Howdy, folks! Brought here by the E4 mod thread.
I had an old 'project-made' thermal imager, with a 3rd party framecap card, powered by 12V NIMH. The core was a Raytheon 2000AS 160x120 a-Si microbolometer.
Disassembled some months ago, troubleshooting the poorly made framecap card (a mess of wires, previous owned had put a screw through them sealing it all up). Got it working again, functioned well.
After testing that it worked, I went to integrating the module into a new project - A combined nIR/fIR imager, consisting of a low-power Gen1 nightvision, the 2000AS module, and a nice .25" LCD for an eyepiece. All seemed well.
On double checking everything, applying 3V power (2 of new, tested AA), nothing. No bootup chopper, no power draw from the module. No magic smoke was detected by my delicate nostrils, and the unit was only handled with the utmost care.
On reassembling the unit into it's previous home - Same symptom. Now, I'm quite handy with a soldering iron, and surface-mount - But this is a multi-layer board, and I can't follow enough traces to check this on my own. I have the spec sheet, and I know for certain everything is correct. I've stepped back, and reexamined after a few day's break - No dice.
So this seems like the right place to ask - Can anybody offer any advice, or possibly a bucket to cry into? These things don't come cheap!
Pictures on request, but there are no visible problems.