Author Topic: Latest thermal camera purchase by Fraser - Ti30 (Read 6938 times)

Fraser · « **on:** May 09, 2016, 02:57:44 pm »

I promised myself that I would stop buying thermal cameras now that I have retired. Well I broke my promise today.

A week or so ago I found a decent thermal camera advertised on ebay for £300. I resisted it at the time. Today I saw that price had dropped to £250. The little devil inside me won the argument in my brain and I 'pulled the trigger' and bought it.

What camera did I buy? It is a Raytek Ti30 circa 2005 model with 160 x 120 pixel A-Si microbolometer and 20fps frame rate. It has internal storage for 100 images, USB connectivity and a manual focus lens (that I believe to be a quality Germanium optical block that is worth the asking price on its own). The camera comes with some very nice software designed for preventative maintenance monitoring. New firmware and software versions are still available for download, as I will detail in a moment.

The title Raytek Ti30 may not be familiar to some readers, so how about FLUKE Ti30 ? Ring any bells ?
Raytek was bought by Danaher and they marketed the Ti30 thermal imaging camera under the original Raytek, and then FLUKE brand names. FLUKE changed the colours of the case from Grey/Black to FLUKE standard Yellow/Black.

Fluke continue to support this camera and provide fee downloads of the firmwre and the analysis software on their site.

Some may think 160 x 120 pixels at 20fps not very impressive, but bear in mind that the FOV is a narrow 17 x 12 Degrees so the image detail produced is similar to the 320 x 240 upgraded E4 that has approximately twice the FOV and the Ti30 has the advantage of manual focus

. This camera cost $9950 in 2005. For that money you get decent quality in both the optics and microbolometer. Worth every penny of the £250 I paid.

The looks of this camera are more akin to a ray gun used in Star Trek but I can overlook the designers error in judgement in this respect. The rest of the camera appears both functional and tidy. A lens cover slides down to reveal the lens and switch the camera on. A nice touch.

The camera that I have purchased has a failed USB connector on its charging dock and needs a battery rebuild. Both are very simple repairs for me so of no consequence. There is another USB connector on the camera anyway. The camera looks to be in nice condition overall. I suspect the fact that the camera was advertised as 'spares or repair' lead potential buyers to avoid it. That is when I normally get a bargain as I love repairing thermal cameras.

I expect to be opening the camera for an internal inspection when it arrives so will post pictures of her internals later

Fraser

Fraser · « **Reply #1 on:** May 09, 2016, 03:41:35 pm »

A little research has revealed that Danahar Corporation agreed to acquire RAYTEK in 2002. Danahar acquired FLUKE in 2003, so it is no surprise that the RAYTEK thermal cameras and IR non contact thermometers eventually came under the FLUKE Brand.

http://www.danaher.com/news/news-releases/danaher-corporation-agrees-acquire-raytek-corporation

http://ewweb.com/business/danaher-buys-fluke-625-million

The Ti30 was released in 2004 so it was likely sold under both Raytek and Fluke banners for a period of time. Some of the advertising brochures state that Raytek is a FLUKE company.

Fraser

Chanc3 · « **Reply #2 on:** May 09, 2016, 04:28:44 pm »

Ah I saw this on eBay and considered buying it, until I realised I had spent my hobby budget for this month already!

Are you going to do a breakdown? I have a Fluke Ti20, that is not dissimilar.

Sent from my ONE A2003 using Tapatalk

Fraser · « **Reply #3 on:** May 09, 2016, 05:45:07 pm »

Hi Chanc3

He He He

, I spent next months hobby allowance on it ! Time to sell some excess equipment and radios on ebay me thinks

I will likely take a look inside her, but how far I go with disassembly will be dictated by what I find in terms of construction. Sealed modules will remain sealed to avoid dust contamination etc. Watch this space.

Fraser

Fraser · « **Reply #4 on:** May 09, 2016, 08:56:19 pm »

Patent document for the Ti30 is here:

http://www.google.com/patents/US7304297

The document provides a good summary of how an uncooled microbolometer camera uses a flag in front of the FPA for calibration.

Fraser

Fraser · « **Reply #5 on:** May 09, 2016, 09:45:30 pm »

Ti30 Sunlight protection system

https://www.google.com/patents/US7484885

Fraser

frenky · « **Reply #6 on:** May 10, 2016, 10:45:34 am »

You own so many thermal cameras that you could make a "gsmarena.com" or "dpreview.com" of thermal cameras.

Well that would probably be too much work but showing the same scene captured with different cameras would not take you too much time. (I guess)

I think comparison like that would really show how TI improved through time and which TI are good buy on ebay...

Fraser · « **Reply #7 on:** May 10, 2016, 11:51:16 am »

Hi Frenky,

I intend to create some threads related to thermal cameras in the near future. It is my intention to provide images of them, inside and out, plus sample images that they produce. I also hope to provide some insight into thermal camera repairs that I undertake. I do have to protect my repair related income though so detail will likely be high level only.

Sadly all this needs time and energy that sadly my Illness robs me of. I only have a few 'good' hours of exertion in me each day or I collapse in a heap !for a day ! Even mental exertion is a problem so repairs do take quite some time for me these days. I love the challenge though.

I am still mid tidy up of my equipment storage and workshop / lab so have to prioritise accordingly.

Give me some time to sort out my toys and hopefull see an improvement in my health and I will try to post some interesting material for you and other forum members. I posted a list of my cameras on the www.fire-tics.co.uk forum welcome page if anyone wishes to see what I have in terms of different models. It is now out of date as a few more cameras have been added and a few moved to new deserving homes.

When I get five minutes I will post a list of my cameras in a separate thread but I do not want to appear to be bragging, if you know what I mean.

I may even have a 'For Sale' list but I doubt there is enough hard core interest on this forum wanting to pay over £1000, even for professional thermal cameras, so I may sell via eBay where a greater audience exists.

Fraser

frenky · « **Reply #8 on:** May 10, 2016, 12:16:33 pm »

No pressure. Your health should always be on 1st place.

(A healthy man has a thousand wishes, a sick man has only one.)

Chanc3 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 10, 2016, 02:04:58 pm »

If you're looking to palm off some TI equipment drop me a line! In the market for a blackbody simulator at the moment!

Fraser · « **Reply #10 on:** May 10, 2016, 02:49:23 pm »

I just created a new topic that contains a list of my thermal camera collection. Quite scary for me when I see them all listed !

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/frasers-thermal-camera-collection-the-list-!/msg937765/#msg937765

Fraser

Fraser · « **Reply #11 on:** May 11, 2016, 09:06:38 pm »

The Ti30 arrived this morning

The camera is in excellent condition and neater than I had expected. It has certainly been well looked after in its previous life.
The optical block is a beauty and the images that the camera produces are very nice indeed.

The build date of the camera is 20 June 2005 and the battery pack is dated 2004. It is no surprise that the battery is worn out in 2016

I already have the same Panasonic AA Ni-MH cells in stock so I will get busy with the battery tab welder and rebuild the pack. The battery loads into the pistol grip handle much like the magazine in an automatic pistol .... nice design

The damaged USB connector on the Docking unit is no drama at all. A replacement complete cable will be fitted.

I attach some pictures of the camera and the inside of the docking unit that provides the charger and USB connectivity functions. There are two pictures of the lens aperture. Note the deep ribbed metal surround to the aperture and the two sets of IR sensors mounted adjacent to the objective. These sensors detect when the lens cover is open and form part of the sun protection system detailed in the Patent for such referenced earlier.

I will be delving inside the camera later and will add internal images soon.

Fraser

Fraser · « **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2016, 09:15:45 pm »

The docking unit and its internal parts. The charger uses the common TI BQ2004 charge management IC.

Fraser

Fraser · « **Reply #13 on:** May 11, 2016, 10:08:53 pm »

Before I shut the X-Ray machine down for teh night I used it to take some quick and dirty images of the Ti30.

As suspected, not much is revealed due to screening but I will attach them anyway.

I am not certain why there is a metal large ribbed orifice in front of the objective. It looks like some form of lens hood that prevents stray thermal energy that is off axis, entering the optical path. I have not seen such a long 'lens hood' on a thermal camera before.

Fraser

Fraser · « **Reply #14 on:** May 11, 2016, 10:09:56 pm »

Pictures continued

zbqpig · « **Reply #15 on:** May 15, 2019, 12:02:29 pm »

Well, it's basically a Raytheon 2000AS core inside


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