Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[ewizard]

Also, the more time I wait, the more time I spend on this forum reading all the fun things that you all have put together. I love this stuff, but have to tell myself that the reality is I would probably just be throwing away 250$ Which I'm almost ok with, but if there is nothing to learn from it and a dead end from the start, then it's probably not worth it.

[Fraser]

CAD$250 is a great price for an Ex series camera, even with a fault. FLIR charge US$400 for Ex repairs that do not involve microbolometer replacement. If I was in Canada I would buy it without hesitation, but then I know how to repair many thermal camera faults so understand your hesitation if you cannot repair it yourself.

Fraser

[ewizard]

Appreciate the input. I suppose I can sell it on ebay or possibly here somewhere if all else fails and recover most if not all my money. Thanks very much.

[Fraser]

I would certainly buy it from you 

Fraser

[digsys]

FFS Fraser ... you have TOO MANY of these toys !!  You can't own them ALL !

[Fraser]

Digsys,

Ah but you can never have too many toys 

But seriously, I enjoy repairing this technology  It is like solving a puzzle and keeps my brain active 

Fraser

[ewizard]

So I purchased the camera I mentioned a few post's back. I'm looking for some suggestions of what I might do to diagnose/fix the problem. The owner was nice, said the camera had sat for a while, does not appear he had messed with it at all. The camera is in great condition, except it doesn't start up.
 
The Camera is a Flir E5 V 1.19.8

What is wrong:
 - The camera does nothing when the power button is pushed and while connected to battery.

What I know so far:
 - The camera was sitting for an extended period of time
 - Battery appears to be fully charged, it was mostly charged when I got it and is now full.
 - The screen works but the only thing I am able to get to see is the battery charge/charged screen.
 - The usb memory reports as 173mb, there was only a DCIM folder on it with last picture taken 2016.
 - When in Flir tools, going to import pictures only showed about 10 photos, but when looking in file explorer there were probably around 200.

What I have tried / What are my thoughts so far:
 - I tried to update the firmware, but because the camera fails to start it seems it can not start the firmware upgrade
 - I am not sure what the memory should report as, but 173mb seems low to me, I am wondering if this is where the problem is.
 - I tried deleting the photos both in explorer and flir tools as I believe I read on here someone being suggested to delete photos when his camera was not working properly.
 - The firmware files appear to be loaded onto the "sd card" now, but can't boot to load them.

 - I am not sure if there is a way to run the firmware from a computer without booting the device
 - I do not know if the battery is dead / malfunctioning even though it seems charged. Not sure if they are okay once charged after a low voltage may have happened.
 - Not sure if the camera can normally boot off usb without a battery. That would let me know its not the battery that's the problem because it does not boot just charges.

Any help would be very much appreciated, I have read thru many of the posts looking for troubleshooting suggestions, but have not located anything with the problem I am having. Can not find any other sources of information on the internet except here. The people here seem to be great. I only hope I would be as helpful, understanding, and patient when faced with constant streams of questions about knowledge that has taken years to build, without compensation.

ps. last ditch effort, I could send it back to flir. Trying to leave that as last resort though.

[ewizard]

One other note, when working in flir tools, the camera doesn't appear under Instuments -> thermal camera. If appears when first starting the software and gives me the option for update the firmware, but after about 30 seconds a devices under Instuments called Flir USB Video appears, which only has a green screen when clicked on. It also tries to update the firmware for Flir USB Video, but has no serial or camera located.

[Bud]

As i said you need to know if the camera can be accessed through ftp . If you have Flir Tools installed, run the executable called FlirInstallNet.exe and see if it finds the camera. If it does, you then can run a script to switch the camera to network mode, connect using ftp and check the software files.
If it does not, i'd say it is a dead dodo and send it to Flir.

Do not reformat the storage, this highly likely will kill the rest of whats left.

[ewizard]

I was able to connect to "FLIR USB Video" under camera in FLIR Install 2. Not sure that Flir USB Video is what I am hoping for.

Attached a text of the "Get Versions" and error it gave after pressing the "Check Installation" button

Thanks, Stephen

[Bud]

Do you see an output in FlirInstallNet when running the rndis temporary fif?

Proper rndis execution should result in setting IP 192.168.0.2 i believe. Flir cameras are known for poor handling the switching, best you should try a VM with Windows XP.

Regarding files to check i am talking about the OS files, not files on the pictures flash drive.

[Bud]

Do not try running firmware update till you connect through ftp and inspect the current condition of the OS files. If some of it is damaged i would first try finding a copy of your current firmware files and copy them over through ftp.
But  if the calibration files are gone then it would be end of story.

[ewizard]

So I ended up upgrading the firmware last night. It worked except there is still an issue. I believe the power button may not be working. Sorry, I need to work on my patience for a response.. but believe I was lucky.

I have display now, but after updating the firmware it turned itself on, I could not turn it off with the button so I pulled the battery. I could then not turn it on again. So I ran the firmware update again, once again it is on, but can not turn it off. Im not sure what or if there is a command in FlirInstallNet that I can run to boot the device manually. That way I can troubleshoot more and work on getting a backup of the files. Would be very helpful.

I have not tried running ndis temporary fif in FlirInstallNet, currently as the camera is on and working at the moment. I will do it again if someone can let me know if there is a command I can send to boot the device from FlirInstallNet. Before when not powered on and the "Get Versions" button gave back mostly missing data, it said it was successful and did open a new network adapter. But the was like 139.xx.xxx.xx and there was no gateway ip. Tried to connect over ftp but it failed.

When I run "check installation" it fails and says

"Connected
Installation started...
Process local command: TIMEOUT 15
Camera command kitcrc -c \FlashFS\system\kits.d\appkit.rev
Received shell command message: kitcrc: can't find \flashfs\system\kits.d\appkit.rev

FAIL


\>
Process local command: FAIL "CRC Appkit failed",1
User selected ABORT
Operation aborted

Abort"

I'm guessing number one is to try and establish ftp. So if there is a command to cause the device to boot, that would be great. I could also try to load that missing file by command, tried looking at the Set_RNDIS_permament.fif file for a way to do that but it is a bit garbled and could'nt make it all out, but I will wait for a response this time. Is there a program that can read .fif files?

Currently just have the camera on connected to the computer. Thanks

***** VERSIONS *****

Product Identification: Qx
Sw Combination:  3.16.0
Appkit:  3.1.14
Bootloader:  16.0.4.0
Confkit:  E5 1.1
OsImgkit:  23.1.12
Prodkit:  0
Serial Number:  639xxxx
Application up status:  UP

Update: I am working on getting windows xp vm working and having the flir connect on network. I have run temporary fif on the working cam but still get the 139.xxx.xx.xxx ip. So am working on that. Have figured out I can reboot the camera if I reset to factory settings. If the camera turns off though, I will have no choice but to redo the firmware from FLIRInstallNet again to get it to start up (takes about 5 hours?). So if there is a .fif file out there that turns it on faster, that would be awesome.

[ewizard]

So I have made some progress. I have ftp access in Windows XP. I copied all of the files into a backup. Also copied out common_dll and conf.cfg into a separate folder.

Going through the folder I am trying to figure out what is suppose to be where. Is FlashFS and FlashFSB suppose to be the same? They are definitly not on mine. I copied 2 missing files into FlashFS, and now when I run check installation in "FLIRInstallNet" it passes. But I am not sure what other files may be missing.

Question is, is there somewhere I can get a complete copy of all the directories (firmware folder only has flashbfs), and then copy over vital files that are unique to my camera?

What would be the next step? At this point the only thing I know is wrong is that the power button doesn't work. My main concern is trying to figure out a way to get the camera to boot up, booting down would be nice too though I can set boot down timer for 5 min. With my limited knowledge I would guess maybe a fif file that has the same command as whatever is in the firmware upgrade fif that tells it to reboot at the end. Like I have said, only way to power on the camera atm is re-running the firmware upgrade and have that command boot it up. Running it from flirinstallnet takes around 5 hours. Eventually may have to resort to opening the camera up and having a look at the circuit board, possibly that extra on/off button thats int the tear down video, and see if I can somehow reroute to the existing button or an external one. Haven't powered down the camera in about 24hour hoping someone might be able to help. I hate being that whinny person   sorry.

Thanks so much, Stephen.

[Bud]

Try the following

on the computer create a file called camera.cmd
type just one word into the file:  restart
save and close the file
ZIP the file
rename .zip to .fif
run the fif file in FlirInstallNet

[Bud]

Is FlashFS and FlashFSB suppose to be the same?

No

[ewizard]

Thank you so much. That worked perfectly.

[ewizard]

Well, I have to thank bud and fraser for there support. I managed to liberate my 3.16 firmware 1.1 hardware e5 camera to advance. I gained lots of knowledge for various things in the process, and am thankful. I fixed what appeared to be faults in the file system from before I bought it, thought it may just have been the fact that the power button didn't work. I figured out about many parts of the flir camera, virtual consoles (atleast getting this one to work properly for various things), took the camera apart almost down to where mikeselectricstuff did to try and see if I could fix the power button (should not have done that at 11pm, luckily all worked when back together after a few hours), and then finally liberated to the advanced edition. Of course it would not have been possible without input from members here and all the work and information put into it.

Only one question I have left. I see you can remap the return button in the settings now. Is there any chance that could be programmed as a power button? I assume not, and if it could probably only once the device is on. Just a thought on fixing my power button issue. The advice bud gave me to boot the device from computer is great and I am happy with that.

Think I did well for the final agreed on 200$ spent . 

Thanks Stephen.

[Bud]

I' d think it is a hardware, not software problem. There is probably a standby hardware circuit that controls a FET or something when the power button is pressed when the device is cold. I do not think any software is running in powered off state until the camera is connected to either the charger or USB port. There is some button mapping in the software but it is only loaded as part of boot process.

[Bud]

In design_ui.xml scroll to the line

<qml_context_property type="int" name="onOff" value="16777271"/>

and try remapping the value to an other button of your choice.

[ewizard]

Thank you, I will look into that for sure. If I can plug it into a wall and have the charge screen come up, and then push a button I would be happy about that.

[ewizard]

Well, I did manage to get it to work while the camera is on. But not off or from charge screen. I didn't work with the back button, but did with the archive "photos" button. I assume because maybe the back button is reprogrammed as a customization option in the cameras settings. Guessing the charge screen is running off of hardware similar to when camera is off, so doubt I can do anything to help that. Thank you again for your suggestions.

[Bud]

Yes as i said the xml file gets loaded during boot so remapping would not work until then.

[detektyw78]

Hi! I bought a new thermal camera Flir E4 2.0 3.16.0. I have good advice for all new users who write about problems when modifying the camera. Read this topic carefully several times and then start working. If you're in trouble, read again and try again. My new camera works great in 320x240 resolution. Thank you to everyone who put their effort and time into the preparation of this walkthrough. Regards.

[Bud]

From this topic you can only use information how to connect to the camera. The software part is mostly obsolete as it referred to earlier versions (2.3.0 at most, i believe).  For the software 3.x.x the reader should use the E4 WiFi topic.