New acquisition:
Fluke VT04A (handheld IR camera)
I've been wanting an IR camera since I started reading the TEA forum (gee, thanks...) but, being a miser, never wanted to spend the money. This popped up for cheap so I snagged it. This is one of the more fun TEs to play with in and around the house.
The batteries are stamped "Made in Belgium". Well, that's funny. The unit is made in the UK. Well, that explains it. The batteries must be the ones that came with the camera. They were full, according to the battery meter on the camera display. The camera and case appear to be completely unused and 100% new.
The Fluke VT04A has been discontinued. The VT04 has a replaceable lithium rechargeable battery, the VT04A takes 4x AA batteries. Fluke says that it gets about 5 hours of run-time on a set of batteries. It's got both an IR camera and a visible-light camera that it can mix at different ratios. It also has "Near" and "Far" modes to help correct for parallax between the two cameras. That feature seems to work OK. It can save pictures in a format to work with some Fluke software, or else BMP. It came with a 4GB microSD card.
https://www.fluke.com/en-us/product/temperature-measurement/ir-thermometers/vt04
I tried NiMH batteries and it refused to power on I removed the alkaline primary batteries once I finished playing with the camera. I'll have to buy one of those knock-off Pelican cases to store this camera in so I can store the batteries separately in the case.
I recently ordered a couple of 200W 8R from AliExpress to build a proper power sink to burn-in audio amplifiers. I thought that warming one up would make a pretty show for the nice people in the computer. I put 200W into it from my DC power supply and just as quick as I could put it in the frame of my new camera "Oh, I popped it". 200W, my ass. Yes, I know it's supposed to be bolted to a heat sink with thermal compound but it really didn't even have time to get very hot. Boo! Buy the cheapest resistor = get the cheapest resistor. I have proved nothing. Are you not entertained?
IIRC, the VT04x are not a IR camera... they are a IR thermometer with a digitally processed visible light camera overlay. Not sure how many "pixels" the actual thermal sensor is... maybe 16...?
Due to the huge demand for the tech and limitations of relevant government regulations, there is a whole world of "badunka-dunk" marketing crap surrounding anything less than the stuff in the 10s of thousands of dollars range... part of the reason I've held off so long in my own similar pursuit. Even these "non-camera" IR imaging what-the-fuck-ever-it-is things are in the ridiculous ~$500 range... If you got a good enuf deal, it doesn't matter what I think of them.
That said... I am curious to see just how much they're able to "fake it with software" in these later generations. I suppose if they get good enough, it won't really matter if they are actually an IR camera or not.
mnem
Fluke sells the VT04A as a "Visual IR Thermometer" and they do not disclose the IR resolution, so it is certainly very poor compared to anything sold as a "IR Camera". That being said, it
does have an IR camera in it which works well enough for my limited
needs wants. I paid USD200 and tested it out before I bought it. Given the like-new condition and the Fluke nametag, I figured that I could sell it pretty easily if it didn't work out.
Here's a picture of my hand using only the IR camera. I get the same resolution while covering the visual camera so it can't "cheat". 4K it ain't, but it certainly looks like it has at least 64 pixels (+software smoothing/interpolation) to get this displayed resolution.
Also a picture (visual with IR overlay) of a strip of eight 1/4W 220R, one dissipating 194mW. It's very easy to tell that one is warmer than the others. With a little bit of moving around, it is easy to tell
which one is warmer than the others. 99% of the things that I work on are through-hole (solid- and hollow-state guitar amps) or even point to point (Hammond organ from 1959).
EDIT:
Of course, I am the staff handyman for my household, so I'll be looking for drafty windows, missing insulation, warm
fuses breakers in the load center / home
fuse breaker box, warm electrical wiring, etc.
EDIT EDIT:
According to
https://www.tequipment.net/Fluke-VT04-vs-Flir-TG165/ the VT04 thermal sensor is 31x31, so 961 pixels.
EDIT EDIT EDIT:
I see the Flir TG165 on ebay for USD342 delivered to my front door. A little bit more money, but a much better camera. How much IR resolution will your wallet allow you?