A manual focus thermal camera for your Microscope ! Very useful :)

[Fraser]

For those carrying out PCB repairs it is not uncommon to hand hold a thermal camera during thermal tests. This can be inconvenient so attaching a thermal camera to your optical microscope makes a lot of sense. You can then work with both hands whilst observing the thermal image on a phone, tablet or PC display 

Sorin has just released a video on his YouTube channel showing how he attached a Thermal Master P3 USB dongle thermal camera to his optical microscooe. The improvement in his thermal imaging capability is significant. As Sorin states, the P3 is perfect for the task as it is compact and has a manual focus lens capable of macro focus down to 8mm ! It is virtually a thermal microscope  USB dongle format thermal cameras with manual focus are not as common as those with a fixed focus lens but I highly recommend a manual focus camera for PCB analysis work. You can set the working distance to whatever you wish and then correctly focus the camera lens. With a simple supplemental close-up lens on a fixed focus camera you have to view the PCB at the focus distance of the particular close-up lens. Whilst this works OK for a handheld camera, it is less convenient for a camera mounted on an optical microscope.I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the P3 camera for those who want an excellent 256x192 pixel dongle format thermal camera with 512x384 pixel Super resolution capabilities and an excellent manual focus lens.

See my initial impressions posts here…

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/thermal-master-p3-manual-focus-usb-thermal-camera-dongle-first-impressions/

Sorin’s video……

https://youtu.be/vkfd8J_yZcc?si=xCML4e4lem3fvcjH

Fraser

[Fraser]

Some pictures of the P3, how Sorin attached it to his microscope and a couple showing the thermal signature of issues on a laptop PCB that Sorin shows in his video.

Fraser

[Eurora]

Hello Fraser, do you have any detailed pics (the hot spot is smaller and more concentrated)? I am curious to see how the P3 behaves when doing finer work. Thanks in advance.

[Fraser]

Sadly I cannot provide anything at the moment as I am in Hospital with Kidney failure. I will provide something when I get home again. Manual focus provides the user with the ability to fine tune the image at a particular operating distance. A fixed focus camera plus close-up lens can also provide a good quality, sharp, image, but only at the close-up lenses specified focal distance.

The X3 mode uses an AI driven algorithm to effectively double the resolution of the thermal image coming from the microbolometer. Such an algorithm can never be as good as the image produced by a physically higher resolution microbolometer but it can tidy the image up a lot and make it easier to interpret. At the end of the say, the physical pixels and optics collect the data and any processing that follows can enhance the image produced but cannot create definite data points between those coming from the physical pixels. 256x192 pixels is adequate for PCB analysis so the base physical resolution is suited to image enhancement. X3 may be switched off on the phone when not needed and is NOT present on the PC image analysis software that works with real pixel values only for accuracy of analysis.

Fraser

[Fraser]

Sorin just repaired another laptop with the aid of his P3 thermal camera that is mounted on his optical microscope. When it comes to failed MLCC’s on power rails, the thermal camera makes life so much easier for the repair tech 

https://youtu.be/12OjD90CRfQ?si=rOEK1ya932f6YZ1G

Fraser

[Fraser]

The thermal camera view of the PCB and failed MLCC….

[Fraser]

Worthy of note, in the case of the thermal Master P3 camera, it offers a an AI driven algorithm for resolution enhancement mode that is not the usual upscaling or camera shake type and seems to work well in most scenarios. The mode is called X3 and I find that it is good at removing the “jaggies” from edges as well as image enhancement. Sadly thecX3 mode does not appear to be available on the P3 software fir PC’s but it is present in the mobile Apps.

I am not sure how Sorrin has configured his YouTube thermal image capture overlay but it is likely using the app software and the steps in edges are visible. The P3 is capable of better imagery when used with a mobile device and iOS orcAndroid APP.

Fraser