Overwhelmed with thermal options for early stage MVP

[Cometcode]

I am a solo-prenuer attempting at making an MVP product for mining companies in Chile.

Mining facilities have lots of electronic circuit breaker boxes that need to be monitored - among other things - but I am focusing on this aspect for now.

Being a full-stack / app developer by trade I am trying to create an MVP to test the market with to see if it wants a low-cost 24/7 thermal monitoring system. This would allow a mining facility to place multiple of dozens of thermal monitoring devices. The person then responsible for ensuring no-downtime of the site could then assess the health of the facility through a web page. They could set alarms, notification alerts to email or WhatsApp, take the data and funnel it through AI models (this type of stuff is more of my world and what I understand to do).

I am overwhelmed with the current options for under 500 USD (a completed unit) thermal camera options.

Here’s the options I am thinking of going with for now;

1.
https://groupgets.com/products/diy-thermocam-v3
As it appears to be open source enough for me to implement the web app integrations I am thinking of.

2.
I also see complete phone solutions with very little documentation. I also see USB-C ones provided by FLIR. I was thinking of maybe purchasing a phone and having an application run on there. I am skeptical of this route but seems plausible.

3.
I also see that Melexis is also producing a low cost solution.
https://www.melexis.com/en/products/temperature-sensor-ics

Would very much like to heard from anyone who understands this domain better than I. Happy to pay for consulting as well if anyone thinks they have a lot to say but not the free time to do it.

[An0v0meo~]

I think it depends on what kind of data and functions you need. Most of the fixed thermal cameras available on the market can already implement some not-so-intelligent functions, such as monitoring temperature and outputting alarms. Through alarm output, of course, software integration can also be performed through network protocols.

[Vipitis]

Consider just going with a commercial solution first. FLIR sells their lepton as AX8, which is a network attached rugged camera with built in communication to Ethernet (and other options). It already includes some of the alert and reporting stuff in their software - but I think also let's you access data directly. Plus it's made for this exact purpose. Long term deploy and will therefore be well equipped for heat management as well as stability.
Using a phone with a dongle might be an option but there is a considerable level of jank and unreliability that you likely don't want.

You can find a more cost effective solution later on. But this should be almost plug and play for developing your backend with it.