Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[Bud]

Try this video


Once you update feel free to write an article and put on Github or whatever.

[ErwinsCat]

Thanks for the reply, Bud, I did used that instruction step-by-step couple of times. and revert back to my backups, the resolution hacked worked ok, but regardless of adding the menu hack or not, the center spot meter was missing. I read in a couple of posts, in similar situations people mentioned its because the point is still at the old coordinate for (80x60). i even search inside all *.rsc files for any 40,80,40 or 30 just in case some of those control the position of the spot meter. so far no luck.

[Bud]

Have you done cold reboot ( removal of battery for 30 sec) ?

[ErwinsCat]

yes did a couple of times, i thought maybe USB powering it while the battery was removed and I disconnected and removed the battery. i saw a post someone mentioned this happened because the config file wasn't encrypted with the correct signature, I'm going to re-download the tool and template config and start from the 1st step, this does not make much science to me as i assume if the signature wasn't correct the resolution shouldn't work either but also could be some mistake i done when made the config file and worth to try again as all those times i used the first config i created and because the rez worked i assumed it wasn't the issue but I could be wrong! 
by the way, I really appreciate despite this thread is as old as it is, you take the time to help a stranger to fix the thing. 
your the boss, Bud!

[Bud]

And you tried to toggle spot cursor measurement tool (turn off and on)?

[ErwinsCat]

Gday bud, It worked! I did it again from the beginning on another PC and it worked. it wasn't the on/off thing, i think something was wrong with the encoded, file. i decode it and compare it with this new one and seems identical text but for some reason did not work the 1st time. thanks for the help.

[Bud]

Ok. Good to know, though it did look strange. Usually it either works fully or not at all. Anyways, enjoy your camera 

[radioorizont]

Hi Fraser, long time since I bothered you 😊
I just purchased a flir S40, similar to the pxx series but without the handle.
The viewfinder has a fault where it displays only vertical bars. Camera displays ok on external AV
I opened it up, it's a Sony module, couldn't see any physical damage.
Do you know if this is a common failure point in these, anything specific that would cause this issue?
Cheers Dan.

[hap2001]

I just realized the Ex is using a "naked" sensor package, which is different to Flir ix and 25um TAU.
What about the 17um TAU, and 25um Exx?

[Fraser]

Radioorizont,

Please feel free to send me a personal message to discuss

Best Wishes

Fraser

[Logan]

Hi. Anyone knows what are the difference among different hardware versions? (such as 1.0/1.1/1.2/.../2.0, L/non-L, wifi/non-wifi or even more?)
And what's the lens aperture? Thanks!

[Swappart]

Considering buying an E4 on eBay. The model number is 63906-0604. Can we tell from that if it can be upgraded?

[DaveWB]

I uploaded a tutorial to upgrade 3.16.0:

[damian212]

Hello everyone, I'm looking for someone to help me with my FLIR E40 camera.

I have a hack for the E60 model, version 2.23.14, but the camera sometimes freezes. I saw that there is a version 2.27.16 available and maybe it will be better. Do I need to perform any special procedure or is it enough to run eFlirInstall?
In the information panel in the camera I have information that it is an E40 camera and not an E60, I don't know if it matters. Thank you for your help.

[Bud]

I'd say you should Not be upgrading modified cameras. May end up with a brick.

[Jane]

Few years ago I hacked the Flir E4 based on the procedure described in this (very long) topic.
But now I learned the hack was not made perfect and Manual temperature scale mode  is missing?
Can anyone let me know what steps I must take so that Manual temperature scale mode will be available?
Thank you
My  camera shows : Model E4 1.2L
Software:2.11.0

[damian212]

Why? Is this other procedure than original software?

[Jane]

I do not want to brick my camera

[Bud]

If this information is not in this thread than there was no manual scale mode for this firmware version.

[_Wim_]

Hello everyone, I'm looking for someone to help me with my FLIR E40 camera.

I have a hack for the E60 model, version 2.23.14, but the camera sometimes freezes. I saw that there is a version 2.27.16 available and maybe it will be better. Do I need to perform any special procedure or is it enough to run eFlirInstall?
In the information panel in the camera I have information that it is an E40 camera and not an E60, I don't know if it matters. Thank you for your help.

I also have a modified E30=>E60 running 2.23.14 (and it does indeed sometimes freezes). I did not do the firmware upgrade, as there is always a risk involved (because it is not possible to downgrade). If you really want to do it, I would first un-hack the camera (so put all original config files back), and then perform the upgrade and re-hack afterwards. But I would not expect to much difference from 2.27.16, so I recommend to stay with 2.23.14, as the occasional freezing is not that bad, and best case that is the only thing that will change as no new functions will be available...

Update: do not upgrade, see also here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/just-got-an-e30bx-have-the-usual-questions/msg1399564/#msg1399564

[Marty1920]

I just received a pretty new looking second hand Flir E4 (model E4 2.0L) with firmware version 3.16.0. I noticed that the MSX unfortunately wasn't correctly lined out with the thermal image (it was shifted to the right, upper right). As I just received this unit, I had absolutely no clue whether or not this unit was already modded or not.

So I went ahead and "updated" the firmware according to the instructions here, ensuring it would have the modded firmare (I made sure I downloaded the correct common_dll_3.16.zip as the firmware version is 3.16, not 3.12). I took some pics as seen below

Questions:
* Can anyone here let me know if the resolution seems to be right, i.e., is it the correct 320x240 resolution? It seems a bit blurry tbh.
* is it possible for me to change the offset so that MSX matches the thermal output?




Thanks!

[Marty1920]

Does not look like 320x240 at all. More like 80x60 or 160x120 at best.

That's what I thought as well. However the conf.cfg I edited and uploaded does contain the following lines:

.caps.config.image.settings.IRwidth int32 320
.caps.config.image.settings.IRheight int32 240

I followed all the steps as mentioned in the readme v3.12.0.txt. I was also able to perform step 16 and noticed a new menu. The noise is also gone. But the resolution isn't upgraded.

I ran the python cfccfg_v2.py command using my suid (confirmed using both methods). I did run python on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), as I didn't want to install Python 2.7 on my Windows machine. But since I didn't got any errors and the process did result in a conf.cfc file, I assumed all went fine. Then I uploaded the conf.cfc file and confirmed that the filesize on the device is identical to the one I have locally on my computer.

So... what could've gone wrong? Could it be that FLIR updated their newer units with lower resolution sensors?

[Marty1920]

I manually edited the conf.cfg values for IRWidth and IRHeight and definitely noticed a difference:

80

160

320

So I guess it's 320 after all, although the difference between 160 and 320 isn't as huge as compared to 80 to 160.

Final question remains: the MSX overlay is way off. Any idea on how to offset that properly?

[Bud]

It looks ok for the liberated E4, this camera is not known for sharp images, to make images sharper you need to adjust the lens focus but E4 has fixed focus. A special tool is needed to turn the lens, 3D print files for such tool were published in this thread. But this is not something you'd do for every image.
You can reduce JPG compression by toggling the cursor off and on. Not sure if the images you published went through any software which may have blurred them more.

To align MSX you press (if i recall correctly) Cursor Up button, this brings up a floating menu and on the left there will be the Alignment menu icon, you select it and a scroll ribbon pops up with alignment distance selection. You can do the same from the stock Settings menu. Do not confuse Alignment distance with Object distance, they are different. Object distance is for correcting temperature measurement depending how far the object is from the camera.

[Bud]

Couple more points:
1. MSX alignment on E4 is not automatic, you have to adjust the setting manually depending on distance to the object, but typically it matters if the object is withing a few feet.
2. To check image thermal resolution press the Archive button, select an image and select 'Properties'. Scroll to view the Thermal Resolution field, i believe this is what it is called.