Flir E4 Thermal imaging camera teardown

[heavybarrel]

@freak_ge
I did change mine in the eeprom but it does not change  it in the camera. However.... i did not know about changing it in the flashFS confkit.rev file!! Thanks for the info!!

[pomonabill221]

@heavybarrel... from what I remember, yes it was the x/y values for the box... don't remember the particulars right now, but I will take a look and even try "nudging" the values so the frame doesn't overlay the text boxes.
It might be a while as I am doing other things, but I will let you know!

[iDevice]

So I've sent like 6 emails at least to LuneValley3D trying various methods, the contact form and the direct email address with never a reply back.  I also tried sending from different email addresses in case on was getting flagged as spam.  Quite frustrating.  Shapeways wants like $30 to print the lens holder.  I did try to PM a forum member who said he'd print them for $5+ship, but still no word back from him after many days.

Does anyone know of a place that can print the lens holder for me at a reasonable cost?  Thanks!

Lunevalley3D was responsive on my first order, a few month ago.
But I needed to have several mail exchanges before they actually shipped, I guess they were beginning to crawl under too many orders already.
But on my second order a couple of weeks later, they became very unresponsive.
After a while and several mails reminders, Dale eventually apologized, arguing that they were indeed overwhelmed and that they were installing new printers.
I eventually got my second order but it was not of the same quality as the first one though.

Still, they provided me with excellent quality 3d prints for an incredibly low price, so it was worth some patience.
But I'm afraid, reading this, that what I suspected at that time is still true: it seems to be a one guy business.
I guess he bought a 3D printer and decided to monetize it by offering a printing service but without thinking about the logistics.

But that doesn't change the fact that I'm a happy customer, so I would say, try again and be patient...

[heavybarrel]

@freak_ge
I did change mine in the eeprom but it does not change  it in the camera. However.... i did not know about changing it in the flashFS confkit.rev file!! Thanks for the info!!

Where is 'in the camera'? What screen should display 'E8'?

In the settings/device settings/camera information. First line shown is Model________ E41.1
Im pretty sure that is where the other gentleman was looking for it to say E8. When you change it to E8 in the eeprom flir tools recognizes it as an E8 when it tags the photos, as well as the resolution being 320x240. I am convinced without even having tried it yet that modifying the confkit file will change it in the camera info screen.  It is laid out with the hardware id in the file exactly as it is shown on the info screen. I will not be scared off by the "DO NOT EDIT" comment at the beginning of the file!!!!

@ponomabill 221
Very good! I am curious to see what affect the nudging of the x/y values does. That might be a winner!!

[heavybarrel]

That's precisely why i don't think changing the 4 to an 8 will have any negative effects. Kudos for pointing out where the change needs to be made! Much appreciated and thanks for the great advice you have provided! This might just be the best thread in history!!!!!

[Rainer]

@Taucher: Did you use a good QT-Dev-Tool for modifiying the menues? Then i will do some modifications on your BETA for my TIC and fix some minor things


And i have some special ideas and a long list of wishes for the next BETA  (and i will help to realize them, if it is possible and if there is an handy tool for this)

Code: [Select]

- separate the settings-menue in "Measurement_Settings", "Device_Settings" and "Device_Info"
      - "Measurement_Settings":  Material, Distance(with smaller steps), Refl. Temp, Humidy and the "Alarms"(Insulation, Condensation, Diff-Reference, Intervall-Min and Intervall-Max)
      - "Device_Settings": Region, Clock, Power, x- and y- parallax-Correction, rotation of the display, Save-Options, USB-Mode etc.
      - "Device_Info": Memory usage, % of Battery, USB-Mode(Charging/UVC activ /RNDIS activ), internal Temp-Sensor, Version-Info

      - if it is possible, 3 Pictures to store:
            - IRonly(320x240), CAMonly(640x480) and selected_View(MSX,PIP,Zoom etc) with spots and meters
            - more selections in "Save_Options" for: digital t/f, IR t/f, Screen t/f and meters t/f)
     
      - if it is possible: send simple signals via usb for an usb-microcontroller(Arduino/RasperryPi...)  to have some external options(LED-Flashlight, external display for temperature values

      - cut all the redundant options and the demo-modes, fix the condensation-setting

- a new Picture-Mode with histogramm (the Pictogramm for digital-camera-mode will suggest such a function in the TIC)

- some new Measure-Modes:
      - new measure modes "cold spot-spot", "cold spot-temp" and "hot-cold-delta"
      - new measure-modes "average in the box", "spot-average", "cold spot-average","hot spot-average"
      - new measure-mode "average and standard-deviation"
      - delete the empty-"box"-line in hot/cold/center-Meter or in Diff-Meter to get more visible screen

      - in all box-measure-modes make the box bigger (to the edge of scales and meters) and resizing the measure-box with zoom
      - when select a pip-mode, make the box as big as the pip-screen is

- remove the "reset scale" option (by the way, there is auto, manual and fixed) and make a new "preset-scale", with setable values in the Measurement-Settings

- a new pallette "Standard-Deviation" with selectable Sigma and a lightgray mask over all Pixels outside of the selected standard-deviation(like the "interval", but inverse and set to sigma-factor)

- some special short-keys in the Main-Screen/TIC-mode:
      - short tip to Powerkey for a command to a external Light or Laserspot
      - hold the selection-key and tipping the trigger set the zoom to 1x->2x->4x->8x
      - hold the trigger-key start video or a series of pictures
      - press the return-key start a calibration
      - hold the return-key for 5 seconds to reset the parameters
      - short tip to cursors to set the ref-values if some of them in screen (Condensation, Insulation, Diff-Measure-Ref-Temp)
      - long tip to cursors:
                - to move the spot in MSX/IR-Modes with spot
                - to move the Measure-Box in MSX/IR-Modes with Measurebox visible (and the spot moves too and will be in the center of the box anyways)
                - to move the PIP-Box in PIP-Modes (and the measurebox will have the same borders like the PIP-Box and the spot will be in the center of the box)


[Taucher]

@Taucher: Did you use a good QT-Dev-Tool for modifiying the menues? Then i will do some modifications on your BETA for my TIC and fix some minor things

Nope - just Notepad++, Strings.exe, a hex-editor, Linux, GCC+QT (for RCC reversing) and my brain
Some diffing to Exx firmware helped also.

A remark on resizing the delta-measurements: there's some strange mechanism that's using the presets for delta-stuff to populate the registry values, but it also seems to be cached. I consider the delta modes somehow "cosmetic" as the real value lies in thermal resolution.

And i have some special ideas and a long list of wishes for the next BETA  (and i will help to realize them, if it is possible and if there is an handy tool for this)

- separate the settings-menue in "Measurement_Settings", "Device_Settings" and "Device_Info"
      - "Measurement_Settings":  Material, Distance(with smaller steps), Refl. Temp, Humidy and the "Alarms"(Insulation, Condensation, Diff-Reference, Intervall-Min and Intervall-Max)
      - "Device_Settings": Region, Clock, Power, x- and y- parallax-Correction, rotation of the display, Save-Options, USB-Mode etc.
      - "Device_Info": Memory usage, % of Battery, USB-Mode(Charging/UVC activ /RNDIS activ), internal Temp-Sensor, Version-Info

That should mostly be possible - but I'm fine with the current setup

      - if it is possible, 3 Pictures to store:
            - IRonly(320x240), CAMonly(640x480) and selected_View(MSX,PIP,Zoom etc) with spots and meters
            - more selections in "Save_Options" for: digital t/f, IR t/f, Screen t/f and meters t/f)       

that's limited to the options already available via registry (firmware) - I remember seeing such settings - even to store PNG files... but the current "hybrid" image is quite perfect as one can extract the data later and use the post-processing-tools.

      - if it is possible: send simple signals via usb for an usb-microcontroller(Arduino/RasperryPi...)  to have some external options(LED-Flashlight, external display for temperature values

IMHO the only usable E4 putput is USB -> RNDIS+Video ... there's a thread to record the E4 data to a RPI  -check it out.
RNDIS gives your access to a serial console -> something that allows full "remote" control.

You could of cause also tap the real serial console or I2C bus ... but it won't be fun - if you really NEED a flashlight or external display, then get a more advanced model or re-thing what you really NEED - many ideas tend to be complicated while the simplest solution seems to be even too trivial to consider - like using your hand to switch on and/or hold a flashlight.
PS: most often you don't need stuff - measuring a spot value -> get a cheap (<20€) IR thermometer.

      - cut all the redundant options and the demo-modes, fix the condensation-setting

@cut redundant stuff: you can always modify your config to remove entries that "bore" you.
@condensation: what's wrong with it?

- a new Picture-Mode with histogramm (the Pictogramm for digital-camera-mode will suggest such a function in the TIC)

get a DSLR or write a post-processing tool to display histogram over USB-videodevice

- some new Measure-Modes:
      - new measure modes "cold spot-spot", "cold spot-temp" and "hot-cold-delta"
      - new measure-modes "average in the box", "spot-average", "cold spot-average","hot spot-average"
      - new measure-mode "average and standard-deviation"
      - delete the empty-"box"-line in hot/cold/center-Meter or in Diff-Meter to get more visible screen

      - in all box-measure-modes make the box bigger (to the edge of scales and meters) and resizing the measure-box with zoom
      - when select a pip-mode, make the box as big as the pip-screen is

3-spot mode does hot-cold etc...
BOX mode -> "crashy" implementation and not funny... if you have way too much time: mock around with advanced measurement rset.
@standard-deviation ... WTF? -> use post-processing tools
@delete the empty-"box" -> try mocking around with the settings/presets

all incl. the wishes sound like "featuritis" - my wish is just a way to execute a .exe from the menu/keyboard (prio #1)

- remove the "reset scale" option (by the way, there is auto, manual and fixed) and make a new "preset-scale", with setable values in the Measurement-Settings

that's commenting out one line - but the option can save a click ... so I left it there.

- a new pallette "Standard-Deviation" with selectable Sigma and a lightgray mask over all Pixels outside of the selected standard-deviation(like the "interval", but inverse and set to sigma-factor)

feel free to contribute it - one can load any .pal file over telnet for testing

- some special short-keys in the Main-Screen/TIC-mode:
      - short tip to Powerkey for a command to a external Light or Laserspot
      - hold the selection-key and tipping the trigger set the zoom to 1x->2x->4x->8x
      - hold the trigger-key start video or a series of pictures
      - press the return-key start a calibration
      - hold the return-key for 5 seconds to reset the parameters
      - short tip to cursors to set the ref-values if some of them in screen (Condensation, Insulation, Diff-Measure-Ref-Temp)
      - long tip to cursors:
                - to move the spot in MSX/IR-Modes with spot
                - to move the Measure-Box in MSX/IR-Modes with Measurebox visible (and the spot moves too and will be in the center of the box anyways)
                - to move the PIP-Box in PIP-Modes (and the measurebox will have the same borders like the PIP-Box and the spot will be in the center of the box)

sorry, stopped reading at laser...
You can try digging into the RCC - there are some keyboard bindings and scripts defined - I currently don't have spare time to play with my E4 menu... and unless there's some nice contribution to my BTC account (https://blockchain.info/address/1DsaYDGWXEYhEKLrfrbFyYsehaAtfBWawf) I'll have to spend time earning a living.

[Taucher]

PS @Delta modes:
I figured that the original box-size was quite "small" with a purpose - to allow the user to aim at a certain part/area during inspection work - then the auto function would optimizie the "aiming" in order to find the hot/cold peak.

This might be less relevant when wanting to inspect a room - but usually it's pretty usable just "as is" so I left it at the Flir presets.

[preacher]

I made the upgrade and camera seems to work fine. However, I don't seem to be able to connect again in filezilla with the given ftp info(i.e. IP, name, and password). Any ideas for me? I get a timeout.

Did you try a coldboot on the camera?

I tried the cold boot, tried multiple IP as suggested in other posts - no luck. Did not get ping on the IP's I tried. Still searching.

[Rainer]

@Taucher:

I´m totally fine with my TIC.

I´m just playing around and looked into the files on it and have some ideas. Because, its funny to see the difference between the TIC in the package and now.
You are right and i should go to sleep instead of playing with the TIC

[Nemonic]

Did i read someone mention a setting to invert/flip the display upside down in a hidden menu?

I've ordered a couple of lenses and printed a lens tube/attachment to play around with adding some magnification. I've gone for a simple two lens approach to test the idea but this will result in an inverted image. If there was an option it would simplify the lens construction if the prototype works out. If there is not setting to invert the display, then a 3rd erector lens needs to be added and while testing with optical lenses it was a challenge to get a good image, so ideally a soft solution would be best if there is one.

If anyone's interested i've ordered the 25mm and 101mm ZnSe 18mm dia lenses which should result in a 4x scope. Having printed the lens holder the FOV looks very narrow and i am sceptical how well it will work, we shall see.

[Sofia]

Hello,
please help. Trying to change the name to E8.
First Open the website is slow. This probably indicates a problem. It takes about 1 minute. Then I see this in the picture. Unlock deal. After entering the code "1235" appears in the same picture.

What is the problem? Thank you for your help.

unlocked E4 - 1.19.8.

[tomas123]

And i have some special ideas and a long list of wishes for the next BETA  (and i will help to realize them, if it is possible and if there is an handy tool for this)

- some special short-keys in the Main-Screen/TIC-mode:
      - hold the trigger-key start video or a series of pictures

a month ago I asked taucher how to add this nice feature but yet we don't implement this

Here some notes:

take a RAW video seq with E4
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/flir-e4-thermal-imaging-camera-teardown/msg377140/#msg377140

sample for using rset to start a script:

Code: [Select]

> rset appl.supv.exec "cmd /c date /T"
Sat 2/15/2014

//as script
> echo date /T > \flashifs\1.cmd
> rset appl.supv.exec "cmd /c \flashifs\1.cmd"
    \>date /T
    Sat 2/15/2014
there is a interesting comment out code segment in the state machine menu ( setResource = rset )
facet_z3.rcc /Desktop.xml

Code: [Select]

        // Debug code - testing set/get of resources
//        else if (event.key === Qt.Key_1) {
//            greenbox.setResource(".image.sysimg.measureFuncs.mbox.1.active", "true")
//        }
//        else if (event.key === Qt.Key_2) {
//            greenbox.setResource(".image.sysimg.measureFuncs.mbox.1.active", "false")
//        }
a special rset command for setting a value  (used in Tauchers menu)
/FlashBFS/system/ui.d/*.xml the generic type="SettingValueItem"
 

Code: [Select]

   <ui_model_item type="SettingValueItem" ID="IDhackSetAlarmRelAirHumidity" label="Condensation: Current rel. hum (0.5)" valueType="humidity" min="0.1" max="1.0" step="0.1" sort="down" stepAcceleration="false" resource=".image.sysimg.alarms.humidity.1.relAirHumidity"/>
another experiment:

download the firmware for the Flir Exx (with movie function)
flir_exx_pn645_pn646_v3.12.7_update_pack.zip
extract the toolbar-config_e2.xml

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ToolBars>
  <ToolBar name="archive">
    <ToolBar name="archive_edit"/>
    <ToolBar name="archive_text_annotation"/>
    <ToolBar name="archive_voice_annotation">
      <ToolBar name="archive_voice_annotation_play" />
      <ToolBar name="archive_voice_annotation_record" />
      <ToolBar name="archive_voice_annotation_delete" />
    </ToolBar>
    <ToolBar name="archive_info"/>
    <ToolBar name="archive_delete"/>
  </ToolBar>

  <ToolBar name="archiveVideo">
    <ToolBar name="archive_video_play"/>rename to toolbar-config_Z3.xml and copy to E4

now you have the Exx GUI on the E4
here is a screenshot from the E4

but the video function doesn't work - need a working media server to convert RAW to MOVIE
see ADDMENU-BETA3.zip\ADDMENU\Extras-for-manual-use\FlashBFS\system\MediaServer.exe (stolen from Exx)

[tomas123]

First Open the website is slow. This probably indicates a problem. It takes about 1 minute.

I can confirm this error.
You have a (Flir) driver problem.

[Rainer]

Today in the evening, i will check with "rls" for some new options and will do a complete template(there are not all possible options in the  e8-config.)

for example: there are some video-parameters set to false as default in .caps.ui
maybe that will activate this features "out of the box"

Other theme is the frame-rate: My mention is, the framerate on internal display is higher than the framerate on the uvc. and also the rate is higher in "flir-tools-live-access" then in my video-tools using the TIC as a webcam. Did flir use a special(non-uvc) protokoll for this?

[Fraser]

@Rainer,

There was some discussion on the UVC frame rate plus FLIR's protocol in the following thread.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/capturing-video-from-flir-e4-to-portable-device/

It may answer your questions ?

[Sofia]

First Open the website is slow. This probably indicates a problem. It takes about 1 minute.

I can confirm this error.
You have a (Flir) driver problem.

And can it be repaired? Tested on a PC with XP and the same result.

Thank you for your help.

[egmiii]

My v1.22 E4 should arrive in the mail today. Can the resolution upgrade and menu hack be done from a 32bit Windows XP machine or is 64bit Windows 7 required?

[tomas123]

And can it be repaired? Tested on a PC with XP and the same result.

With one of my PCs (a Win7x64 Host) I have the same problem.
As workaround I installed a clean Win7 virtual machine and connected the E4 (USB 2.0) with the VM and all works fine.

[Brickmaster]

FWIW, I used Win 7, 64 bit.

[mitwis]

Hello, please help
My Flir E4 is bad after the upgrade there is no resolution and no menu too. 
firmware 2.21
I will be very glad if you help

[Taucher]

Hello, please help
My Flir E4 is bad after the upgrade there is no resolution and no menu too. 
firmware 2.21
I will be very glad if you help

1.21 I assume ... you should have read this forum - the solution for your question is inside.

[Chanc3]

Another hour - but I've caught up at last (for now!). Great to see you have rehacked the E4 (after it was meant to be made a lot more difficult to hack). I bet Flir is absolutely loving all this exposure! Just seems a bit of an annoyance for anyone who bought an E8.

[homestea]

Hello guys, have any of you tried using Flir Tools+ with the hacked E4 yet? Im using the 30 day trial and can get the live video feed, but it doesnt give me the option to record the stream or do any analysis on the live feed (graphs, etc). is there any way to enable this content or perhaps to trick Flir tools that a E60, etc is attached?   

[heavybarrel]

Don't quote me on this but if you purchase the full version those features might be available. Sometimes trial software is limited
even when it says fully functional. They make you aware of features but don't allow you to use them.