Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[joe-c]

guys: how about snipping down such long quotes a bit?

too much work 

btw... I also agree with Paulio

[emptech]

In my opinion, regardless as to what people are charging, they are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
This began as a hobby effort, it's been fun and challenging, but by this fix becoming so public and becoming commercial, sooner or later you have to expect a serious response from FLIR.  They will plug up the holes and
I wouldn't be surprised that there could be some legal retaliation.

I've needed technical support from FLIR from time to time, that was paid for when I bought my camera, but
circumventing their product line will in the end hurt all of us, and I'm referring to making these modified
cameras available on the commercial market.  By the way, FLIR has provided me with excellent support,
I just had to dig a little deeper in their organization for some good help.

The same thing happened with satellite decoders and cable TV boxes, it was fun while it lasted but it was made
too public.

Enjoy it while you can, but I fear the free ride will come to an end.  My two cents worth.

Hope I trimmed the thread a little.

Jim

He (i'm guessing you) is selling it as a hacked device. Both immoral and unprofessional. If you're selling an E4 don't mark it up 30% because you screwed around with the firmware.

Well I'm from the UK, not the US 


Cost of camera = $995
Cost of eBay & Paypal fees at $1398  =  $195
Cost of US postage (guess)  = $30

TOTAL = $1220

$1398 - $1220 = $178 Profit.

In my opinion $178 is a fair profit for the seller who is providing a known working hacked camera and taking all risks including:

[miguelvp]

In my opinion, regardless as to what people are charging, they are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
This began as a hobby effort, it's been fun and challenging, but by this fix becoming so public and becoming commercial, sooner or later you have to expect a serious response from FLIR.  They will plug up the holes and
I wouldn't be surprised that there could be some legal retaliation.

...

Enjoy it while you can, but I fear the free ride will come to an end.  My two cents worth.

Hope I trimmed the thread a little.

Jim

+1 selling the "upgraded" item for a profit will hurt the rest in the long run if it becomes prevalent.
And selling information based on other's work, is well... wrong!

[cuda12]

In my opinion, regardless as to what people are charging, they are going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
This began as a hobby effort, it's been fun and challenging, but by this fix becoming so public and becoming commercial, sooner or later you have to expect a serious response from FLIR.  They will plug up the holes and
I wouldn't be surprised that there could be some legal retaliation.

...

Enjoy it while you can, but I fear the free ride will come to an end.  My two cents worth.

Hope I trimmed the thread a little.

Jim

+1 selling the "upgraded" item for a profit will hurt the rest in the long run if it becomes prevalent.
And selling information based on other's work, is well... wrong!

+2,  I agree as well but I know you can't put the cork back in the bottle and this will just have to run it's course.

[DaveWB]

How to stop others from selling on eBay for profit:
1. Buy camera
2. Sell camera for ~$1200(To cover fees/shipping)
3. Drive profiteers out of the market

[Fraser]

This is just a repeat of discussions that followed some people selling FW 1.19.8 cameras on ebay for vast profit. In this case, however, the prices are more reasonable when the sellers efforts are considered. I make no comment on the ethics of the situation though as this is an 'Open Source' upgrade thanks to the kind efforts of several members of this forum.

FLIR will take whatever action they have already planned, no matter whether people are selling upgrade services or upgraded cameras on ebay. The industry view is that FLIR will not lock down the core itself 

[scientist]

This seller is clever, he set the starting price at $9.99. He got the buyers flocking to it

Wait, what? 

For future reference, it's an i40 and the bid is currently at $110.

[bookaboo]

F.A.O. Aurora

A colleague of mine has a camera SN 6392147xx that has FW 1.22 and is very happy with it
It still had the original FLIR delivery note to the distributor which indicated calibration 24th April.

[Fraser]

@Scientist,

I am confused by your comment...clever ? ...how ?

A FLIR thermal camera for sale as 'spares or repair' and sold without test. These are the sorts of auctions I target and buy to repair. I have been very pleased and successful with repairing faulty cameras bought in this way. The seller is being very honest in the auction. The fact that the camera comes without accessories or battery would tend to suggest that the seller is an electronics recycler. When equipment is scrapped it often has its battery removed for environmental compliance reasons.

For info, if that camera sells for less than $300 it's a good risk  (if you know how to repair kit)

Aurora

[DaveWB]

@Scientist,

I am confused by your comment...clever ? ...how ?

A FLIR thermal camera for sale as 'spares or repair' and sold without test. These are the sorts of auctions I target and buy to repair. I have been very pleased and successful with repairing faulty cameras bought in this way. The seller is being very honest in the auction. The fact that the camera comes without accessories or battery would tend to suggest that the seller is an electronics recycler. When equipment is scrapped it often has its battery removed for environmental compliance reasons.

For info, if that camera sells for less than $300 it's a good risk  (if you know how to repair kit)

Aurora

I agree, there is nothing clever about that auction. It is most likely his own auction and just trying to get exposure.

[scientist]

Clever that he set the price at $9.99 and then let the market fight over the real value.

[PCSnoop]

Just ordered a few minutes ago from Tequipment.net.  They said the firmware is still 1.22.0.  I'll keep ya posted on shipping times and serial/firmware info.

[JFA]

General question:
Is it possible to add a -2 or -4 (I have no idea the exact value required) diopter IR lens so as to bring the close focus to something like 30cm ?

I was looking and it seems that BaF and CaF would be the choice, but I am not really sure, as I did not find precisely the IR wavelength range of the camera.  something that is good into the visible range could be shoved atop the whole lens so as to cover the visible light lens too.

Duct Tape: the atomic and laser-lab physicist's secret weapon !

[miguelvp]

General question:
Is it possible to add a -2 or -4 (I have no idea the exact value required) diopter IR lens so as to bring the close focus to something like 30cm ?

I was looking and it seems that BaF and CaF would be the choice, but I am not really sure, as I did not find precisely the IR wavelength range of the camera.  something that is good into the visible range could be shoved atop the whole lens so as to cover the visible light lens too.

Duct Tape: the atomic and laser-lab physicist's secret weapon !

a piece of floppy disc or dark exposed film from a negative works wonders.

Edit, never mind misread that you wanted to block visible light

[Fraser]

@JFA,

Please look at my 'E4 Useful information' thread on this forum. Its all there and cheap ZnSe lenses detailed etc. 

Fraser

[KMIN]

I was just chatting with Tequipment and they were confirming me twice that all their E4 have the newest firmware which cannot be hacked :
" Yes, the models we offer are firmware 1.22 which CANNOT be hacked."
I'm very confused! Anyone have an idea if Flir changed something ?
PCSnoop, did you get yours already?

[Fraser]

There does seem to be some odd information coming from Tequipment, such as the FW 1.22.2 that they said was coming in, yet never appeared. Personally I would order from a company that confirms FW 1.22.0

[ixfd64]

It's possible they are simply not aware of the "new" hack.

[Fraser]

They have representation on this forum, so should know as they are aware of the E4 hack. It could be that a particular member of staff who is still unaware though.

[joe-c]

Hello,
my program is going Version 004 and are now available in English and (if somebody makes) other Languages.
http://joe-c.de/pages/posts/programm_ex_tools_158.php#v004

I readout the complete resource tree, see attachment (only changed my Serial ).
Maybe somebody interest...

[jmTx]

There does seem to be some odd information coming from Tequipment, such as the FW 1.22.2 that they said was coming in, yet never appeared. Personally I would order from a company that confirms FW 1.22.0

Flir Tools when checking for update reports my current version is 1.22.0 and that firmware 2.1.0 update is "available for free".

[Iphone_hack]

There does seem to be some odd information coming from Tequipment, such as the FW 1.22.2 that they said was coming in, yet never appeared. Personally I would order from a company that confirms FW 1.22.0

Flir Tools when checking for update reports my current version is 1.22.0 and that firmware 2.1.0 update is "available for free".

Oh man,
Are you telling me that I ordered another E4 today!
It will have the updated firmware? 

[CFH]

Hi everyone, I have everything i need and am computer literate but my command prompt will not let me conf_plain.txt to receive my suid and I am going nuts. Any help would be much appreciated.

command prompt tells me: cannot open output file conf_plain.txt

Thanks in advance. I have 1.22.0

[jmTx]

Hi everyone, I have everything i need and am computer literate but my command prompt will not let me conf_plain.txt to receive my suid and I am going nuts. Any help would be much appreciated.

command prompt tells me: cannot open output file conf_plain.txt

Thanks in advance. I have 1.22.0

I don't know what instructions you are following but I had no problem doing both the resolution and menu hack in about 1/2 hour. Go to youtube and search "flir e4 hack 1.22" find video by pspgamr and follow it. Also on that youtube video just above comments is "show more", chick on that and he has links to everything you need to download to make the hack work (filezilla, menu beta3 and tools1) EASY !!!

[Iphone_hack]

Hi everyone, I have everything i need and am computer literate but my command prompt will not let me conf_plain.txt to receive my suid and I am going nuts. Any help would be much appreciated.

command prompt tells me: cannot open output file conf_plain.txt

Thanks in advance. I have 1.22.0

Hi
If you are having problems with cmd commands
Try to use the crc generator file
Like jmTx said
YouTube E4 1.22 hack
I followed the instruction to detail but still didn't work
So I saw comments

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg411505/#msg411505

Using crc generator and bang worked right away
But I only did the resolution upgrade I did not do the menu hack
Because it is only 1 file that is replaced, any problem I just put the original file back.
My recommendation is do that first if that works then if you want menu update then do it
But make sure you backup your original files