Off topic but food for thought ;) + my Gofundme

[globoy]

Fraser, I'm mostly a lurker here and you and I have only had one [pleasant] exchange but I appreciate your contributions to this forum and your expertise.  Hopefully the few american bucks I threw over the pond are still accepted in the UK :-)

Your slight lament is shared by contributors to the internet and developers of open-source software across the world.  IMHO the advertisement supported web is to blame.  People expect things they find online to be free.  What I say isn't a complaint because I think the internet of today is truly amazing and useful, despite some ugly aspects.  Alan Kay's Dynabook became a reality...  I'm an engineer who has shared quite a number of my personal designs as open-source (including several thermal imaging camera designs) and I've come be believe that unless one puts a price on things a-priori, one shouldn't expect to be compensated.  It's just the nature of the beast.  We do it for the love of the thing or maybe fame.  I guess sites like Patreon and youtube (and gofundme) are ways to monetize knowledge but then - I think - you have to become and entertainer as well and create an entertaining experience for those you are trying to reach.  Maybe your future is on youtube.  At least thermal imaging cameras make pretty pictures!

Anyway, I hope you won't become discouraged.  This forum is a treasure, thanks to you and many others.

[CatalinaWOW]

There is much of interest in your millionaire repair story.  One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the value you received from the time invested in that camera.  It added to your store of expertise, and obviously from all of your various activities you get value from the mere act of working on these problems.  Much the same way that less talented people get value from the pointless activity of assembling jig-saw puzzles.

These kind of issues arise anytime an attempt is made to reduce human activity to a purely economic exercise.  And most of the tension comes from people on both ends of the economic extremes.  People on the low end because of a true need to get value for their time and people on the high end because of a perceived need to get more value out of every interaction than is felt by most people.  Winning as our ex-president would say.  And as is the case with our ex-president, absolutely no understanding that winning in their terms was losing big time in other dimensions.

[Fraser]

CatalinaWOW,

I certainly did learn something from the time I spent working on that camera….. never to buy any product made by that well known manufacturer  The unit was basically a ULIS development board design crammed into a camera body. A truly terrible piece of junk that still cost £3K to buy in the UK. I also learnt a valuable lesson from that experience. Do not expect others to reward your efforts as I would theirs  It is also worth remembering that I do not advertise doing commercial repair work and this person sought me out to help them. I did not invite their approach or the work that they were requesting that I undertake. Sadly with thermal cameras there is often a lot of reverse engineering of parts of the design so they can be time gobblers if you have a challenging fault. That is why I do not offer to do commercial work and do not repair cheap camera dongles …. There is no profit in it for me. I now do repairs for friends and myself and that works for me on many levels   

Fraser

[Bill W]

Sadly with thermal cameras there is often a lot of reverse engineering of parts of the design so they can be time gobblers if you have a challenging fault. That is why I do not offer to do commercial work and do not repair cheap camera dongles ….
Fraser

Indeed, and why I am not repairing cameras that need reverse engineering.  I stick to the ones where I did the FORWARD engineering 



Bill

[Fraser]

Bill-W,

Ah yes but I bet those Raytheon Core kits still caused you angst ! I hate knowing a fault exists on a PCB yet I cannot track it down due to a lack of a schematic diagram. I realise that in the case of the Raytheon core based cameras, the solution would be to fit a new core…..but I would still wonder whether the actual fault was a simple fix or something much more challenging 

It must be very interesting to work on your own ‘children’ when they suffer failures. If a particular component, such as a certain Tantalum capacitor commonly failed, it must make you want to delve into the root cause of such a failure in your ‘baby’. As you have highlighted in the past, a designer can only do so much in the selection of component specifications….components can still let you down in the real World due to unexpected circumstances. I would love to be in your position of seeing the birth, use and repair of a piece of equipment that I designed. It would be fascinating to me. On the reverse engineering front….. your designs are so well thought out, labelling so helpful,and topology so logical, that I love working on your cameras  I wish All thermal camera designs were so easy to work on !

Fraser

[Fraser]

S******, thank you so much for the extremely generous donation 

[Bill W]

Bill-W,

Ah yes but I bet those Raytheon Core kits still caused you angst ! I hate knowing a fault exists on a PCB yet I cannot track it down due to a lack of a schematic diagram. I realise that in the case of the Raytheon core based cameras, the solution would be to fit a new core…..but I would still wonder whether the actual fault was a simple fix or something much more challenging 

At the end user level, and with 'technicial' repaoir yes that was a core swap, but might be for a refurbished one.  The Raytheon BST is a lot more accessible than a modern cube core or a 2000AS for that matter, and so are more repairable.
The newer 'digital' core (205D) had more documentation for the OEM than with the 'analogue' 200 series.  The 205D also have access by software that allows fixing a number of faults (calibration lost, sensor to air, settings lost, dead pixels) and several other common faults are easy component fixable (the cracked ferrites).

However, yes I have a few 'burnt tant' that did not return to life with new tants, some that vapoursied the tracks, and some that are some kind of data bus fault so those are bin fodder.  Gives me a float of (probably) working sensors to cover any damaged sensors in working 205D core sets.

Bill

[mnementh]

A question for you all…….. when a Millionaire sees that you have spent a lot of time working on his faulty thermal camera and declared it beyond economic repair through quality diagnostics…. How much do you think the Millionaire pays the tech who spent that time on his equipment ? I will let you guess

It was my fault for not sending a diagnostic time bill for payment as that might have pricked the chaps conscience.

You put these events to the back of your mind and move forward. They hurt at the time but life goes on

I don't know your millionaire, but look at it from his possible point of view.  Some repair shops charge for their time, as if they are consultants.  If that is the game, everyone needs to know up front.  Others charge if they are successful and can offer the customer some value, otherwise they view the cost of their time as a preliminary expense for which they bear the risk.  I typically have chosen the latter principle.  That doesn't mean I wouldn't charge for diagnostic time if that were discussed up front, but I would only charge for that time if either a) the customer was offered a repair solution and declined  b) they had the repair done, in which case the charge is a combination of diagnosis and repair (note that often it is 99% diagnosis and 1% repair since for some things the 'repair' part is very simple) or c) the customer has an unusual or difficult issue that they want determined and they understand the possibility that at the end of the process there might not be a repair option and they are OK with that.  What I have never done is take a job in with only an agreed upon diagnostic fee and then return it saying "I can't fix this and you owe me $xxx.xx. 

So if your millionaire presumes that you operate like that and you didn't ask for money, he may not be such a terrible person.  Myself, if I knew that you spent two days on it, I might offer to pay you even if you didn't ask.  But in my (former) circles that would be seen as almost disrespectful on the customer's part--the presumption is that a business owner sets their own rates and the customer's obligation is to pay the bill promptly without complaining.  Tips are for the lowest economic classes, waitstaff and parking valets. 

In my case I won't accept money for repairing stuff, simply because I don't want that end of the business and I'm mostly a buy/fix/sell hobby anyway, not trying to earn a living.  I will accept wine, single-malt (although I'm not offended by the uneducated that might bring me a blend) and interesting junk electronics as payment.  You should set rates and stick to them--people that balk at paying you, including friends that know you are trying to earn a living, aren't people who you need to be working for.

There is another consideration to your story; the fact you were dealing with said rich person's PA, not that person directly. PA might have found you as result of a random Gurrgle search after failing to get any desired response from the MFR, then all this went down without said millionaire even knowing that someone who actually knows something spent days on it, and said PA was either unwilling to take responsibility or not authorized to pay anything for said work.

You never know. 

Having spent 40 years on/off "in the repair game", in a number of different disciplines, one thing I've learned is to be firm with the customer in one thing: "Diag work takes as long as it takes, period."

My usual approach is to quote a minimum charge up front... explaining that my time has value (time is, IMHO, the only currency worth considering, as it is nearly the only cost which cannot be fixed with money), and that x dollars will buy y amount of my time. If I'm able to diag and repair the DUT in that time then Yay! you got out of here for just that minimum plus parts. If I reach the end of that time and I still don't have a answer then we can revisit the deal for more diag time.

Make sure you quote a number that if it is paid in a reasonable time without assache you will not feel taken advantage of, and stick to your guns. Don't fall for every "but I'm just a poor boy..." story that comes along unless you really want to; but realize that you are responsible for that lost time, not the client. If it makes you feel better about charging for your time, pick a ticket every once in a while to do pro-bono. I've done it.

But never feel guilty about asking for money for your time. You're worth it.

mnem
 

[Fraser]

Mnementh,

Very wise words. Thank you 

I am definitely guilty of feeling embarrassed about asking for money for labour time. It stems from me originally repairing equipment for free in order to increase my knowledge. I moved on from that stage in my life but I have never really charged sensible rates for my time. It is totally my fault and I realise that now.

Regarding the Millionaire job… I was in direct communication with the Gentleman whilst reporting progress on the diagnostics. I agree that the PA could have initially done the running to find a repairer for the kit and how I was represented to him is not known so he could have thought I was a commercial repair centre of some sort. All in the dim and distant past though and a valuable lesson was learnt

Fraser

[dl6lr]

Fraser,

I read a lot of your posts in EEVBlog and I always was astonished how much information you gave. I want to say thank you for sharing your knowledge. Even though I do not have a thermal camera.
Keep up your head, I hope you'll get better soon.

Regards, Bernd

[Fraser]

Dear Bernd,

Thank you for the extremely generous donation and kind words.

Life has a habit of throwing curve balls at us now and again and I am just trying to get back on the path to move forwards with life. I will admit to having been like a ship in the Doldrums due to my illness but, with some luck, family support and the kindness of members of this forum I will hopefully return to my pre-illness state of mind and abilities

The kindness of others can be a very real tonic 

Best Wishes

Fraser

[Fraser]

My thanks to Michael who approched me for the manual and software for a rare thermal camera. He was new to this forum but made a donation to my GoFundMe account 

Fraser

[Fraser]

Well I am feeling amazed and very grateful for the generosity of some people on this forum. My GoFundMe account balance is £450 !

I had quite expected a few donations of a $1 or so but have been left speechless by the size of donations given by individuals who do not know me in the real World and only see my posts etc.
I have tried to help as many people as possible via this forum over the years and asked nothing in return. This GoFundMe campaign was created as life has been somewhat challenging for me of recent and I wondered if anyone cared enough about me to donate a few Dollars to help. Well 19 people did care and did donate significant sums of money. Some do not even own a thermal imaging camera !

To those 19 individuals, I say thank you. Be assured that you have helped me greatly, both in financial terms and with my morale. I have been a ‘giver’ all of my adult life and it was wonderful to receive some recognition of that via the donations. This thread has over 1600 views but not all of those viewers will know of me and I totally understand that. I just hope that the topic of this thread has made people think a little about us “givers” who often hold large amounts of valuable information and share it freely despite it having taken many years and much effort to accumulate.

I have added my GoFundMe page link to my posts footer in case anyone in the future wishes to show appreciation for my contributions to this wonderful forum. Any Millionaire Philanthropists reading this I wonder ? 

Best Wishes to all and stay safe 

Fraser

[Fraser]

The donations keep coming in Thank you all for your kindness. I will respond to thank you individually via the GoFundMe page 

Best Wishes to all and stay safe 

Fraser

[Fraser]

A big THANK YOU and Merry Christmas Wishes from me to all of those kind and very generous forum members who donated to my GoFundMe page to help get me back on my feet after suffering from M.E. It is in my time of need that I have realised who my friends are and I am touched by the amazing generosity shown by you all   Life continues to be a struggle (our cat Billy had to have surgery last week and had most of his teeth removed) but your generosity has helped in more ways than you can know. It is not just the money, it is the kindness behind the act of making a donation to a 'stranger'. Thank you 

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year/. May 2022 be kinder to us all than 2021 

Fraser

[kaz911]

Hi Fraser,

I wish you Happy Christmas & the best for the rest of 2021 and all of the years to come.

You are always generous with your time and patience with everybody - so thank you.

I don't know where you are located - but if you are anywhere close to Brighton - just let me know if there is anything "physical" I can help you with.

/kaz

[Fraser]

Dear All,

2022 has arrived !

May I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous year ahead 

My sincerest thanks to everyone who has donated to my GoFundMe account. I continue to receive donations and every one, no matter the amount, is greatly appreciated. I intend to continue with my efforts to assist others on this forum but expect no payment for such. If people read my story of ill health and wish to donate, then bless them for their kindness 

Best Wishes for 2022 to you all 

Fraser

[Fraser]

Another lovely event that I would like to share here as it shows how kind members of this forum truly are.

I was contacted by a fellow forum member the other day who explained that he does not have much spare money at the moment but still wanted to do somethong for me. I will not name him as that may cause embarassment, but he knows who he is and how appreciative I am of his very kind donation. This lovely guy asked if I could make good use of three thermal imaging lenses that he had, but for which he did not have a use. I am always looking for nice thermal imaging lenses as such are hard to find at reasonable cost and I can no longer afford to 'splurge' on such luxuries I received a picture of the lenses and they are beauties  Perfect for my needs and one is destined to be mounted onto one of my 'Box' thermal cameras that needs a good size lens 

This is just another example of how generous people are on this forum.

I have also been asked to look at the design of the Hikvision DS-2TP31B Fever Detection camera and assess whether its configuration may be changed. This little task keeps me active on camera investigations and I have permission to share the teardown of the camera so the forum benefits as well 

Thank you to all who have helped me via donations and to anyone who chooses to donate to my GoFundMe in the future 

A forum is only as good as its membership and this forum is simply excellent 

Fraser

[Fraser]

I just received a huge donation to my Go Fund Me page and have tried to log-in to thank the anonymous donor. Sadly Go Fund Me seems to be having some log-in issues at the moment

If the person who donated £300 reads this. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity 

Best Wishes

Fraser

[Fraser]

I have just received a large donation from Mr Little and thought this thread deserved an update.

I was so touched when Mr Little made his donation with a message to encourage me to continue in my teardowns and reviews of thermal imaging related items. Such amazing generosity is very much appreciated and I have also greatly appreciated the smaller donations that people have very kindly made to help me. Not everyone has any spare cash to help others and I fully understand that. It has been a very tough few years since I started this Go Fund Me. I was asked by my old employer if I would be able/willing to do some Zero Hours contract work for them on an ad-hoc basis and I agreed. It is only a few weeks per year and the pay is minimum wage, but I am grateful to be given the opportunity to use my technical brain in the workplace again. Before anyone asks why I accept minimum wage... I am working as a Civil Servant and there are all manner of rules on employment and wages so it is out of my, and my employers, hands. It feels good to be working again though, even if only for short periods of time.

The donations that members of this forum have made to my "Go Fund Me" really helped, both in material terms and mentally as it helped me to see that the posts and help that I provide via this forum is appreciated. A real boost when you are feeling low, I can tell you.

I continue to search for thermal imaging related products that are faulty or at rock bottom prices, in order to create new interesting posts for this forum. I am financially very limited in what I can buy though. I am grateful to the forum member who contributed a faulty UNI-T UTi690B camera for failure assessment and possible repair. This provided me with the opportunity to learn about the UTi690B/UTi260B design and to share discoveries with the forum. I will do my best to keep posting interesting material for the readership  I might even consider the odd repair for forum members, but this will be very much on a case by case basis.

My sincerest thanks to every single person who decided to help me in my time of need and for appreciating what I do on the forum. You are all absolute Gems  Anyone wishing to donate in the future will find the link below my posts 

Finally... am I fully recovered from M.E ? ..... Sadly the answer is no. Much like Glandular Fever, M.E has a habit of coming back to bite you on the bottom if you over-exert yourself. I now manage it well though. I did catch Covid-19 in July 2022, and was very unwell with it. I recovered without long term complications or exacerbation of my M.E. situation. I count myself most fortunate.

My Best Wishes to all members of this most excellent and friendly of technical forums 

Fraser

[Fraser]

I have received another large donation via my GoFundMe and it has brought me back to this forum, at least partially. The donation came from a well known and very generous forum member and is very much appreciated, as are all of the very kind donations, large or small

I took a break from this forum after the very unpleasant incident with YouTube video content producer “CleanUnbox”. I have always tried to be an honourable, kind  and helpful person and experiencing the unwarranted and disgusting attacks from CleanUnbox over his conspiracy theory, and his banning from the forum, soured my view of participating in public forums. The old saying “no good deed goes unpunished” came to mind. I know that the people I assist are appreciative but when you are fighting a serious battle against M.E. (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) on a daily basis, plus another nasty illness, it does not take much to colour one’s view of placing yourself in the public domain, and so vulnerable to any unbalanced persons ravings. Time does heal things though and I have helped forum members “behind the scenes” where able. One person has even tried to contact me about their faulty UTi260B via GoFundMe but sadly the reply email was incorrect. If that person is reading this, feel free to send me a PM via this forum. I am already in the process of repairing someone else’s UTi260B (still awaiting the TPS630250 DC-DC converter).

The recent kindness of Erik with his generous GoFundMe donation reinforces the fact that people are mostly good and kind and we should not be adversely influenced by the odd “bad apple”. I will return to some level of activity on this forum now but I am no longer prioritising it as highly as before so posts will be fewer and more selective. If I can help people, I will, but please be patient. With regard reviews of equipment, sadly finances remain very limited for such adventures but I will see what can be done.

Best Wishes to all

Fraser

[Fraser]

In case anyone was wondering what projects I have been working on whilst away from the forum…

1. Repaired and reverse engineered several modern thermal imaging cameras. Great fun 
2. Refurbished some very nice military spec rugged laptops for use in my lab and when travelling
3. Tested some thermal imaging analysis software
4. Repaired our central heating boiler after it decided to die in the cold spell    It was all due to failing capacitive dropper power supplies !
5. Adopted a gorgeous Ginger kitten who now takes up much of my spare time. When there are clouds hovering over your head, caring for a vulnerable, curious and very affectionate kitten can quite literally blow them away  Little BeeJay (we like M.A.S.H) had been dumped in a local rubbish skip at 6 weeks old with his two siblings and left to die. All are now safe in loving homes, with BeeJay coming to ours. Those who do not like cats are advised to not look at the attachments…. For cat fans only 

He was not a planned addition to the family but I could not ignore a kitten in such desperate need. He is now family and my wife and I adore him. He has truly helped with my healing process.

[Fraser]

Apologies to those who recently donated to my GoFundMe as I have not been able to send a “Thankyou”. For some reason the thanking function is not appearing on recent donations and I cannot work out why. I always thank those who help me so I will do it here. I truly appreciate the donations that have been made to my GoFundme and I am touched by the words of encouragement that I have received.

For those interested in my current situation, I still have a daily battle with M.E with it’s associated pain and fatigue but I do manage to live a relatively normal life now. Like with all long term illnesses, there are good and bad days/weeks but I must be grateful that I am one of the fortunate sufferers of M.E.who is not confined to bed. As some will know, I took a break from the forum earlier this year as I needed to “recharge my brains batteries”. A side effect of battling M.E. is a lack of mental reserves to deal with unpleasant situations, be they additional illness, confrontational situations or just life’s less pleasant challenges. An unprovoked and unjustified personal attack on me by YouTube  video blogger “CleanUnbox” was just such a negative event that I had to process and move on from. As a sufferer of M.E. It is important to maintain moral as it is all too easy to give up the fight and become a “couch potato”. That path leads to a sad and unhealthy life and not what I want for myself or my family.

I am pleased to advise that I remain positive in my attitude to life and I have managed to do some minor part time work for my old employer to keep my brain cells occupied. Sadly that has not been possible for the last 12 months as Life threw a curve ball at me in April 2023 in the form of a nasty kidney stone that has become stuck on its journey from my kidney into the world ! The UK NHS is on its knees and I still await the “Urgent” procedure to destroy the stone. For those interested in such, the procedure uses Holmium laser lithotripsy to “dust the stone”. Fascinating technology as a special laser is used down an endoscope to “blast” the stone into dust. This differs from more Conventional lithotripsy that uses sonic wave transmission through the body to shatter the stone, which did not work in my case. Sadly the specialist nature of the laser procedure means a long waiting list. It is fair to say that it has been a cr*p last 12 months but the combination of a wonderful wife, reading the interesting posts on this forum and the arrival of a new kitten into our family has kept me feeling positive. I still post on this forum when needed but spend less time here due to other commitments in the family (most recently, our new kitten and his many needs).

On the technical front I have been working on firmware modifications to a Guide IR T120H fever detection thermal camera for a client. He has a lot of these cameras to sell on eBay and I was investigating what, if anything, could be done to make these cameras more useful in generic use scenarios. Interesting work for me to focus on rather than the pain that I am suffering. I have also been delving into the world of laptop battery BMS chips and the ability to read the battery state data that they provide. I have a Poloso RFNT3 battery Analyzer and a Texas Instruments EV2400 interface for that task. I cannot reset the BMS firmwares that are used in many laptop batteries, but I have learnt a lot about the failure modes of the cells within them. I have been restoring rugged laptops (military spec types) to their former glory and that is a rewarding task that produces very nice rugged laptops at the end of the process…. Built to last and equipped with many useful I/O ports  On the thermal camera repair front, I continue to work my way through a list of thermal cameras that are awaiting my attention. I want to get to the faulty FLIR M324 maritime Pan and Tilt head soon but other tasks keep getting in the way. I have a client job heading my way at the moment….an Inframetrics PM2xx series cooled camera that has a good cooler but other issues that need my attention. For the client, this camera is essential to their business activities so I shall do my best to help them.

I do still take on repair work but sadly I do have to charge for my time as I have zero income and that is a rubbish situation. Little repair jobs help provide some “pocket money”  I will never get rich on them though 

Well that is a round-up of my world and thank you for taking an interest and reading it. My sincerest thanks to all those who have showed such generosity in helping a fellow “tech in need” and making my life happier with their very kind donations and words of encouragement. You are all stars 

For those interested in the Holmium laser stone dusting procedure……

https://youtu.be/737cXpUdl_w?si=o-28HXKISEbWx9z0

Fraser

[Fraser]

I just re-read the post that started this thread and my view has changed somewhat since then.

Where able, I share my knowledge and information/software with others to assist them in their technical work. I DO NOT expect people to pay me for that help and information, but obviously any donation is gratefully accepted in my current situation. Helping people should not be all about what they give you in return. I get pleasure from helping people and that is just the way I am “wired”. It is nice to receive a simple “thank you” when I help someone but that is all I ask of them. I recently needed a piece of unobtainable PC software for my second-hand Poloso RFNT3 unit and a “total stranger” on the internet provided me with it. I did donate to his coffee fund as a thank you as without his help I would have been without the most powerful functions of my RFNT3 battery Analyzer. There are some very kind and helpful people in the world and it is wonderful to interact with them.

With regard to Alex at NorthridgeFIX, he is a businessman and I can see that he has a far greater focus on making profit from his endeavours than I have ever had, or wish to have. It can give the appearance of a quite “cold” personality and I have stopped watching his videos as a result. I now watch Sorin on his Electronics repair school channel and, although some of his repairs make me wince, I like his content and warm demeanour 👍 He does a coffee morning 1 hour live stream every Sunday and recently did a marathon 7 hour laptop repair live stream as he has a backlog of motherboards to look at. Good entertainment  Sorin also shares my desire to assist others when able to do so. A good man 

Never be afraid to ask me for help but I cannot guarantee that I can provide the help that you need.

Fraser

[Fraser]

To the very kind and generous person who has donated £100 to my GoFundMe page, THANK YOU 

Sadly I have not been able to access my Go Fund Me management page from my current location so have not been able to send you a message directly. I do not know what I have done to deserve such generosity from you but it is very much appreciated Thank you for your kindness.

Best Wishes

Fraser