Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[mrflibble]

Just to be clear ... in menu go to "Camera information". Press right button for 10 seconds. USB mode menu now available.

The USB ID's for the various modes:

Code: [Select]

MSD                  : 09cb:ffff
UVC                  : 09cb:1004
RNDIS                : 09cb:1002
RNDIS and UVC        : 09cb:1005
RNDIS and MSD        : 09cb:1006
UVC and MSD (default): 09cb:1007
RNDIS, UVC and MSD   : 09cb:1005


[Taucher]

@Thread:
Just as clarification: I ment not modding the battery (flimsy plastic stuff) but to machine a replacement counterweight with overize on the front so there's place to add a thread into the metal part - but I'm not totally sure on the stability of the holding posts inside the grip.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Another step accomplished - .rcc is extracted 

deRcc attachment is the code used to unpack - repacking should work somehow like that

Wow, the QML is nicely documented, love that there are comments that explain why certain code is added.

..well if all that stuff is interpreted at runtime, no wonder it's so sluggish, but considering the hackability benefits, I can live with legacy code from other models running on a bloated OS..!

Presumably we now know enough to implement image mode toggle on the back button..?

At this rate someone's going to find the HDL for the FPGA hiding in there...

[scibit]

>That sucks.
Mine still says "On Hold"

I asked after I was onhold for 1 day and was told as a 1st time overseas billing address buyer shipping  to a US addr, they need me to send them a copy of the credit card and a bill showing my card address.  I thought I got the last ex-stock piece at tequipment, but no more I think.  I am in the process of getting from Sam of valuetesters that ship international, but after a day or 2, I am still waiting for a link to pay by paypal.  If it works, they may be the one to go with.   Tequipment is not ready for the international crowd of EEVBLOG.

I send them all that a couple of days ago, but I haven't heard anything since.
I ordered back when they still had 12 of them in stock, but I doubt they reserved one or anything

[mikeselectricstuff]

@Thread:
Just as clarification: I ment not modding the battery (flimsy plastic stuff) but to machine a replacement counterweight with overize on the front so there's place to add a thread into the metal part - but I'm not totally sure on the stability of the holding posts inside the grip.

Don't have it to hand but ISTR the plate has a slot that the case moulding sits inside all the way round, so as long as any adaptor avoided any major leverage it would probably be OK. It is a fairly complicated shap though - suppose you could make a casting from it. The scres are seltappers though so would need to be careful.

Another option may be a dummy/alternate battery - as it sits quite a way inside it should be stable and you could add an external power-in socket while you're at it.
It should certainly be feasible to 3D print a dummy battery plug for a crude tripod+power mount.
When it's tethered to USB I don't think it pulls enough current to keep it running indefinitley, so you probably need external power for timelapse recording.
 
And at some point we may see cheap Chinese clone batteries appearing, which would be a source for moulded parts.

[equinoxe]

Addressing Mike's annoyance that several keys are not mapped when using the device: :

In the desktop.qml there is the handling of the buttons.
I guess you could add your functions here..

There is this eg...
[..]
  // Touch and keyboard handling
    MouseArea {
        anchors.fill: parent
        onPressed: {
            if (!menus.menuOpen)
                longTapTimer.start()
        }

        onReleased: {
            // this is slighly tricky, the longTapTimer opens the menu, quickly followed by
            // the onReleased being called when the user releases the mouse. We have to avoid
            // closing it immediately after opening.
            if (menus.activeMenu === Menus.ZoomPopupMenu)
            {
                // but later, if the user clicks again, we have to close the zoom popup again
                // on single click.
                if (!longTapTimer.running)
                    menus.closeMenu();
            }
            else
               menus.toggleMenu(); // open the main menu
            longTapTimer.stop()
        }
    }

[..]

[Taucher]

The repackaging script works perfectly ...
Flir logo: gone
Missing Icons: they all show up now (extra images came from the Exx series firmware)

I'll do some alpha tests, then release all changes as one package

Note: do not blindly merge/overwrite with Exx-QML files - I did some diffing, the code has relevant differences and will not work out of the box.

Attachment: use only if you know what you're doing

[mikeselectricstuff]

A tool is certainly useful - the lens position complicates it as to have a tool that lets you turn while looking at the screen, without your fingers obscuring the view, it will need to be a sort of funnel shape. As the only thing the tool can grab is the curved notches in the lens, I'm pretty sure a plastic 3D print wouldn't have the edge definition - maybe a stereolithoraphed tool but not sure if it would be strong enough.
You probably want the end to be plastic to avoid damage to the lens housing.
I'm exploring some solutions - best I have so far is a cut-down PL259 plug sleeve and a polymorph moulded end.
I think something may be viable with a disc of PCB material and 2mm acrylic rod, but that doesn't solve the taper requirement to make it adjustable without fingers in view. 

[Pinkus]

A tool is certainly useful - the lens position complicates it as to have a tool that lets you turn while looking at the screen, without your fingers obscuring the view, it will need to be a sort of funnel shape. As the only thing the tool can grab is the curved notches in the lens, I'm pretty sure a plastic 3D print wouldn't have the edge definition - maybe a stereolithoraphed tool but not sure if it would be strong enough.
You probably want the end to be plastic to avoid damage to the lens housing.
I'm exploring some solutions - best I have so far is a cut-down PL259 plug sleeve and a polymorph moulded end.
I think something may be viable with a disc of PCB material and 2mm acrylic rod, but that doesn't solve the taper requirement to make it adjustable without fingers in view.

Mike as you tried it already: how many 360° turns (approx.) does the lens need to focus down to lets say 10cm (4")? Just one or two or rather ten?

[mikeselectricstuff]

Hmmm, I have been doing some research on FLIR's past response to hacking by the general public.

It isn't looking good so potential purchasers should think about buying an E4 sooner rather than later.

The FLIR SCOUT PSxx handheld series comes in different versions with a significant price difference associated with more features. One such extra feature is composite video output. Users discovered that there were four gold contacts on the bottom of the unit. Two are the power supply input and the other two turned out to be composite video on all models including those that supposedly did not have the option fitted. Many users built simple contact plates that fitted to the nits base and tapped off the video feed.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2418562&page=all

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_18/400168_.html

FLIR's response..... they removed the composite video contacts on the lower end models and so forced users t open the unit to hack it internally.

..but they left the feed available internally.

Any way to get 320x240 from an E4 without soldering to it, even via serial console or service mode is a major win - everything else is icing.
The E4 target market is probably somewhat different to nigh-vision so attitude may be different in either direction.
ATAR issues on night vision scopes may also affect policy - I wonder if external video has any affect on export classification.

[Taucher]

Menu mod - Beta 3 - see attachment if you're an advanced user

EDIT: ATTENTION - NOT FOR 2.x or higher firmware - there do exist other solutions for recent cameras!

EDIT: Beta3 added - digital zoom, MSX fine-tuning, condensation (rel. hum) values can be changed
If you want the newest and brightest then you just need Beta3!

EDIT: Beta2 added with patched color palettes (thanks Peter) - see https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg331132/#msg331132
That patch fixes crashes in Lava and Arctic palettes (an BETA1 issue)
Beta1/2 screenshots: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg326292/#msg326292

Notice to MAC users only: Flir Tools seem to ignore your camera if you don't switch back your USB mode after applying the hack.

If you need additional instructions how to install the patch, then take a look here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg366426/#msg366426

EDIT: Removed outdated downloads:
* ADDMENU-BETA1.zip (473.5 kB - downloaded 102 times.)
* ADDMENU-BETA2.zip (473.58 kB - downloaded 87 times.)

DOWNLOAD BELOW

[scibit]

Just got an update from Tequipment. Estimated Ship Date: 12/04/2013.
So much for ordering it when they still had stock 

[Pinkus]

why don't you cancel and order somewhere else where they have stock?

[mikeselectricstuff]

Re. caps settings - I tried your last version last night with my standard e8.cfg and didn't notice anything obviously not there - will recheck later.
I assume you just do an 'enable everythng' in the .cfg to make sure.

You made a comment re. issue with advanced measurements & pallettes maybe having issues - one potential clash is fixed temp mode and user-settable palette thresholds, both potentially use the up/down buttons - One would hope that this works with the left/right buttons just selecting between all 4 functions instead of 3 in fixed mode - something worth checking!

[mikeselectricstuff]

At least with the new UI hacks there now isn't really any reason to ever update firmware on current units - I can't think of anything they could add that would make it really worth the risk.
As regards new units - it's just a case of wait & see. It does seem like the distribution pipeline is pretty short judging by cal dates we've seen, but any software change would go through their internal QA process.
May be interesting to look at file dates  on 1.19.x firmware as that is the latest release seen.

[scibit]

why don't you cancel and order somewhere else where they have stock?

That sounds like a good idea. If I can find somewhere that still has stock.
Might have to phone around.

[Pinkus]

why don't you cancel and order somewhere else where they have stock?

That sounds like a good idea. If I can find somewhere that still has stock.
Might have to phone around.

You can still order somewhere else where it is on stock. Just wait to cancel the other order until you received your unit. With the current ship date you've been told you have plenty of time. But even Flir-direct who had stock until today is now out of stock for the next 2-3 weeks and as far as I can see, all stock in Germany is also gone by now.

[scibit]

why don't you cancel and order somewhere else where they have stock?

That sounds like a good idea. If I can find somewhere that still has stock.
Might have to phone around.

You can still order somewhere else where it is on stock. Just wait to cancel the other order until you received your unit. With the current ship date you've been told you have plenty of time.

Just got off the phone with Ivy Tools. They had one in stock that they'd put aside for me, and said if I ordered now they'd ship it first thing on Monday.
Ended up being a little more expensive, but in the end I'd call it a win 

[edavid]

shopflir.com claims to have 2 in stock.

[ixfd64]

How hard would it be hard to write custom firmware for a thermal camera?

[Pinkus]

Ended up being a little more expensive, but in the end I'd call it a win 

Good decision!

[georges80]

My unit arrived yesterday afternoon (test equipment depot), ordered Tues.

Played with it for a few minutes in its 'e4' resolution and was underwhelmed. Performed the mikehack and it certainly makes it a tool versus a toy (imho). Resolution of course much improved as well as the overall image quality.

I've ordered a ZnSe lens on ebay, so hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll me able to use it for close up work on small PCB's. Right now at 0.5m it is 'ok' but not particularly great. A monocle is definitely needed for my application.

I haven't tried to fiddle with the built in lens - since I assume it wouldn't allow for close up work even if 'adjusted'. I'm looking to be able to get focus from 3 - 4" range. Am I right in assuming the ZnSe monocle is the right choice?


WRT FLIR E4 sales, yeah, I figure it is hurting their competition a lot more than it is FLIR...

A finally, I'm really really impressed with the hacking ability (and persistence) of a bunch of folk in this thread, kudos to all!

cheers,
george.

[ixfd64]

Fluke is offering huge rebates on their VT02 and VT04 units as part of their recent promo: http://www.testequity.com/documents/pdf/VT02-VT04-rebate.pdf

I wonder if this thread had anything to do with it.

[nixxon]

Just a few quick questions regarding the E4 after mucho hacking success:

Is it possible - with the most recent hack - to manually select Temperature Level in camera?

Is it possible to select - in camera - Temperature Span? And, if so, what is the minimum span? 2.5 degrees C or less is good.

If I didn't already own a Fluke TiR, I would probably buy this E4 thing, solely due to Mike and the Mechanic's hack. I am pretty happy with the TiR's manual focus, level control and -span.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Post 1000
That is all.