Uni-T UTi690A (120x90 new entry/budget) (UTi690A, UTi120S, UTi712S)

[lordium]

I recent bought the UTI120S. Mainly for redoing some doors and windows now that temperature is dropping again.
I also bought a lens (20mm, 38.1mm) because why not. The lens works fine and allows me to hold the camera further away from pcb to get same picture as without.
This is helpful if you have mixed small and large components close to each other. But if you have a relatively flat pcb, the lens is not needed since you can get the camera very close.
The lens holder is something I made quickly using fusion 360 and a 3D printer. It is held in place by 2 magnets to either side of the lens. Works just fine, but if you try to swing it like Thors hammer, it will come loose.

Attach a few pictures for reference.

[Paw85]

I recent bought the UTI120S. Mainly for redoing some doors and windows now that temperature is dropping again.
I also bought a lens (20mm, 38.1mm) because why not. The lens works fine and allows me to hold the camera further away from pcb to get same picture as without.

Great to see more users with this fine unit, and great idea with the magnets to attach it, thats really clever!

I am a little confused about the results that you and Chalcogenide are getting with the ZnSe lenses, reading other forum posts, it would seem that one should be able to hold the thermal imager much closer while retaining focus, not further away?
Will help with this experimentation once I receive my lens, just a week to go...

[lordium]

Here are 2 more images. Both take from a height of about 4cm above the pcb using a vise as a holding jig. one with a 38.1mm lens, and the other without.

(don't mind the temperatures, they are not stable as pcb on/off intermittent, just look at scale of the holes)

[Fraser]

A small word of caution when using magnets near to the imaging core…….

The Flat Field Correction solenoid uses magnetism to operate. A high energy magnet placed near to that solenoid can interfere with its operation. Likely not an issue in this case, but worth considering when locating rare Earth magnets anywhere near to the cameras core and lens assembly.

Fraser

[lordium]

A small word of caution when using magnets near to the imaging core…….

The Flat Field Correction solenoid uses magnetism to operate. A high energy magnet placed near to that solenoid can interfere with its operation. Likely not an issue in this case, but worth considering when locating rare Earth magnets anywhere near to the cameras core and lens assembly.

Fraser

Yes the magnets I use are not very strong. I do not notice anything strange/different when they are close or not. Same quality image both cases.

So I step it up and attach 20 more magnets, now I can see a difference in operation, there is the sound like relay being toggled (like when calibrating) and image goes dark, but does resume normal operation when calibration is pressed again.

So Frasers warning is very valid indeed, don't use too strong magnets. small one will work just fine though (for at least MY UTI120S)

[Chalcogenide]

Here is my take on the lens holder for this camera. Everything fits by friction and snapping in place, no magnets or glue required:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5181663

I hope someone might find this useful.

[Fraser]

Nice design  I see that it is a bit more than ‘just’ a friction fit Those side clamping pieces look excellent for holding the assembly onto the camera 

Fraser

[Paw85]

The lens cover I made can now be found here: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/110716-uni-t-uti690a-uti120s-uti712s-lens-cover-thermal-i
Had time to find a viable alternative to Thingiverse, didnt know that Prusa had a STL hosting site that requires no login to download files, and with a search engine that seem to be working well!

Waiting for arrival of 38 and 50 mm ZnSe lenses to test out what distance from the front works well, and will publish a lens holder once tested and see which lens works best for this core.
Meanwhile created a "manual holder" for a 20mm ZnSe lens to make it easier to test out lens distance on the fly, If interested, you can download it here: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/110811-znse-20-x-2-mm-manual-lens-holder

[Fraser]

Paw85,

Your ‘manual lens holder” is a most excellent idea  That will help me when experimenting with ZnSe lenses. I want to build a mini optical bench for experimenting with thermal lenses and your little manual holder makes me think I should print the parts for the optical bench. I think there are already designs on the Internet that I can adapt 

Thank you for the time you spent designing these parts for the forums use.

Fraser

[Paw85]

Received the ZnSe CVD lenses today, a couple of days earlier than planned, luckily was done with my lens holder yesterday so all was set for testing to begin!
I took images at identical distance per set (used a tripod).

My findings is that while the 38.1 mm ZnSe gives better detailed images over all than 50.8mm when in focus, it requires one to be very close to gain the benefit.
At ~50mm working distance, it performs worse than the 50.8mm lens as expected. But when moving close, the 50.8 mm does not seem to be performing much worse than the 38.1mm one.

My personal opinion is that for the UTi690A, the ZnSe 50.8 mm is the best performing lens to choose, one can even spot the solder joints on components that I believe to be 0402 size?
Even with 120x90 resolution of this thermal imager, with the help of a ZnSe lens PCB work should be OK!

Would like to hear what is your opinion from looking at the sample images?


Will publish the lens holder tomorrow, spent way too many hours over-engineering it, but offers protection for the ZnSe lens from both the front and back when not in use which I find important (when having the cover hanging in the lanyard).

And for fun before I might be selling my hacked E30bx (to finance other hobbies in these times...), figured I'd show a comparison when shooting board wide of the test subject.
The E30bx does seem suffer a non flat focal plane when focusing this close, but if one is doing professional PCB repair, this amazing thermal imager is clearly a benefit, it easily shows solder joints of 0402 components when taking a picture of the full PCB at once, it's a beast for sure!

EDIT: Before going to bed, attached a quick photo of the ZnSe lens cover as a sneakpeak if someone's curious.

[Paw85]

Just finished uploading the ZnSe lens holder/cover I made for the UTi690A, you can find the STL files here: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/114142-znse-lens-cover-uni-t-uti690a-uti120s-uti712s
This ZnSe holder/cover is just 1mm thicker than the cover for the thermal imager previously posted.

The most important feature I focused on is that the lens is covered both from the front and the back when not in use, as the whole item is basically a cover for the thermal imager when not using the ZnSe lens.
The sliding cover "clicks" in place at both open and closed position, and the circlip is designed such that it puts a force to hold the ZnSe lens in place when assembled, so no rattling from a loose lens.

I also recorded a video to show how it works, how to assemble the item and what to think about when printing it.
I do apologize for my spoken English language not being very good, but I hope you can understand what I'm saying.



Also attached some pictures of the ZnSe lens cover down below.

[CANUK]

Awesome job! 

[mrisco]

@737mechanic
The UTI690A and UTI690B are totally different devices.

[Halcyon]

@737mechanic
The UTI690A and UTI690B are totally different devices.

Looks like he was another spammer in the making. New user, posting the same thing everywhere. His posts have been removed and the user banned.

[Fraser]

@Halcyon,

I was not sure if the posts were SPAM or just someone excited about their new purchase. The sample pictures were actually interesting to see. Yes they posted in several threads, but those threads were all related to Uni-T cameras, so it seemed a reasonable act ? No link to a specific seller of the product IIRC. You have greater insight however so must have seen something suspicious

Maybe the SPAM link was to follow in the next message ?

Fraser

[snoop33]

I'm playing with mine, using a 38.1mm looking at SMD's around the 0402. I'm unimpressed so far, difficult to see what I'm looking at.

I have the got the lens the right way, flat side closest to the sensor? 

[Fraser]

The low resolution of this camera does make PCB analysis more challenging but it may still be used in this role. You need to consider the “pixel size on target” with your FOV and distance from the PCB components. This will tell you the minimum size of a component that will fully illuminate a single pixel on the microbolometer. Normally you will want a few pixels on the component to provide a useful image. Imagine a SMD resistor with a single pixel imaging it Vs four or six pixels all seeing it. The more pixels ‘on target’ the more detail you can pull out regarding shape and thermal energy distribution. The sample images provided by PAW85 show a camera that is capable of PCB thermal imaging but the components need to be generating heat to be seen clearly.

You will need to learn to interpret the thermal signatures of components. If there is a hot 0402 resistor in the scene, you should still see it against the cooler surroundings. A PCB that is not generating much heat in its components will look somewhat thermally flat.

With higher resolution cameras you are able to image the solder points at the end of components or IC leads due to the high reflectivity that often reflects your own body heat into the camera. These shiny areas also exhibit low emissivity when not reflecting heat energy from their surroundings (so appear cooler than the PCB). Between the solder points you may see nothing if the component is not generating thermal energy. With a lower resolution camera you do lose that level of detail and may only see components that are generating heat. This is the disadvantage of buying a cheaper, and lower resolution, camera. The UTi260B is my current recommendation for affordable PCB inspection using an “all-in-one” camera rather than a phone dongle etc. An upgraded FLIR E4 and ETS320 are other options, but are more expensive.

For more detailed PCB thermal analysis, I recommend the DYT CA-10 and CA-20 as excellent value for what they offer the user.

Fraser

[Paw85]

I'm playing with mine, using a 38.1mm looking at SMD's around the 0402. I'm unimpressed so far, difficult to see what I'm looking at.
I have the got the lens the right way, flat side closest to the sensor? 

What one can see when looking at small SMD components is usually the solder joints, as they are metal they reflect the surrounding temperatures.
While yes this is difficult to see, if it has the same temperature as the surrounding PCB, from what I know, it's likely not an issue with the component.

If you look at the last image of the Exxbx vs UTi690A comparison, you'll see that the same is true for that high resolution thermal imagers, you only see the solder joints of the 0402 components.
(Marked a few of them on the image below).
It may take a while to learn; If there is a short circuit component that is generating heat then you should be able to see the heat signature between the solder joints, even with the UTi690A.

Dont get me wrong, the UTi690A is in no way optimized for thermal imaging of PCB.
If using it daily for PCB work then you may want a higher resolution sensor for sure, but for occasional use at least I find it good enough, but that may also be that I've used thermal imagers for a few years now?
If running a buisiness or doing these types of work daily then there are specialized thermal imager developed for PCB work as Fraser mentioned, those will outperform the UTi690A for PCB work in every way, but you're also paying a lot more for it, and they are not a standalone unit that you can use everywhere.

For the low budget range the UTi690A is to my knowledge the thermal imager with the highest resolution, most in this price range are 32x32 pixel sensors, and a very few at 80x60 pixels.

For lens orientation, flat side against the sensor did seem to work best for my images when I tried.
Perhaps you can upload a few images with information about the working distance you used?

[Johnny B Good]

@Paw85

 Thank you for that last very helpful posting (as well as all your previous postings). After reading through the whole topic thread, I thought that you'd nicely summed up the pros and cons of this latest UNI-T offering which I'd only become aware of from a Banggood marketing email today. It was my search for more information, over and above all the glowing customer reviews (yours included as I've just discovered ), that led me to this topic thread.

 They're currently offering it at a knockdown price of only $169.99 (£127.78 inclusive of VAT and free postage to the UK). I'm rather tempted to 'impulse buy' it, despite it being 30% more than I paid for an OWON XDM1041 4 1/2 digit bench multimeter just a couple of weeks almost a month ago.

 The price of these thermal imaging cameras has always struck me as being rather exorbitant for the seemingly paltry image resolutions they provide but since this high pricing applies across the board for any thermal imaging camera, I've long since come to accept that thermal imaging "Is bloody expensive"

 After checking out eBay prices for this model, Banggood seem to be undercutting "the competition" by anywhere from 47 to 26%. Not only that, Banggood's cheaper 8x8 pixel devices with only one 168.75th of the UNI-T's areal resolution are still over one third the price of this unit.   On the face of it, this does seem to be somewhat of a bargain buy in its class.

 Unless I receive any advice regarding cheaper same resolution alternatives or higher resolution options for a relatively modest increase in price point, it looks like I'll be giving in to my impulse in a few days time.

[Paw85]

The price of these thermal imaging cameras has always struck me as being rather exorbitant for the seemingly paltry image resolutions they provide but since this high pricing applies across the board for any thermal imaging camera, I've long since come to accept that thermal imaging "Is bloody expensive"

I hope that the information posted have been useful. One should probably view thermal imagers image resolution differently than that of regular cameras;
You're actually collecting a temperature reading of objects at every single pixel of the area that sensor can "see", it's like having a huge amount of temperature sensors that you can use to collect data with from a distance, it's amazing really and if that data is interpreted to colored pixels on a screen that turns out to be beautiful, then that should just be a bonus

I believe that at least my conclusion is;
If you're fine with the 120x90 pixel resolution, then the UTi690A is a great unit for the price. (And often cheaper than lower resolutions units).
If you need higher resolution, then save up double cost and go for the UTi-260B as it also should be a great unit for its price. (Have not tried this one myself but it's recommended everywhere so it's probably a good unit).

I usually look at larger components like stepper drivers, cables and motors in 3Dprinters and other machinery and I find the UTi-690A works fine for that use, and in the very rare occasions that I need to look at tiny SMD components then with the ZnSe lens the performance was good enough for my use. Please note; Not great or good, but just good enough to even spot tiny 0402 components if they should heat up from short circuit or similar.
If doing a lot of PCB SMD work then saving up for the UTi-260B is advisable for sure with the higher resolution.

I cant say if 120x90 pixels will be enough for your use cases, but if it is, then the UTi-690A is a great buy

[Johnny B Good]

 Thanks for that insightful advice. I'm currently limited to a single pixel resolution (i.e. an IR thermometer ) when trying to get some sort of handle on powerfet temperatures and such like. That 690A represents a considerable upgrade to my ever growing armoury of electronics test gear.

 Although it would be nice to have more pixels, I figure I'd be better off enjoying the thermal imaging experience at the level being offered by this throw away priced unit before investing in a considerably more expensive device when I'll have a better idea of just exactly what I need.

 The 690A (with additional lens attachments) might well serve my needs for several years before the compulsion to upgrade overwhelms my decades long habit of financial jurisprudence (lifetime long habits are hard to shake off).

 Well... I've just placed my order with Banggood.   With shipping and tariff insurance it came to a total of £130.88, money that I'm sure is well spent. It seems  it's "Estimated to ship before February 19, 2022" (from China) so it could well be another three weeks or so before I can offer any feedback.

[snoop33]

I'm just coming back to this, 3d printing your cover now.

There's an interesting cover design for the higher res model in the other thread but the design has more to grip on to.

[snoop33]

I have found the slider to be very difficult to print, this is on an Ender 3. Those overhangs require supports which are difficult to remove and destroyed the rise to the left when I tried to remove them. I don't think the design is viable.

[Paw85]

I have found the slider to be very difficult to print, this is on an Ender 3. Those overhangs require supports which are difficult to remove and destroyed the rise to the left when I tried to remove them. I don't think the design is viable.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but that does sound like a 3Dprinter/slicer issue.
The design is not the easiest thing in the world to print, but I've printed it without issue on 3 printers myself during development, and there are at least 6 other people that have printed it successfully without issue that I know of, one even used PET-G that is a lot more challenging when it comes to support sticking to prints.

If your supports are difficult to remove perhaps try and see if you can minimize or solve that issue and it will likely help with all your following 3Dprinting that use support as well.
I did that myself a year ago and it have helped a lot on all prints with support!

You can send me a private message with an image of the print with issue if you want and I can try my best to help, but there are guides online that are probably better than me at explaining what may help, english is not my first language.
Lets try not to flood the thread with 3Dprinter discussions, you can also contact me on the prusa website, that's a perfect place to discuss issues with 3Dprinting things.

You're always welcome to make another design that is easier to print, the more options people have the better!

[Johnny B Good]

@Paw85

Update on my UTi-690A order status from Banggood:- I've just received an email advising me of delayed delivery due to excess demand and given the choice of waiting longer or cancel and request a full refund. I chose the latter option since I had  started suffering "buyer's remorse" as a result of taking a closer look at the UTi690B you'd recommended and saw that it also offered a visible light camera, allowing optical and thermal image fusion to help clarify what you can see.

 I've added this:-

 https://www.banggood.com/UNI-T-UNi690B-256+192-Pixel-Infrared-Thermal-Imager-15~550C-Industrial-Thermal-Imaging-Camera-Handheld-USB-Infrared-Thermometer-p-1755789.html?cur_warehouse=CN&rmmds=search

 to my shopping cart for the time being since I figured I may as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb (you're actually getting 4 times the number of IR pixels for a 'mere doubling' of the cost).

 I've got another week before the offer expires so I thought I'd ask your opinion of this Banggood bargain before I 'pull the trigger'. I'd checked out pricing on AliExpress but their pricing versus model numbers is confusing to say the least and the only certain price point on an actual UTi590B I found was 268 quid, seemingly a close match to Banggood's pricing until you remember that you have to add VAT onto their pre-VAT prices, making it 20% dearer than Banggood's vat inclusive price.