This is just a little light hearted story covering the last few weeks for me in the leadup to Christmas. It does involve thermal imaging though
I must have been a 'good boy' this year as I have recently been rewarded with much good fortune
Event 1.
As readers of my posts will be aware, I found a partially dismantled FLIR ETS320 PCB inspection camera on eBay. I offered the seller half of what he was asking for it, and he accepted. The unit arrived and is in perfect operating condition. With some simple improvements it will become a powerful PCB inspection tool. It cost me less than 15% of the UK price
Event 2.
I am always on the look out for thermal camera related accessories, especially lenses and AGEMA/FLIR related parts. I found an auction in Germany for two of the ultra rare AGEMA/FLIR Remote control handsets for the PM and SC series industrial cameras that I own. These can sell for crazy prices as high as $500 ! I bought both of the remote controls at a superb price. They arrived and are in great condition but one needed 4 new tactile switches. The odds of finding the exact 'custom looking' tactile switches looked poor.
I found them on the Radio Spares site ! They were relatively common NKK illuminated tactile button switches costing less than £2 each. RESULT
Event 3.
I got into conversation with the German seller of the Remote control handsets. He is a long term thermographer and had all manner of bits and pieces hidden away in his home. It turned out I had already purchased a FLIR PM series Close-Up lens from him earlier in the year via eBay's equivalent of Gumtree in Germany ! He kindly offered to search out some FLIR promotional stuff for me. I ended up with FLIR Pens, Two FLIR Flash Drives and a nice FLIR LED torch
I know it's only promotional stuff but I appreciated him looking it out for me and I like promotional gifts
Event 4.
After my conversations with the German seller, he offered to search out all his obsolete AGEMA/FLIR bits and pieces that he knew were around somewhere. I did not expect much to come of this, but how wrong I was.
I received an email after a week or so, offering me a number of AGEMA/FLIR items.....
1. AGEMA Thermovision PM series breakout box
2. AGEMA Thermovision PM series Parallel interface for camera communications with a PC & frame grabber
3. AGEMA Thermovision 900 interface box for camera connection to a PC
4. AGEMA IC2 communications manual
5. AGEMA IRWin Researcher 2.01 manual
6. FLIR 100mm Close-Up Germanium lens for the Thermovision PM and SC.series cameras
7. FLIR/Inframetrics SC1000 interface for connecting the camera to a PC.
I have been looking for the PM series breakout box for years. They sell for crazy money when they do turn up on eBay. I already own a PM series Parallel interface box, but a spare would not hurt
. The Thermovision 900 interface box is not that useful to me as I do not own a THV900. It does contain very expensive parts and connectors, common to other AGEMA cameras though. The same applies to the SC1000 interface as I do not own that camera. I do own it's stable mate, the PM280 though, it may work with that camera as well. The AGEMA IC2 manual is available on line but great to have on paper as it is a PM series command reference. When I saw the IRWin manual, I was very interested. I know that AGEMA used to place the licence key on the first page of the manual
Most of the (very expensive) AGEMA software is now long gone and not available on the internet. I happen to own IRWin 2.01 installation disks from a previous PM series camera purchase. I lacked the installation key however. This situation could change if it was still in the manual.
It will come as no surprise to readers that I was interested in the FLIR Germanium Close-up lens. It is the 34/100 model intended for the SC3000 camera and provides a 34mm wide horizontal FOV at 100mm distance. This lens also fits my other AGEMA/FLIR cameras so is very useful to me. As a LW Close-up lens it may be used with any of my LW cameras with the use of a suitable mounting adapter. These lenses cost a small fortune new due to the size of the Germanium lens element and their specialist nature.
I tentatively asked for a price on the above items, fully expecting to be faced with unaffordable sums being asked for them. The seller was very kind and basically I got the lot for 130 Euros delivered to the UK
The package arrived today and it is fair to say I am 'over the moon' with its contents.
The Close-up lens is perfect. The Interfaces are superb and the THV900 interface is the first off of the production line. It is serial number 001 and contains a AGEMA official label inside its lid stating that it is from the first batch produced so may differ to later batches. The detail of differences is included on the label.
The user manual for IRWin does still contain the licence number on the first page and it worked perfectly when I installed IRWin Researcher 2.01 on a suitable laptop. Wonderful
Event 5.
I was unaware that FLUKE have recently been offering a free wide angle (x0.45) or telephoto (x2) auxiliary lens with purchases of their TiR cameras. I saw a nicely priced FLUKE X2 Telephoto lens for sale. The seller was open to offers and I negotiated a further 25% discount
I later discovered that the lens had been free with the purchase of a TiR camera. These lenses normally cost well over £1K so I had myself an amazing bargain and the seller was happy as he recovered some money on his camera purchase. As some readers will be aware, the brand of a thermal camera auxiliary lens is only relevant in terms of the mounting used. The FLUKE lens uses a simple bayonet mount and the T2 model lens has a nice large lens element diameter, front and back. It may be used on any camera that has the same or smaller auxiliary lens diameter requirements. This would cover a good many of my FLIR cameras as the FLUKE lens exit diameter is around 25mm
a neat and compact X2 Telephoto lens at a bargain price.... well chuffed
Event 6.
Last week I noticed an eBay auction for a FLIR DUO R radiometric drone camera. It was stated to be faulty but as many readers will know, that does not deter me at all. I saw that the camera was actually located only a few miles across town from me. I could even collect it and save time and postage. It was being sold by a Pawn shop as a customer returned item. It apparently failed soon after initial use. I placed a low maximum bid as I felt sure it would sell for silly money as it is not only a 160 x 120 drone thermal camera in the Go-Pro Hero format, but also fully radiometric with a Bluetooth connectivity. I think differently to many other potential buyers though. The fact that it was faulty seems to have almost completely prevented bids on it. I was very surprised. I won the camera for £121 and picked it up the same day. It has already been stripped down and now awaits my attention on the repair bench
This camera sold for only slightly more than faulty FLIR One G2's yet it is soooo much more versatile than those simple dongle units. After a conversation with the seller, I also became the consultant repair tech for the company selling the camera as their previous Tech has sadly passed away.
Well there you go, it's been one heck of a ride over the past few weeks. I was not expecting to find so much thermal camera related kit, at such amazing prices, in such a short period of time. It just goes to prove that there are still bargains out there and if I have one piece of advice for fellow Thermal imaging enthusiasts, it is this...... talk to the sellers of such kit, they sometimes provide great discounts and more kit if they think you are offering a good home to their equipment.
I will upload some pictures later as it is now late and time for some sleep !
Good hunting my fellow thermal imaging enthusiasts
Fraser
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