Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[Petrlib]

Hello friends,
nobody asnwered my question. Dear Mike, will your "hack" unlocked some functions from E8 on my E5?
Thank you for your answer.

Petr

[nova1200]

FOL is just the focal length. As the focal length is 6.5mm they are rounding up to FOL7.

Ah, thanks, thought it was somewhat odd looking for a model number.

For the survey, my E4's serial number is 639027xx.

[olsenn]

Hello friends,
nobody asnwered my question. Dear Mike, will your "hack" unlocked some functions from E8 on my E5?
Thank you for your answer.

Yes, this hack will upgrade your E5 to an E8

[PA0PBZ]

Hello friends,
nobody asnwered my question. Dear Mike, will your "hack" unlocked some functions from E8 on my E5?
Thank you for your answer.

Petr

I don't see why not, it should enable the same functions as in the E4.

[Petrlib]

Hello friends,
nobody asnwered my question. Dear Mike, will your "hack" unlocked some functions from E8 on my E5?
Thank you for your answer.

Petr

I don't see why not, it should enable the same functions as in the E4.

Great news.. Thank you so much..

[mikeselectricstuff]

Another possible feature for a MCU add-on - timelapse mode.
You could maybe also do auto shoot on detection for wildlife/security by looking for a rise in the temp scale (you can read this via level and span commands).

[olsenn]

Does the E4/E8 need to be up close to the item you're viewing, or could I look out my apartment window with the thing and see the heat signitures of people walking 4 streets down?

[AndyC_772]

Another possible feature for a MCU add-on - timelapse mode.
You could maybe also do auto shoot on detection for wildlife/security by looking for a rise in the temp scale (you can read this via level and span commands).

For that application, a trigger output to activate a conventional camera with flash would be handy.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Oops -seems like that keypad flex isn't up to lots of repeated openings and closing... 

[Fraser]

I have a similarly damaged flex I one of my TIC's.

Any thoughts on how you will repair this, or is the flex replaceable ?

[M. András]

repair video is coming as i see

[ixfd64]

Does the E4/E8 need to be up close to the item you're viewing, or could I look out my apartment window with the thing and see the heat signitures of people walking 4 streets down?

I'm also curious about the effective range of thermal cameras. While I wouldn't expect one to be able to pick up the surface temperature of the Moon, there must be some distance up to which we can get an accurate measurement.

[Fraser]

Range depends very much upon the lens fitted. A 45 Degree lens has a shorter range than say a 5 degree telephoto lens. It is little different to an optical lens capability in this respect. Obviously sensitivity of eth micro-bolometer is also part of the equation. The E series have decent sensitivity across the model range.

I will dig out my specs on lens versus maximum distance for you. The target is usually a human for such specs as the usage is often security.

In case anyone is unaware....a TIC will NOT see through glass so you would have to open a window to see outside.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Fortunately there's plenty of spare length, and it's 1mm pitch.


Would have replaced it but the key PCB is sandwiched under the plastic fascia that looks like it's glued in.

[olsenn]

Mike saves the day

[Monkeh]

Oops -seems like that keypad flex isn't up to lots of repeated openings and closing...

When are they ever?

[Fraser]

FLIR have a decent document on maximum range of a TIC. I attach it for your information.

I have looked at the sky with my PM695 and on the -40 to +120 Degrees Celcius range, clear sky reads -34 Degrees Celcius. It is colder than -34 at high altitudes on the edge of space....around -50 Degrees IIRC. So the camera does not accurately read true 'space' temperatures but maybe 'sees' atmospheric temperatures up to its maximum range.
The moon may be seen as it is reflecting the suns rays towards Earth. I cannot recall what temperature it read but I very much doubt such would be anywhere near accurate. My 695 has a 24 Degree lens and X4 zoom, so the equivalent lens would be 6 Degrees at full zoom, but the moon still looked awful small in the viewfinder ! With a wide angle lens such as fitted on the E series, observation of the moon would be challenging.

[dr.diesel]

Mike saves the day

Just made Hack-a-day again as well!

http://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e4-thermal-camera-hacked-to-perform-as-high-end-model/

[Wann]

Mike saves the day

Just made Hack-a-day again as well!

http://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e4-thermal-camera-hacked-to-perform-as-high-end-model/

Almost 400 guests. Wow...

So FLIR Sweden is like  tomorrow?

[Hypernova]

Hack a Day is off their game, that it took this long was a damn Christmas miracle.

[Mavro]

I've gotten into Service Mode on the i7, but the display is largely the same; there aren't enough pixels on the LCD to show 320x240! Although doug this on an i3 would probably show i7 resolution in Service Mode. The main obstacle to converting the i7 to i3 and back is the EEPROM password. Any ideas?

I'm in the same spot -- EEPROM is locked.  Do we have the password?

[Mavro]

Now heres a question for you all......
There are a lot of FLIR i3's out there........Hmmmmm I wonder if they can be upgraded in a similar manner ? i3's should be being discounted soon, and cheaper on the used marketplace due to the E4's arrival. We know the i7 can be hacked.

AFAIUI the i3 can be made into an i7, which was the subject of the lost email, but even the i7 is only 120x120

Is this posted somewhere?   I am in service mode -- but it seems like the EEProm is locked to change the camera name from FLIR_i3 to FLIR_i7?

[Taucher]

@hackaday:
It's not a wonder - no dedicated topic blogging about it but all info hidden deep in some comments to a teardown...

... btw - I can confirm that the E4 is priced at ~$896 (free UPS ground shipping within continental US) when requesting a quote from http://valuetesters.com - unfortunately it seems there's not a human processing that request - the comments get ignored (intl. shipping).

According to my estimations that would equal to somewhere around 980€ EDIT2: 1008€ shipped & taxed to Germany - with roughly $180 for UPS expedited and paid via Paypal (5% exchance losses there)...
... still approx. 160€EDIT2: 130€ below the cheapest european source I could find. (EDIT: JFYI - I have my order running already - went for an EU source)

EDIT2: depends on which customs tariff code would be applied... this one is the safer guess

Currently I'm owning a chinese FLIR knockoff (older model) with 160x120 res. and some issues - so will join the E4 owners soon

[BravoV]

Mike, since you're the thread starter, I think its time to update the 1st post with summary and few notes, like the one you've done at post #524 -> HACK SUMMARY, especially with the influx of new users here after the Hack a day announcement, otherwise this thread will be flooded with basic requests and questions about the hack.

[aargee]

Actually I though Mike's post #524 was the latest and greatest? But yes, pinning it to the front of the thread is a good idea.