Yet another cheap thermal imager incoming.. Seek Thermal

[Collat3ral]

The prices on this stuff is still prohibitively expensive. I'd like to get a 200yd thermal "scope" or board/bullet camera with good resolution for the lower hundreds, instead of 6k$+.

Things go downhill these days, I don't expect to see the prices down for "little people" any time soon.

This is the pro model using a Iphone 7

I think you can't beat that performace for 500$

[IdahoMan]

The prices on this stuff is still prohibitively expensive. I'd like to get a 200yd thermal "scope" or board/bullet camera with good resolution for the lower hundreds, instead of 6k$+.

Things go downhill these days, I don't expect to see the prices down for "little people" any time soon.

This is the pro model using a Iphone 7

I think you can't beat that performace for 500$

I don't have an iPhone. Is there a mod to RCA analog (screen/dvr) or USB (computer)?

[Bill W]

No, that is why these 'devices' are so cheap, they rely on a GBP200-500 add on computer / battery / display unit that they hope you already own before they are useful in any way.  All in all that is a fair assumption in many ways but does not help you.

A cheap option, but it is a bit of a project, is to strip a true 'volts in - video out' camera second hand (-ish) from a common thermal imaging end product like the driver vision or firefighter cameras.  There is enough knowledge on this forum to get any of those going standalone that can be.

regards
Bill

[frenky]

I think you can't beat that performace for 500$

You can beat it easily with ThermalExpert Q1 which costs 499$ and can also connect to PC:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/first-timer-thermal-camera/msg1083658/#msg1083658

[frenky]

The prices on this stuff is still prohibitively expensive. I'd like to get a 200yd thermal "scope" or board/bullet camera with good resolution for the lower hundreds, instead of 6k$+.

Things go downhill these days, I don't expect to see the prices down for "little people" any time soon.

For a lot less then 6k$ you could get:
Therm-App with 19mm lens ($999): http://therm-app.com/product/therm-app-device-with-19mm-lens/
ThermalExpert Q1 with 13mm lens ($599): http://www.i3-thermalexpert.com/product/t-e-narrow/

With both you'll be able to detect a person at 400-500 yards...

[Kilrah]

Things go downhill these days, I don't expect to see the prices down for "little people" any time soon.

Huh? 
Prices have precisely gone downhill nearl an order of magnitude in the last couple of years,a 384x288 device like the Q1 you can get for $600 now would have lightened your wallet by a few thousands 3 years ago or so. Dunno what you'd want but it probably isn't very reasonable...
The Q1 has apps for Android phones and Windows PCs.

[Stereo]

Buyer return Seek Compact Android, device not recognized by smartphone.

USB plug and contact to motherboard is fine.

Who can help with repair, what I need test next?

Thanks.

[Uho]

There is OTG? Check USB protection IC.

[paradigmic]

What make and model phone did the buyer have? The phone needs to support USB OTG, as well as the adapter if they were using one.

[Stereo]

Of course it tested on different phones after returning. Will send to repair in another City to "Uho". After he look on it - will share what the problem.

[Uho]

The problem is in the processor. Internal defect. I can  made to work  by heating. Cold chip does not work.
https://youtu.be/FMkHpoTPcL4

[Fraser]

An interesting failure mode Uho.

Thanks for sharing

Fraser

[ivandevel]

Connected SeekThermal to STM32 with USB Host feature.
https://youtu.be/c5nP_0Eil9A

[jglomas86]

I need help to make an iSeek:

generate png images in Raspbian.

I have tried several of the available libraries but most of them haven't been updated in years and yield errors. Could someone help please?

Thanks
Javier

[Ultrapurple]

EncryptedEddy did a lot of work on getting the Therm-App to run on a Raspberry Pi; it's vaguely possible some of his work may be relevant to the Seek (it's not my area of expertise). There was some informed discussion on his work, too.

[scelestus13]

I'm trying to use the seek compact to view a couple of Si/SiO₂ samples lit from behind, but the signal is very weak. It was suggested I find a way to increase exposure time and build up the signal for several minutes. Has anyone done this on the seek camera? Is it possible for me to do this myself?

[frenky]

I'm trying to use the seek compact to view a couple of Si/SiO₂ samples lit from behind, but the signal is very weak. It was suggested I find a way to increase exposure time and build up the signal for several minutes. Has anyone done this on the seek camera? Is it possible for me to do this myself?

You can reduce noise with stacking images and using median filter: https://petapixel.com/2013/05/29/a-look-at-reducing-noise-in-photographs-using-median-blending/

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Example of 16 SeekThermal images stacked with median filter:

[KrisMcLean]

Like jglomas86 I'm trying to get a SeekThermal running on a Rpi, feels like I'm a year or two late to the party. All the various programs I've looked at start with something like dev = usb.core.find(idVendor=0x289d, idProduct=0x0010). My problem is I can't get past first base because the camera does not show up with lsusb on the pi, so the software is never going to find it. I know the camera is OK because I got it working with one of the Windows programs from this forum on my PC. I'm wondering if I need the linux equivalent of zadig to make it show up on the Pi USB?

[IwuzBornanerd]

Like jglomas86 I'm trying to get a SeekThermal running on a Rpi, feels like I'm a year or two late to the party. All the various programs I've looked at start with something like dev = usb.core.find(idVendor=0x289d, idProduct=0x0010). My problem is I can't get past first base because the camera does not show up with lsusb on the pi, so the software is never going to find it. I know the camera is OK because I got it working with one of the Windows programs from this forum on my PC. I'm wondering if I need the linux equivalent of zadig to make it show up on the Pi USB?

Try adding a file with the file name  50-seekthermal-usb.rules  to the directory  /etc/udev/rules.d containing the following:

# Seek Thermal USB auto-configuration rules for udev.
# See udev(7) for syntax.

# Seek Thermal camera device permissions and symlinks
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="289d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0010", GROUP="plugdev"

Without this you will need to run the software as "root" or it won't connect to the camera.  I'm not sure if it needs that merely to show up in lsusb, though, but if you run "sudo lsusb" and it shows up then that would be a clue.

[KrisMcLean]

OK got a camera

3.111690] usb 1-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=289d, idProduct=0010
[    3.111700] usb 1-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=5
[    3.111707] usb 1-1.4: Product: PIR206 Thermal Camera
[    3.111714] usb 1-1.4: Manufacturer: Seek Thermal

and I'm familiar with fswebcam (https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/usage/webcams/) on the pi for capturing images with regular webcams. I just need some code to make the seek thermal compact present like a regular webcam. Some of the older (http://photobyte.org/using-thermapp-camera-raspberry-pi-3/#comment-27667) approaches seem close in that they mention v4l2loopback but when I try to hook into them with fswebcam image.jpg for a frame capture I get

/dev/video0 opened.
No input was specified, using the first.
Unable to find a compatible palette format.

so I'm back to feeling like a blacksmith trying to do brain surgery. Two days solid on this now & not much to show for it.

[IwuzBornanerd]

Gee, I think anybody would be doing quite well to get anything out of the ordinary running on a Pi in 2 days.

I hope you weren't expecting the Seek to respond to that ThermApp code.  Anything to run any of these thermal cameras is going to have to be written specifically for that camera.  I have not seen anything on here written to allow the Seek to be used with ordinary webcam software, but I posted my Python code that runs on my Pi2B on another thread last year (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/seekthermal-how-to-correct-the-image-received-from-the-sensor/msg1005344/#msg1005344).  This has been downloaded a couple hundred times but I have not seen any comments on it so I don't know if others have had trouble with it or not.  I once told someone that it should run on a Pi Zero, but now that I have a Pi Zero I expect it will run very slow on that (I have not tried it yet).

[KrisMcLean]

Well you might not be a trained programmer but you've certainly acquired the skill set of https://github.com/maartenvds/libseek-thermal et al, instructions always vague enough that only another Illuminati has any chance of trying it out!

[IwuzBornanerd]

Aha, feedback!

... instructions always vague enough that only another Illuminati has any chance of trying it out!

Heck, that part just comes natural; especially with Linux. 

Are you saying you get nowhere?   Installation or run-time issues?  Or just can't figure out where to start??

[joe-c]

Some notes while talking with the Seek Thermal Camera.

I just ask for Frames, and the Imagemode of the camera set how the camera works:

1 "raw" Mode
Frame types: 3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3,3
the Camera delivers just a Frame of the Sensor, without processing. there is no shutter and no compensation of the Warmup. so start and work in raw mode will let single pixels go out of rage. but with a thermal stabilised camera, or just use raw mode after warmup, you just get frames without shift. a good way for external 2point calibration to enhance the image quality
See here:
https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://joe-c.de/pages/posts/mapcal_198.php&prev=search

8 "normal" Mode
Frame types: 3,3,3,3,3,6,1,3,3,3,3,3
this is the working mode while using the App. it delivers a frame and after a internal time period the shutter rises.
frame id 1 and 6 are closed shutter calibration frames.
if you manually (or with higher time) get frames, you get 3,6,1,3,6,1 because how much time the camera deliver normal frames with open shutter was handled internal.
if you remove the frame ID 1 from frame ID 3 you will get a usable image
if you remove the frame ID 6 from frame ID 3 you get a usable image, until the Pixels start drifting.
I guess it work like that: before frame ID 1 was delivered, the ADC Gain for all Pixels was updated (to keep all Pixels in valid range).

so there is no direct control of the shutter. I tried some commands but without success. therefore you just can handle what the camera delivers in normal mode. In Raw mode (without processing) you can do more external stuff, but there is no update for the dynamic range of the ADC for the Pixels, so the Camera have to be in a temperature stable condition.

[LesioQ]

Guys,

How can I induce firmware reload to Seek Thermal XR camera flash IC ?
I mean 1.3.0.0 version, built-in into apk.
Either Android way or Windows-way.