Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[mrflibble]

Its been quite a bit more than a few seconds... The usb cable got yanked (blame it on the dog  )  And When I tried to reconnect it said that the file system was unrecognized and windoze kicked off a repair... ARGH!  Trying to reflash it now...

There's a new one... needing to reflash (reformat?) it. Because I really hope you just mean format.

Yeah tried format... It didn't like it...   Actually trying reflash.  Hoping that it didn't get fried   

Reformatting because it had problems finding the device in the first place might be not the best of ideas.

Soooo, how exactly did your dog unplug the usb device in an unscheduled manner? Are any of the USB functionalities working at all?

Stupidity check #1 is use a different cable + different usb port. Just in case something went a bit wonky.

[cuisinart]

Hi, got mine in today from the West coast USA.  Cal Nov 9th, firmware 1.19.8

I noticed something odd, though.  The display has a 8 degree gradient temperature going across it. 
The first two are captures from the ceiling, rotated 180 degrees.  The 3rd one is with the lens cover closed. 
This doesn't seem right, does anyone else see this issue with theirs?

That big a gradient with the lens cover closed just can't be good. And uniform gradient under rotation is not good either. Looks like you may have a defective unit somehow. I mean, 8 degrees gradient ... that's just unusable.

I'd send an e-mail to Flir asking about this, in parallel with looking to return the unit as DOA.

it's strange, the calibration doesn't take care of it.  I wonder if the calibration shutter isn't fully retracting, or some sensor bias connection went bad

[Taucher]

Hi, got mine in today from the West coast USA.  Cal Nov 9th, firmware 1.19.8

I noticed something odd, though.  The display has a 8 degree gradient temperature going across it. 
The first two are captures from the ceiling, rotated 180 degrees.  The 3rd one is with the lens cover closed. 
This doesn't seem right, does anyone else see this issue with theirs?

in short: that's just not looking right - is there some object covering the corner of the IR lens?
such an object could spoil the image even after self-calibration (NUC) (if it resides on one of the lens surfaces)

[Taucher]

it's strange, the calibration doesn't take care of it.  I wonder if the calibration shutter isn't fully retracting, or some sensor bias connection went bad

yep, such a mechanical issue would cause something like that - have that regulary with my chinese flir  - hitting re-cal and a knock helps most of the time then... does it change with NUC in different positions?
(hold play button till "calibrating")

[Pinkus]

hitting re-cal and a knock helps most of the time then

Good idea: try to knock the camera on the table a few times, maybe the shutter which closes during calibration is jammed in someway. If there is not change: send it back immediately to your reseller for an exchange before they run out of stock.

[Taucher]

it's strange, the calibration doesn't take care of it.  I wonder if the calibration shutter isn't fully retracting, or some sensor bias connection went bad

yep, angle seems matching - see the attached screenshot from mikes teardown

[cuisinart]

I rotated the lens out to have a look and found this aluminum thing with a hole in it (the aperture) was loose and rattling around.  This must be what is causing the problem, as if it's not perfectly centered, different sections of the sensor are blocked, I guess. It probably throws out calibration totally, too.

[Taucher]

hitting re-cal and a knock helps most of the time then

Good idea: try to knock the camera on the table a few times, maybe the shutter which closes during calibration is jammed in someway. If there is not change: send it back immediately to your reseller for an exchange before they run out of stock.

hehe - yes, that chinese model would make a great mace ... but it's just bad software not driving the stepper timing correctly - I'll probably get rid of that cam anyway as I now have a superior model

[Taucher]

I rotated the lens out to have a look and found this aluminum thing with a hole in it (the aperture) was loose and rattling around.  This must be what is causing the problem, as if it's not perfectly centered, different sections of the sensor are blocked, I guess. It probably throws out calibration totally, too.

the shutter error is gone in that mirror image too... probably the metal thing was blocking the shutter from retreating fully

[Pinkus]

I'll probably get rid of that cam anyway as I now have a superior model

me too - it is already on the way. Which 'superior model' do you have now?

[Fraser]

The E4 is designed to survive a 2m drop test which is quite impressive. If a part is floating around inside the camera I would suggest getting a new one from the supplier as your unit has not been assembled correctly. These things are too expensive to accept a less than 'perfect' unit. You have the images as evidence of the fault. The latest stock is shipping from Estonia with firmware 1.19.8 (as at 25 Nov) so you can relax on that front. US warehouse stock looks to have been shipped from Europe about 2 weeks ago.

[Petrlib]

Hello my friends,

I install Flir Tools and used 30 days trial of Flir Tools + . When I want report in MS WORD ( MS OFFICE 2010 ) there is error. Flir Tools showing " generating report " and after few seconds error :

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Do you have same problém? Do you know how to fix it?

Any help will be good!

Thank you - Petr

[Petrlib]

One more  question about Flir Tools.

Is it any chance to have temperature marks on Picture? At this moment is possible to have just marks Sp and temperature marks are on side in table. ( °C or °F )

[Fraser]

I have made a comment on my serial no. Vs Firmware & cal date repository regarding firmware version 1.20.3.

This was reported by one person to have been installed in a repaired E4. Those aware of that persons statement will know of its stated implications. The reporter was a brand new member of the forum with no provenance to the statement. At the time I advised readers to 'Panic Slowly' until more information was received.

I have made efforts to confirm the existance of the 1.20.3 firmware and there is absolutley no independant verification if its existance.

Firmware 1.19.8 was still being installed on 25 Novemeber 2013. It is time, IMHO, to declare the report of 1.20.3 to be an error or hoax, and not applicable to the present releases of E4's from Estonia.

There is the likelihood that FLIR will release new firmware in the future with any bug fixes that have been reported. There is no official comment from FLIR on the recent E4 improvement program that users have instigated. It is not possible to predict what, if any, action is taken to make such improvement difficult.

I shall continue to log serial numbers against firmware and calibration dates as the archive may be of future interest to forum members.   

[Mikesus]

Its been quite a bit more than a few seconds... The usb cable got yanked (blame it on the dog  )  And When I tried to reconnect it said that the file system was unrecognized and windoze kicked off a repair... ARGH!  Trying to reflash it now...

There's a new one... needing to reflash (reformat?) it. Because I really hope you just mean format.

Yeah tried format... It didn't like it...   Actually trying reflash.  Hoping that it didn't get fried   

Reformatting because it had problems finding the device in the first place might be not the best of ideas.

Soooo, how exactly did your dog unplug the usb device in an unscheduled manner? Are any of the USB functionalities working at all?

Stupidity check #1 is use a different cable + different usb port. Just in case something went a bit wonky.

Cable got yanked during transfer...

Ok so the reflash completed and I was successful in DOWNGRADING the firmware    (Not what I was trying but cool nonetheless)

HOWEVER... I still get the "There is no memory card" error"  When I looked at the "drive" there wasn't a DCIM folder or anything else... Created one but that didn't resolve it... 

[Mikesus]

Its been quite a bit more than a few seconds... The usb cable got yanked (blame it on the dog  )  And When I tried to reconnect it said that the file system was unrecognized and windoze kicked off a repair... ARGH!  Trying to reflash it now...

There's a new one... needing to reflash (reformat?) it. Because I really hope you just mean format.

Yeah tried format... It didn't like it...   Actually trying reflash.  Hoping that it didn't get fried   

Reformatting because it had problems finding the device in the first place might be not the best of ideas.

Soooo, how exactly did your dog unplug the usb device in an unscheduled manner? Are any of the USB functionalities working at all?

Stupidity check #1 is use a different cable + different usb port. Just in case something went a bit wonky.

Oh and all other USB functions are available. 

[Fraser]

IIRC there is more than just a DCIM file in that 'drive'.
I will take a look in mine and report back. If I can attach the missing files  here, I will. If not PM me your email address.

[Fraser]

As I suspected, the E4 drive contains some other files. Not certain that this is your problem but I attach the files you appear to have lost and as the OS has not recreated them I suppose they are either unimportant or beyond the OS to recreate.

I deleted the content of the txt file as it is just the boot log.

Have you tried the Windows drive repair tool? Also, I trust you have formatted it with FAT32 and not NTFS ? Windows 7 drive properties indicates that the drive is 182,421,504 bytes in size.

I attach screen grabs of the drive as seen by Win7 storage management.

Good luck

[Mikesus]

Yup on fat 32... It won't complete.  I did get the other files back but no joy...

Wonder if somehow the readonly flag got set on the DCIM folder but can't figure out where it is when I ftp to it?

[Fraser]

I have been thinking about the failure mode . If the system flash and drive flash are on the same chip (I can't remember whether they are) and the flash was being written to when the cable was disconnected, there is a very high risk of the flash chips FAT getting corrupted, resulting in all manner of nasty effects. I would have expected the E4 to fail on boot though.

I think you need input from one of the Win CE experts on rebuilding the FAT. I am way out of my comfort zone with doing this sort of thing on Win CE SBC's.

[Mikesus]

It would make sense that they are if you can FTP and see the file system and the pictures...  When you FTP to the camera, where do you see the pictures?

[Fraser]

When I looked at the files content using Filezilla I saw Documents and settings plus FlashBFS.

I assume the pictures are stored in Documents and settings but I could not access them as an access violation occurred. I am wary that what you see via the FTP is a manipulated image of the FLASH memory. A bit like a proxy server. You see what the OS allows you to see. This may explain why you cannot treat the flash drive area that holds the pictures like a normal USB stick. Hence failure to format that area of the memory ? I am likely talking total rubbish though as I have little experience of embedded computers and how they present their flash through FTP access.

Sorry I cannot be of more help to you.

[Mikesus]

Given that everything is functioning except storing images, I am hopeful that its just a permissions issue at this point... I did shoot off an email to Flir in hopes they have a solution. 

[mikeselectricstuff]

I suggest you copy off the contents of FlashFS, as this is everything unique to your cam.
It should in principle be possible to rebuilt everything from scratch - there are some scary looking tools both in the Windows dir, and the pre winCE boot serial terminal prompt, however it isn't known if we have the files necessary to do a clean build from the latter - it appears to have the ability to mount as a USB device, but we don't know if it needs a special format to be able to use this. 

[Mikesus]

I suggest you copy off the contents of FlashFS, as this is everything unique to your cam.
It should in principle be possible to rebuilt everything from scratch - there are some scary looking tools both in the Windows dir, and the pre winCE boot serial terminal prompt, however it isn't known if we have the files necessary to do a clean build from the latter - it appears to have the ability to mount as a USB device, but we don't know if it needs a special format to be able to use this.

Done...

What is interesting is when I search with Filezilla, I can not find a DCIM folder?  If you can ftp the pictures off, I would think you would see it right?