The Fire Tics site belongs to forum member "Bill W" and is all his work. He is a bona fide expert on all things ARGUS related
I owe Bill credit for much knowledge that he has shared with me over the years.
ARGUS cameras have impressed me with their designs. I have several models in my collection. My favourites are the ARGUS 4 HR and MiTIC cameras.
On the remote focus actuator front, I wait with interest to see what you come up with. Be aware that the moving lens sits in a nice machined Aluminium lens carrier and it may need some careful lubrication to avoid wear over time. The lens block is easily disassembled with little risk to the fragile lens elements. Be very careful with the internal lens elements as they are not coated with hard carbon so can be scratched if mishandled.
The camcorder charger is perfect for use with the ARGUS 3 batteries as that is what they are, camcorder batteries. I use JVC VHSC camcorder chargers with mine. Those chargers are often more elegant than the ones made in house by OEM's and perform well. Some contain a battery conditioning function as well.
The ambient temperature sensor is nothing particularly special, just a pretty standard sensor in a rugged encapsulation. I forget whether it is a thermocouple or thermistor.
The scene temperature sensor is a standard RAYTEK product. As a modular IR Thermometer solution it is well suited to the task. The sensor head is a Germanium lens element in front if a single pixel IR thermal sensor element, possibly a thermopile type, and the sensor signal is translated into millivolts per degree C output. I think it is 10mV per degree C but I would have to check. These RAYTEK IR Thermometer modules are industrial grade and very expensive. From memory, they are several hundred Pounds each.
The camera frame rate is detailed in the datasheet. The BST sensor Resolution is good at 320 x 240 pixels and there is no FFC display freeze as with many microbolometer based cameras. The chopper wheel is driven by a humble CD deck spindle motor but appears long lived and would be cheap to replace if the bearing wears out. The BST sensor does have limited dynamic range, hence the incorporation of the Iris. BST based cameras are normally not capable of temperature measurement through the BST sensor array, hence the inclusion of the RAYTEK IR Thermometer module.
The same technology is to be found in the ARGUS 2 camera and in several other Fire Fighting cameras of the period. Raytheon supplied a kit of parts to OEM's that they could then incorporate into their camera design. The kit contained the BST sensor, Sensor drive/image processing PCB, Chopper wheel, Chopper wheel sensor and Chopper wheel motor. The OEM had to provide the lens block, Iris, Sensor PCB, any camera control electronics, power supply and any required display device. Plus, of course, a casing.
Raytheon also sold complete imaging cores like the Thermal Eye 300 series that basically just needed a case, power control, display device and a power supply. Such modules were popular with 'screwdriver OEM's'.
The Cadillac DeVille night vision camera is a variation of the Raytheon Thermal Eye 300 series.
There is quite a lot on this forum about these Raytheon cores. I have done a teardown of the Cadillac DeVille camera.
Fraser