Thermal Camera - Affordable Raytheon Night Vision thermal camera unit.

[Bill W]

Hi Fraser,

They are balanced, that black blob around about the 4-o'clock position is a bit of lead sheet, cut about right and the filed down and/or moved until the wheel will settle to any position.

The problem with Pevicons was that not only are they pyroelectric, they are piezoelectric too !  Some you could even shout or whistle at and get a response  .

Bill

[Bill W]

Thanks to a link from Fraser, here is an image of the GMEO / Cairns camera parts with the 4 aperture chopper wheel

http://ecd.eurotraining.net/helma/MUS/Applications/Pyroelectric_Arrays.pdf
A snapshot of the imaging market from 2004 as bolometer detectors were taking over from chopped ceramic detectors.

Bill

www.fire-tics.co.uk

[KoopaTroopa]

Hi, I got a first generation camera(black housing) with a good lens.  When I apply power to the pink and black/white wires, I can hear it spin up.  I cannot however get a video signal out of the green and yellow wires.  Any ideas?

Thanks up front.  I just found this forum, there is a lot of good stuff here.

[Fraser]

Koopa troopa,

Sorry I have not delved into the electronics package within these cameras so cannot immediately think of a likely cause to your problem.

It would be worth opening the cameras case and inspecting the interior for moisture ingress as your model is a little infamous for suffering damp issues and related corrosion on the PCB.

When listening to the chopper wheel motor you should hear it spin up and then lock onto the correct rpm and stay there. It is synchronised to the reading of the BST sensor. If you have an oscilloscope it would be worth looking at the video output to see of an Horizontal and Vertical sync pulses are present. If they are, but no video is being produced, there is a problem with your cameras electronics which we will need to consider. If there are no sync pulses, the camera is not producing the composite video signal framework onto which to place the image data. Again this is a problem with the cameras electronics but likely in a different section of the system.

As a I say, your best friend in the first instance is your eyes. Visually inspect the unit and PCB for corrosion through water ingress past the seals. I suggest you do not dismantle the actual lens assembly at this point as that is not designed to be owner repairable and glues may be used.

Please provide plenty of decent quality images so that we can take a close look at the PCB and module interior for you. 640 x 480 resolution minimum and higher resolution if you can use a photo hosting site for them.  I can then compare your module to the ones I have. I have two of the later cameras and a Raytheon 300A that I can compare to yours. If we need to do some signal comparisons, do you own an oscilloscope or multimeter ?

Fraser

[jetaray]

Hi everyone, just stumbled on this forum while looking for info on an EMX Raytheon Night Sight 5000.

I have a Cadillac 2000 night vision camera, it has been sitting around for 6 months. I think I paid $250 from a junk dealer. A co-worker shown me a video with one of these mounted on a jeep. That is how I was first introduced to thermal cameras. I have been reading as much as I can to learn more about the cameras and what there true value is. Should have done a lot more research before buying such a old item, camera was made in 1999. Seeing this discussion I decided to pull it apart. Below are pictures of what I have, turns out my chopper is not in good shape. I have not powered it up yet, will test it Sunday, if I have time. There is a lot of corrosion at the split line of the housing, but there appears to be no water damage.









This is what I really wanted, but did not have the time to go and check it out. A The EMX MidWatch ODNR-775, I think it was priced over $50,000 new, it sold for under $5000.



If anyone knows where to get a replacement chopper, that would be cool. Or a simple idea to repair what I have, beyond what has already been mentioned in this thread.

Thank You,

Ray

[Bill W]

Hi Ray,

You are in the right place, as the Raytheon BST was widely used and there are enough people around here who know about some of the other cameras they were used in to help you out.  However many of the details like pinouts are Raytheon proprietary or were specific to this model.

I would see if it is functional first, that chopper damage is not going to stop it working.  If it goes OK, then yes choppers are available 

regards
Bill

www.fire-tics.co.uk

[jetaray]

I tried the Cadillac camera last night, appears to work ok. I was indoors when running it, so only seen an image from about 50 feet away. No ticking noise, just normal gear sound as it rotates. I wonder how long the chopper will stay together.

I purchased that EMX NightSight 5000 on eBay. The package comes with 3 cameras; two installed in the pan/tilt units for mounting on a vehicle. Four controllers and a switching power supply.  No cables, hoping the 25 pin and 9 pin cables are straight feed (no crossing wires). If they are, I have cables to connect the controller and joystick for the pan and tilt control. Really hope it is a true 5000c, per the data sheet this would indicate color cameras. The one camera not installed looks new.

 I almost purchased a Pathfinder (it has higher resolution), but if everything in this bundle works I will have three cameras at less than one third the price of a Pathfinder. I realize the Pathfinder will give a better picture, but if I sell two working units, I will have one to play with for free. With a pan and tilt mechanism to boot.

To be honest I am really running in the dark about what I purchased, very little information on the EMX 5000 on the net. Best I can tell it is the same as the 4000 camera but a better case. Noticed the video passes through the controller, does that indicate the video may get processed for better clarity?

If someone has more info on the EMX 5000, like a user manual I could look at, that would be cool. For now I will just test the cameras, then hook up a controller to see if the pan and tilt mechanisms work with my cables. Worst case scenario I will need to take everything apart and figure what wires go where, or make a homemade controller for the pan and tilt motors.

Later,

Ray

[jetaray]

I received my Nightsight package today. The single loose camera is a Raytheon part number 3264573-1, 4000 NTSC camera, DOM: 04.03.08. Unsure of other two, suspect they are the same. Sure puts that old corroded Cadillac camera to shame (outside appearance). I did a quick video check of the one camera with no tilt housing. The Raytheon camera definitely has a better picture over the Cadillac camera.

I did notice a slight ticking noise when moving the camera around. When set stable in normal forward viewing position the camera is very quiet. I may disassemble and check the chopper and gears for condition. Cadillac did the same thing, but I assumed it was because the chopper had cracks in the film. Could it just be old age, and or worn gears inside? The Cadillac camera is 16 years old and the one Raytheon is 12 years old.

Also if some could confirm the two cables, one 25 pin (for pan/tilt), the other 9 pin (for joystick), connecting to the electronic control box are wired one for one? Meaning pin 1 at one end is going to pin 1 at the other end, and so on for each pin position. Hoping Raytheon did not make special cables for this setup.

Thank You,

Ray

[jetaray]

Did some testing of the NightSight 5000 package I purchased. The connecting cables, one 9 pin and the other 25 pins are one for one cables. This was nice as it let me use off the shelf serial cables for hookups. Opened the joystick with power button, very simple wire connections. Another plus, now I can make another joystick box (only have one at the moment).

All three Raytheon cameras work as do the two pan/tilt mechanisms and four electronic control units.

On the pan and tilt cases there appears to be a sensor in the upper left corner. Broke a tab for a five volt regulator attached to it on one setup. Apparently it is used to improve camera out put, because the picture was not as good after I broke it. Glad the voltage regulator is cheap, will solder in a new one this weekend. Kind of curious what type of sensor it is. Just for fun thought I would place the Cadillac camera in the Ratheon setup and see if the electronic box will improve the Caddillac cameras output. Pin out on the Ratheyon appear to be identical to the Caddillac camera.

Any words of caution before I try this?

Thanks,

Ray

[jetaray]

Back to the Cadillac Camera, here are some pictures to show an anomaly I have in the picture. The white pixels show up after several minutes of operation. If unit is powered down and turn right back on the white pixels remain. Now if I turn it off and start the next day the white pixels are not present until the unit runs for a few minutes.



The contrast at 100 percent to make white pixels more visible, the pixels are a steady white.

Next picture is the Raytheon 4000 at less than 50 percent contrast. Just to show that the pixels only appear with input from the Cadillac camera.



Bill W. I suspect you are correct and the pixels appear because of a cooling issue. The camera did have some water intrusion, but was dry when I opened the case. I think it may be corrosion between the sensor on the cooler, and this limits the effectiveness of the temperature control.

Below are some interior pictures.





Notice the amount of corrosion on the edges of the cover, so it is likely water was inside also. Not sure, is it possible to disassemble farther and clean the contact area that controls the sensor temperature?


Thank You,

Ray

[Bill W]

Hi Ray,

Agree it looks like pixels when the sensor is off temperature.

For others reading, the cooler (strictly a stabiliser) and the temperature sensor are inside the detector package sealed in vacuum.

Cooler drive is on pins 21 & 22, a rather complex temperature sensing circuit is partly in and partly outside the detector on pins 29, 30, 31, & 32.  I think 30 is the aim point and 29 the actual temperature, both are detector outputs fed to the control PCB.  The circuit has some high value resistors in it, so may go leaky with damp residues.

Have a look for op-amps driving dual transistor packages ZOT6790, perhaps one leg of the driving bridge has died or been fouled up.

Another possibility (not sure if it was provided) would be a sensor to detect general overtemperature shutting down the stabiliser in error.

What does the current draw do at startup and just as the white pixels appear ?

Best of luck

regards
Bill

[avogodro]

Hello, I am curious as to where to get chopper wheels for the cadillac thermal system.. I have one that works but the chopper wheel is completely trashed.

Thanks for any help.

avogodro

[Bill W]

The Cadillac cameras used a fairly common Raytheon camera core unit, and one of the other end products that used Raytheon cores for a long time were the EEV/Marconi/E2V Argus fire cameras.

I have been creating an archive for these cameras as well as offering support & some spares through the www.fire-tics.co.uk website, and do have a few spare chopper wheels in useable condition.

I also have quite a few lenses that are compatible with the cores, and may also be of use elsewhere, they are 15mm f/1.

Regards
Bill
www.fire-tics.co.uk