Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[georges80]

So, spent some time to designing a holder for the E4 so I can use it to image my PCBs.

3D printed a first attempt yesterday and based on that design I made some tweaks/changes. The new version fits nicely and I created a slot to allow a velcro strap to fit through.

I used a 1/4-20 nutsert used for woodworking. I designed a hole into the base and then heated the nutsert in boiling water for a little to help it melt/thread into the PLA plastic (low glass transition temp of around 60C).

Some pics below. If there's any interest I'll post up the Sketchup and STL files.

cheers,
george.

[aargee]

I don't think FLIR is worries about a loss in E8 sales since the intended audience of that product is businesses with enough money that they don't care, and also wouldn't risk legal repercussions.

However, I think what FLIR is most worried about is the loss in E6 sales. This is the minimum spec product to comply with the RESNET standard. This is used by building inspectors, and many of these tradesmen work for small companies whose owner is just a normal bloke like us who isn't afraid of saving money getting the E4 and hacking it.

Actually, after hacking, the E4 doesn't 'officially' comply with any standards at all. If you want an E6 or higher for what it does and you need that standard for your business then its no good showing an E4 and saying "but it's hacked to run like an E8", your reports using the device will be worthless?

[Mark_O]

If you think Flir might be fine that E4 sales are going up, you are wrong.
Of course they will have an effect on the sales of E5/6/8.

You can say "of course", but that doesn't make your statement true.

I did two calculations, the second table boosts the E4 sales from 1000 to 5000 units, while the E5/6/8 sales are dropping by 75% (which they would, as the word of hackability would spread quickly).
Result: Flir is selling now >5000 cameras instead of 2000 cameras, but is still making less money....
Do you think they will tolerate this? I don't.

That's one opinion.  Another opinion is that your table is complete nonsense, because it's based on a set of very flawed assumptions.  If so, then your conclusions carry the same weight... which is none at all.

In my opinion, Flir is experiencing a temporary burst of a few hundred extra sales of E4 units, to folks who would never have bought any of their units at any price.  With a very small handful (single digits) of lost sales of E5 and up units, due to a substitution.  Nothing at all like the scenario you described, where higher-end sales were gutted by 75%.

[EEVblog]

Some pics below. If there's any interest I'll post up the Sketchup and STL files.

Yes please. I can also post these to Thingiverse, which is a better easily found repository than buried in this forum thread.
Finally got my E8 today!

[ch]

I did the e4hackb on my FLIR E4.

That went perfectly find.

But it was doing the RNIDS thing all the time and I wanted the previous, simpler mode.

So i ran Remove_RNDIS_permanent.FIF, thinking it would revert to the previous mode.

Now I can't see the camera but for video.  I can't get to it for programming and I can't trasmit files.  (In fact it complains about a lack of SD card when I try to take a picture.)

Any clues would be helpful.

Thanks,
-ch

[ixfd64]

Some pics below. If there's any interest I'll post up the Sketchup and STL files.

Yes please. I can also post these to Thingiverse, which is a better easily found repository than buried in this forum thread.
Finally got my E8 today!

*starts chanting*

Teardown! Teardown! Teardown!

[Taucher]

Is there a .fif file to add that beta2 menu hack in a similar way to the E4-->E8 hack and dead-pixel shower/hider?

Nope - that's the reason why it's "advanced users only" (yet) - probably it would be no big deal to make a .fif yourself.
Anyway it's more fun to enable telnet and rndis (that can be done even without hacking the cam) - and one needs a
cable connection while performing the hack anyway ... plus that mode will allow a recovery in case something goes
terribly wrong with the frontend.

[Taucher]

I did the e4hackb on my FLIR E4.
That went perfectly find.
But it was doing the RNIDS thing all the time and I wanted the previous, simpler mode.
So i ran Remove_RNDIS_permanent.FIF, thinking it would revert to the previous mode.
Now I can't see the camera but for video.  I can't get to it for programming and I can't trasmit files.  (In fact it complains about a lack of SD card when I try to take a picture.)
Any clues would be helpful.
Thanks,
-ch

please contribute date of calibration, firmware-infos, screenshots/video-URLs (clearly) showing the error message etc.

[Taucher]

Finally got my E8 today!

Dave, that's great - at least now we have somebody who has one of those astro-priced cams to check the dead pixel map for comparison!
This way we can find out if the E4's just get the worst "dead pixel count sensors" ... or not  

I'm also interested in the default config files of that cam - just for a small "diff"

[Taucher]

So, spent some time to designing a holder for the E4 so I can use it to image my PCBs.
3D printed a first attempt yesterday and based on that design I made some tweaks/changes. The new version fits nicely and I created a slot to allow a velcro strap to fit through.

Sure, please post the files - who knows when they might come handy
But right now I'm more interested in details about the 3D-printer you're using - the resulting quality seems to be really good.

[max-bit]

Perhaps if sales increased significantly E4 models, FLIR move more matrices of the models >E5 to E4 model.
Which may result in a lower quality bad pixel cameras E4.
Can you report what are the versions of the software in the last deliveries of cameras (2-3week)? (plus the date of calibration)
Does anyone has a soft 1.19.8 (a file for upload) ??

[ffej]

Hey Everyone,

Received my camera today from a distributor in Sydney, supposedly this is from FLIR Australia's latest shipment which arrived in the country on 19/11/13. 

Calibration date is 9/11/2013, software version is 1.19.8 - Hack working well

[mikeselectricstuff]

Now I can't see the camera but for video.  I can't get to it for programming and I can't trasmit files.  (In fact it complains about a lack of SD card when I try to take a picture.)

"No SD card" happens if you try taking a pic within a few secs of unplugging USB as it takes a short while to mount the internal filing system.

Remember you can always set USB mode via the secret menu - hold <right> down for 10 secs in the Camera Information menu

[max-bit]

Thanks, ffej,
maybe I'll get a camera tomorrow

[larky]

Got mine from proffsmagasinet.se a few days ago,
Estonia 30 sept
Serial 63903XXX
1.18.8

Thanks to Mike and others for a great job!

[Petrlib]

Hello,
is it possible change size of " center area " in hot/cold/avg measurement ? If yes, how? Thank you for your help..

[Uup]

I installed Taucher's menu hack (ADDMENU-BETA2) this morning. Wow, great work! I am impressed by all the additional features. This menu hack is almost as good an upgrade as the hack from an E4 to E8.   

However, I did have an issue with the UI crashing, or locking-up, intermittently when switching between measurement modes. Did anyone else encounter this issue?

Couldn't find the exact cause but I found some errors in the file "design_ui_z3.xml", which I corrected. I also cleaned it up a little for (my) legibility. The added menu "Formerly hidden menu" didn't work correctly and seemed kind of redundant, so I removed it and added an instruction at the bottom of the screen in the "Camera Information" screen on how to enter the hidden menu. I removed the USB option from the hidden menu as it was redundant having the USB option in two places.

I have been playing around with the measurement modes and so far it hasn't crashed on me. So perhaps the intermittent issue was due to the minor errors in the XML? Time will tell I guess...

Attached is Taucher's original ADDMENU-BETA2 package with the updated "design_ui_z3.xml" file. I renamed the package to "ADDMENU-BETA2a.zip"

There is the potential to add other options and tweaks to the UI and I will be taking another look over the weekend.

Thanks again to Taucher for all his time and effort in making this great menu hack! 

[Uup]

Should have added this to my previous post...

I checked the dead pixels on my camera and it seems to be similar to the others that were posted. It will be interesting to see how Dave's E8 compares.

[London Lad]

I've done the resolution hack but even after reading the thread from beginning to end, can't quite build up the confidence to do the menu hack.

If any of you guys have the time could you please post up a brief step by step guide. I don't quite need a 'baby walk' but a step by step on setting up the modes / connectivity prior to copying the files across with filezilla would really help in my case.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I've done the resolution hack but even after reading the thread from beginning to end, can't quite build up the confidence to do the menu hack.

If any of you guys have the time could you please post up a brief step by step guide. I don't quite need a 'baby walk' but a step by step on setting up the modes / connectivity prior to copying the files across with filezilla would really help in my case.

Install FLIR RNDIS driver
Select USB RNDIS mode via keypad
Use Filezilla to FTP to 192.168.0.2, login flir, password 3vlig

[Uup]

I've done the resolution hack but even after reading the thread from beginning to end, can't quite build up the confidence to do the menu hack.

If any of you guys have the time could you please post up a brief step by step guide. I don't quite need a 'baby walk' but a step by step on setting up the modes / connectivity prior to copying the files across with filezilla would really help in my case.

*Warning* Don't mess about with the files on your camera if you don't understand what you are doing.

Otherwise, if you just want to install Taucher's menu hack...

1. Install the RNDIS drivers on your PC. (http://cdn.cloud.flir.se/swdownload/assets/other/flir_device_drivers.exe)
2. Turn on RNDIS on the camera via the hidden menu (Settings>Device Settings>Camera Information - Press <right> for 10 seconds, select "USB Mode" then select "RNDIS")
3. Connect camera to PC via USB.
4. FTP to camera (eg. with FileZilla): Normal logon type, Host "192.168.0.2", user name "flir", password "3vlig"
5. Make a back-up of the files on your camera (copy files from camera to your computer into a back-up directory of your choice)
6. Copy the ADDMENU-Beta files over the files in the camera (eg. unzip the files to your computer then copy the folder "FlashBFS" from your computer over the folder "FlashBFS" in the camera - overwrite files)
7. Power-down the camera, remove battery and USB cable.
8. Re-insert battery and turn on.
9. Enjoy! 
 
If you don't completely understand the above instructions then it would be best to not attempt the menu hack. Better to have basic functions than

[orbit500]

Got my E4 2 weeks ago and was unaware of this hack. So maybe we need an option on the poll "I had bought an E4 before becoming aware of the hack so this gravy!"
v1.19.8 and hacked perfectly. Blue below especially usefull for insulation checking.
I've got a background in physics and instrumentation so I guess I'll be skipping the Thermographer lvl1 course unless they have some special sauce I didn't know of ?

[London Lad]

Mike and Uup, thank you both, very clear.

I'll report back once I get in and can try it.

[georges80]

So, spent some time to designing a holder for the E4 so I can use it to image my PCBs.
3D printed a first attempt yesterday and based on that design I made some tweaks/changes. The new version fits nicely and I created a slot to allow a velcro strap to fit through.

Sure, please post the files - who knows when they might come handy
But right now I'm more interested in details about the 3D-printer you're using - the resulting quality seems to be really good.

Ok, Sketchup/STL files attached. The only potentially tricky part is to find a hardware store that sells the 1/4-20 nutsert. I had a few from a bunch of years ago laying around - amazing I could remember where they were.

The 3d printer is a makerbot replicator 2. It does manage to work reasonably well most of the time (phase of the moon, goat blood etc). My initial problems were to get the print to stay 'stuck' down to the work surface. We have 2 glass sheets 1/4" thick to print on. A decent coating with cheap hair spray seems to be the 'magic' to make the initial layers stick down, if they don't, the model warps or comes off completely during the print. The other issue is that sometimes the extruder stops extruding the molten plastic - I assume the extruding tip gunks up or something - certainly the filament roll is free to rotate.

These 'home' quality printers have quite a ways to go before I would consider purchasing one. Once some 'real' companies get into the act then the quality should increase enormously. I look at current 'home' 3d printing equipment as the equivalent of the early days of inkjet printers - either super expensive high end units or consumer level stuff that had clogged inkjets 2 out of 3 times you tried to use them.

Once companies like HP, Epson, Canon, Lexmark etc get into the home 3D printing then we'll see equipment that works reliably and produces quality with durable plastics. It just requires the mainstream companies to determine whether the size of the 3d printing market is large enough to justify the R&D to provide the products - bit of a chicken & egg though.

Most printers right now use PLA which is a great plastic to 'print' with, but can be awful in terms of real world use. PLA has a glass transition point of 60C (great for printing) which means if you print something and leave it in a hot car on a summer's day it WILL deform... ABS is the other common plastic (approx 100C glass transition point), but it can be more problematic to print with and requires a heated work surface to prevent peeling/warpage. The higher end printers use various other plastics/resins and better extruders or lasers for curing/printing.

Anyhow, the 3D printing is fun and the tool flow is pretty easy. Sketchup is free and after a bit of a learning curve is pretty easy to get a model drawn up. A free plugin for Sketchup allows an STL to be created and then you have a standard file format that can be fed into the 3D printer software to slice it for printing. Hopefully in another year or two or... we'll have better consumer level AND sub $1k 3D printers available and improved higher temp plastics to choose from.

cheers,
george.

[olsenn]

I just noticed from the photos posted here of Taucher's menu hack, that a wifi strength bar and some other icons that possibly don't relate to the Ex cameras appear with the mod installed. Are these files from a different camera model? The menus of the Exx cameras are completely different, so I can't see it being that.