently enabling RNDIS you can add the rndis.rsc config file to the appcore.d\factory.d folder, but probably need to prefix the filename with a z (=zrndis.rsc) to make it override the default setting.
You can remove the hack and/or permanent RNDIS with a camera.cmd using the delfile command - this is shown earlier in the thread - I'll add some .fif  files to do these when I get a chance.   

ok, managed to create a FIF file wich temporarily puts the cam into RNDIS mode (not USBMODE but usbfn)
Beware: the driver installation resets all standing TCP connections due to the installation of the new interface.

Had to add at least a file to make the .fif beeing accepted by the transfer tool.

The attachment needs to be renamed in order to be useable (forum extention filter)

[Taucher]

I've updated the Hack details post with a new zip that includes scripts to unhack, and also install/remove permamnt RNDIS and enable temporary RNDIS.

thanks - overlapping work/posts

Web-Interface link: http://flir:3vlig@192.168.0.2/service/index.asp

[Fraser]

With regard to auxiliary close up lens mounting. I have been considering using a suitable diameter clip on lens cap. The type with two sprung buttons. Some have a nice large central area that can be cut to take the lens mount. My camera is somewhat different to the E4 though and I am not sure how well a lens cap would clip into the E4 lens orifice. 

Mike, My PM570's and PM695's have 24 Degree FOV primary lenses. That explains why I have settled on the 100mm FL auxiliary lens compared to your 50mm for the E4's wider FOV of 45 degrees.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I suppose a quick test would be to look for a change in current draw with temperature. The only place a cooler could possibly be is on the lower die.
I suppose I could look at the die with my other TIC (or even an humble IR thermometer).
Some heating or coolling may explain the ~ in front of the displayed temp figure at startup.

A very crude test with a cheap IR thermometer suggests the sensor is heated to somewhere between 30 to 35 deg.C, after which time the "~" disappears from the display

What I really need is another calibrated TIC to check... My FireFLir always autoranges so no use for measurements  (I wonder if there is a serial console in there...)

[Taucher]

A very crude test with a cheap IR thermometer suggests the sensor is heated to somewhere between 30 to 35 deg.C, after which time the "~" disappears from the display
What I really need is another calibrated TIC to check... My FireFLir always autoranges so no use for measurements  (I wonder if there is a serial console in there...)

How about checking the inbuilt sensors?
http://192.168.0.2/service/TDRIFT/Sensors.asp