Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[gemrough]

Yes you can unlock the full resolution on E4's with 2.3.0. I am re posting this with a few edits to the original:

(originally posted by compet17)

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS for Flir E4 (Firmware 2.3.0) for beginners (How I did it... and it worked)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(If somebody finds an error in this procedure, please tell me immediately and I will correct it)

- Get FlirTools from Flir website (free download) PC version recommended (Note: V5 does not work on Win XP...)
- Install FlirTools on your PC
- Get the files "Set_RNDIS_temporary.fif" and "Set_RNDIS_permanent.fif" from this forum (zipped downloads somewhere in this thread)
- If you want to use the "permanent" file, you also need "remove_RNDIS_Permanent.fif"
   (Temporary.fif sets the USB of your cam to RNDIS mode UNTIL A REBOOT. Permanent does the same but it stays in RNDIS until YOU RUN   
     REMOVE.fif)
- Get E4 hack "v04.zip" for Version 2.3.0
- I assume that the installation of FlirTools does also install the camera driver. If not install it manually. Links are found in this thread
- Get PYTHON version 2.x (not version 3.x!) from the Python website and install it. This is needed to run the hack script. It's a programming language.

- Connect your E4 via USB to your PC and turn it on
- Go to "Programs(x86)/Flir systems/Flir Tools/bin and execute FLIRInstallNet.exe (this is part of the FlirTools software installed in step 2)
- Select the Set_RNDIS_xxxxxxx.fif (permanent or temporary) and click RUN FIF button.
  (A timeout error is normal after the command has succeeded because USB is now set to RNDIS mode)
(On mine I had to disconnect and hard reboot for the change to show up.... which meant I had to use the permanent file.  I had to use a win 8 PC.  After the Hard reboot I moved to a win XP PC)
- Wait a moment and open a CMD window, then enter IPCONFIG
- An additional network connection should be listed with IP Address 192.168.0.1 and gateway 192.168.0.2
- Enter "FTP", then "open 192.168.0.2" and a connection to your cam should be established
- Login with user "flir" and password "3vlig"
- Issue a "dir" command and the files and directories of your cam are listed.
- If all that works, type "quit" to exit and close ftp connection.

- copy the hack files from the v04.zip into the PYTHON folder.
- open CMD, use the command cd and go into python folder and enter "python apply.py apply 192.168.0.2"
- it will read two files from your cam and stores them in a backup folder, then it will do some magic with the files.
- you will find newly created conf.cfc and common_dll.dll in that folder and upload them back to the camera.

- In case you get an error 500 at the upload, you have to upload the files manually by FTP:

*** Only in case of error 500 ***
- Open CMD and FTP again and connect to your camera as before
- go to the indicated folders (cd /foldername/foldername/foldername)
- check the folder with "pwd" to make sure you're in the right one
- Use the lcd command to change to your local directory where the conf and common files are.
- put the files to the correct folders (put filename)

MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE RIGHT FILES INTO THE RIGHT FOLDER!!!
***------***

- Reboot your cam by removing/inserting the battery
- Be happy!!!

- It is possible that the measuring spot is off center after reboot. Turn the spot off/on in the setup menu of the cam and it should be centered.

[puppycrack]

Yes you can unlock the full resolution on E4's with 2.3.0. I am re posting this with a few edits to the original:

(originally posted by compet17)

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS for Flir E4 (Firmware 2.3.0) for beginners (How I did it... and it worked)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(If somebody finds an error in this procedure, please tell me immediately and I will correct it)

- Get FlirTools from Flir website (free download) PC version recommended (Note: V5 does not work on Win XP...)
- Install FlirTools on your PC
- Get the files "Set_RNDIS_temporary.fif" and "Set_RNDIS_permanent.fif" from this forum (zipped downloads somewhere in this thread)
- If you want to use the "permanent" file, you also need "remove_RNDIS_Permanent.fif"
   (Temporary.fif sets the USB of your cam to RNDIS mode UNTIL A REBOOT. Permanent does the same but it stays in RNDIS until YOU RUN   
     REMOVE.fif)
- Get E4 hack "v04.zip" for Version 2.3.0
- I assume that the installation of FlirTools does also install the camera driver. If not install it manually. Links are found in this thread
- Get PYTHON version 2.x (not version 3.x!) from the Python website and install it. This is needed to run the hack script. It's a programming language.

- Connect your E4 via USB to your PC and turn it on
- Go to "Programs(x86)/Flir systems/Flir Tools/bin and execute FLIRInstallNet.exe (this is part of the FlirTools software installed in step 2)
- Select the Set_RNDIS_xxxxxxx.fif (permanent or temporary) and click RUN FIF button.
  (A timeout error is normal after the command has succeeded because USB is now set to RNDIS mode)
(On mine I had to disconnect and hard reboot for the change to show up.... which meant I had to use the permanent file.  I had to use a win 8 PC.  After the Hard reboot I moved to a win XP PC)
- Wait a moment and open a CMD window, then enter IPCONFIG
- An additional network connection should be listed with IP Address 192.168.0.1 and gateway 192.168.0.2
- Enter "FTP", then "open 192.168.0.2" and a connection to your cam should be established
- Login with user "flir" and password "3vlig"
- Issue a "dir" command and the files and directories of your cam are listed.
- If all that works, type "quit" to exit and close ftp connection.

- copy the hack files from the v04.zip into the PYTHON folder.
- open CMD, use the command cd and go into python folder and enter "python apply.py apply 192.168.0.2"
- it will read two files from your cam and stores them in a backup folder, then it will do some magic with the files.
- you will find newly created conf.cfc and common_dll.dll in that folder and upload them back to the camera.

- In case you get an error 500 at the upload, you have to upload the files manually by FTP:

*** Only in case of error 500 ***
- Open CMD and FTP again and connect to your camera as before
- go to the indicated folders (cd /foldername/foldername/foldername)
- check the folder with "pwd" to make sure you're in the right one
- Use the lcd command to change to your local directory where the conf and common files are.
- put the files to the correct folders (put filename)

MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE RIGHT FILES INTO THE RIGHT FOLDER!!!
***------***

- Reboot your cam by removing/inserting the battery
- Be happy!!!

- It is possible that the measuring spot is off center after reboot. Turn the spot off/on in the setup menu of the cam and it should be centered.

Thanks for the excellent writeup!  Does this apply to both 1.1L and 1.2L hardware levels?  I guess the thing I am trying to figure out is if I buy a brand new Flir E4 from Amazon today, will I be able to do the resolution and/or menu hacks?  Or am I rolling the dice depending on whether I get old or new inventory?

[gemrough]

Please note I did not do the original writeup....

This is the steps for 2.3... if you order from amazon you will most likely get a 2.3.0

Since doing the hack I turned off my E4... I turned it back on and I got a picture with a lot of noise..... white pixels dancing all around. WTF!!!! I pulled the battery and let it sit for a min or so.... now all I get is a black screen from thermal..... This sucks!!!

Just picked it up and it is back to normal.... What is going on???

[Pinkus]

I believe the Ex0 cameras have better optics, hence the difference in image quality.

Exactly. This is why MSX is an must for the E4 but just a nice to have on an Exx.
I also did such a comparision between an E4 and an E30 (both hacked to 320x240, noise value on 0 or 5 - I do not remember, but definately low). I made a lot of pictures, and are attaching one. The difference is already good to see in preview, downloading and opening the image (by clicking on the Exx-Ex#1.jpg link below the picture) will show the massive difference even more.

Remarks: I moved to closer to the object with the E4 (as the lens has an wider angle) to get more or less the same image covered by the sensor. The difference between Ex and Exx is huge.
Oh, and: Pictures were made as screenshots from Flir Tools, thus it has nothing to do with JPG compression as Flir Tools is using the raw data.

It is easy to see what a difference the larger lens mades. In real live you can easily live without MSX on a Exx as you are able to recognize all details.

Edit: Added another picture showing a sealing problem at a window frame and at the top above the shutter.
Visually this looks like a doubled resolution on the Exx compared to the E4, but both are 320x240. The crappy lens on the E4 is ruining everything but by using MSX you can cover the problem pretty good for a first glance - however you are not getting the detailed thermal information the Exx with its at least 5x larger lens gives.

[gemrough]

The crappy lens on the E4 is ruining everything[/b][/color] but by using MSX you can cover the problem pretty good for a first glance - however you are not getting the detailed thermal information the Exx with its at least 5x larger lens gives.[/i]

Look at DSLR's vs most other cameras. The glass is as or more important than the sensor inside the camera!

What we need now is a high quality replacement lens for the Ex cameras. After watching Mikes video on the laser cutter lens, I have designed a few different style holders to cut out on my CNC.

[Fraser]

The E4 lens is not Germanium. That does effect performance along with the small diameter. If buying a decent size Germanium lens to fit on an E4,expect to pay around $1000 or possibly more. I have been using ZnSe lenses for close up work for years. They are wide band and require thermal filters if used as a replacement for an E4 objective. Germanium is still the best choice and you would need to recalibrate the camera. Aurora.

[OrBy]

Please note I did not do the original writeup....

This is the steps for 2.3... if you order from amazon you will most likely get a 2.3.0

Since doing the hack I turned off my E4... I turned it back on and I got a picture with a lot of noise..... white pixels dancing all around. WTF!!!! I pulled the battery and let it sit for a min or so.... now all I get is a black screen from thermal..... This sucks!!!

Just picked it up and it is back to normal.... What is going on???

It's been noted that after hacked it may take a reboot or two in order for the cam to totally return to normal. No biggie - enjoy!

[OrBy]

janekivi, you know more hacks like the jpeg-quality, telnet command to make the cam better?

It's much better to just use tomas123's FLIR.PHP or daves BFIC tool to extract and work with the RAW data that's embedded in the JPG's. Outputting PNG's from FLIR.PHP is my preferred method since there is zero compression loss.

[heavybarrel]

Please note I did not do the original writeup....

This is the steps for 2.3... if you order from amazon you will most likely get a 2.3.0

Since doing the hack I turned off my E4... I turned it back on and I got a picture with a lot of noise..... white pixels dancing all around. WTF!!!! I pulled the battery and let it sit for a min or so.... now all I get is a black screen from thermal..... This sucks!!!

Just picked it up and it is back to normal.... What is going on???

I have also seen the television static on my e4! Mine is 1.19 though. It only happened one time a few months back and i haven't
seen it since. I am not sure why it did that but a power off and power on fixed it.

[Bud]

Man this is creepy. EVP getting visualized

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon

 

[puppycrack]

Please note I did not do the original writeup....

This is the steps for 2.3... if you order from amazon you will most likely get a 2.3.0

Since doing the hack I turned off my E4... I turned it back on and I got a picture with a lot of noise..... white pixels dancing all around. WTF!!!! I pulled the battery and let it sit for a min or so.... now all I get is a black screen from thermal..... This sucks!!!

Just picked it up and it is back to normal.... What is going on???

Is your camera a 1.1L or 1.2L?  I ask because I'm still not clear if 1.2L is hackable.  Thanks!

[XynxNet]

Is your camera a 1.1L or 1.2L?  I ask because I'm still not clear if 1.2L is hackable.  Thanks!

Mine is 1.2L and all went well.

[ixfd64]

Anyone know if there is a difference between the Ex0 lenses and the T4x0 ones?

[Pinkus]

Anyone know if there is a difference between the Ex0 lenses and the T4x0 ones?

as Flir is offering a wide angle lens and a tele lens which fits on both, also the standard lens will be probably identical.

[Emoticon]

Has anyone gotten any of the extended functions to work on the 1.2L/2.3.0? I am most interested in the pallets and the measurement tools. I saw earlier that there were a few working on this..was there any progress? Thanks!

I can tell you how to use new menu files- toolbar-config_z3.xml, design_ui_z3.xml and facet_z3.rcc or whatever files,
but someone must make them. Existing "2.3.0Menu_Upgrade" adds only more palettes- that I can share with You
and I think new E4 do not have many extended functions...
.image.sysimg.alarms  --  ends here
.ui.userSettings -- ends here
and so on.
Many stuff needs to be enabled somewhere, like pip, zoom, humidity, insulation, isotherm, spot, arrow, box... shortly - all stuff,
without them we have... only more palettes
As I said, my camera is Flir E4 1.2L 2.3.0 from oct. 16, 2014

I've been looking though old posts and a while back I saw where someone referenced that they had working color palettes on 2.3.0? I currently have an unlocked E4 which I love, but I'm dying for someone to get black-hot and zoom working on 2.3.0. Is anyone actively working on either of these? I'd like to help myself, but I don't know much about programming so I don't think I'd be much use =/. It would be nice to see a video or something of how the modified files were made in the first place so maybe other people can try to figure it out.

Also, I've tried searching for this "2.3.0Menu_Upgrade" file, but I can't find it mentioned anywhere else.

[mucek]

Just want to share our "selfie" from Electronica 2014 fair!

And it was indeed visit Flir/Extech (and some other TIC companies) stand and discuss about cameras, what price performance is best (we know this already ) etc.

Regards,
Gregor

[JFA]

I also found that image quality vary from camera to camera on the E4 model. Out of the 4 I bought, two have "nice" images, but the third one I converted has a much sharper image compared to the first two (sold).  I noticed that only as I converted the third one after the second one was gone.
I haven't converted the fourth one, but I will soon. I intend to keep it for myself as a back-up, considering that the guarantee is, for all practical purpose, inexistant.
In the end, I will have gotten myself a camera (and a backup, shall I decide to do business with it) for free.

The E4 lens is not Germanium. That does effect performance along with the small diameter. If buying a decent size Germanium lens to fit on an E4,expect to pay around $1000 or possibly more. I have been using ZnSe lenses for close up work for years. They are wide band and require thermal filters if used as a replacement for an E4 objective. Germanium is still the best choice and you would need to recalibrate the camera. Aurora.

[tomas123]

I think, only your focus is different

try a FOCUS adjustment tool
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/flir-e4-the-useful-information-thread/msg332104/#msg332104

[kezat]

Hack success!
E5 1.2L
SW v3.2.0

Had some issues connecting after RNDIS.fif application and once i got that to work the first hack attempt did not work.
What got it to work for me:

• Rebooted PC after Driver install
• Changed IP and Gateway to the recommended numbers
• Enabled RNDIS also in the camera after applying the RNDIS.fif. After entering the secret menu (hold Right 15sec in the Camera info page) RNDIS was set by highlighting it and pressing the center button. It confused me for a bit because if you go back in to the menu the RNDIS is still not selected but as far as I can tell it still works. Reconnecting the USB cable after the above step seemed to help.

Its not clear to me if the extra step's really did anything or I just got lucky at that moment, perhaps clicking my heels together would have been just as effective.

Thanks everyone on this forum for doing the heavy lifting.

Matthew

[Pinkus]

I think, only your focus is different

try a FOCUS adjustment tool
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/flir-e4-the-useful-information-thread/msg332104/#msg332104

Please note, regarding to my comparison linked below: after the first results, I thought too my lens would be out of focus. I marked the lens position and tried to get a sharper image. Guess what: the default position of the lens got the least worse picture (I restrain of calling it the "sharpest picture"), thus no chance to improve it.

Link to my E4-E30 comparision: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg550870/#msg550870

[tomas123]

Link to my E4-E30 comparision: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg550870/#msg550870

You images are not good for comparing the lens quality.
Because of really small temperature differences in your images (only 1 Kelvin) you compare more the signal-to-noise ratio with the NUC algorithm and less the sharpness

see my post for sharpness of Exx
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-one-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown-and-hacks/msg551882/#msg551882

[gemrough]

Still waiting on a good coupon code from Zoro.com.... Anyone tried to hack the E4B yet? At $850 it seems to be the best option right now. Also will amazon purchases qualify for Flir's promotion?

[janekivi]

After reading here and decompiling files and trying edit every file I can do little something in 2.3.0, but limitations set by conf.cfc stops add anything. I can use "Menu Upgrade" files, but without conf they are pointless, only +4 palettes.
I think, what conf file system is waiting, depends from FAD1 answer, because 2.3 update can work with older cameras. But hack this dll is tricky as you know. But there is hacked already some checking procedures and how to make here new conf.cfc like in 1.22 systems someone maybe know... we need new ftool I can't hack or programming here.
That conf.cfc readed by appcore, I see. Inside there is interesting as in common_dll. If you restart it, changes are immediate. If you delete cfc, it remember all stuff, but if you use file like in 1.22, you loose MSX and Center spot and 320x 240 too of course. If you put there plain text, you get low resolution.

Those commands You asked are there http://support.flir.com/DocDownload/Assets/75/English/T559504$A.pdf
You can save some of them in some files too, but there is some rights levels in boot process and any command are not accepted in any time. Important stuff made by supervisor. Example - that image quality 100 accepted only if defaultuser loads it. You can't set all in rsc files...

[gemrough]

I have looked at most of the files here and from the camera and cant wrap my head around everything..... All I will be using the camera for is electronic repairs so not sure the other features is all that important to me anyways... I have a lens on the was and resolution is now full 320x240. Now if I could figure out the noise generator and how to set it to 0!

[tjb1]

Still waiting on a good coupon code from Zoro.com....

20TODAY coupon is good for 20% off today. Standard E4 for $796 shipped. FLIR.com is also teasing "white hot black friday deals start Sunday" so maybe they'll have some direct deals on the E4 too.

Very excited to get one and hack it if possible.

What's with all the new accounts talking about Zoro and posting multiple different coupons...