FLIR PM695/595 Teardown/ PC Connectivity / Firmware modifications

[Ratatosk]

Hello to all of you.
I'm new here and bought a PM 675 for a small price.  The unit is in a bad cosmetical shape and I'm willing to fix the optical aspects as good as I can. The battery charger is cracked and I'm thinking of buying a new one.
Does anyone know if there are second sources for the batteries and the charger. I can't imagine that FLIR sells enough of them to make an OEM product.
Last night I placed aluminum foil unter the push buttons to make them conduct again. I cleaned the inside of the camera during this procedure and hope I can close it again today.
Anyway it would be interesting to make a firmware update to unlock the features of the firmware. Has anyone a clue to do that.

[Fraser]

When you charge over $50,000 for a product you can afford to employ propriatary batteries and chargers. Such is the case with the PM675. There is no other source of the batteries or the charger and both are very expensive spare parts. You can run the camera from an external 12V supply/battery using the 10 pin Lemo socket.  The batteries are a speciality product so no 3rd party became interested in producing copies. Such is the situation with FLIR's latest cameras. \Not enough are sold to justify copying the format. Thankfully the batteries are a simple 'non intelligent' design.

The battery is not a complex shape and I had planned to make some alternatives by sandwiching the required 11 'A' size cells (AA could be used) in a frame made from PCB material and some long spacers (forming a box shape). In the end I managed to buy some PM695 cameras with a full compliment of 8 batteries. The OEM battery packs may be easily re-celled and placed back into service. Some companies also offer such a service but it is definitely DIY possible as I have done it. New batteries from FLIR are around $200 each.

Suggest you repair the charger. It is quite a sophisticated design and worth saving. The use of modelling plasticard and plastic-weld fluid works well in my experience on other products. You really do not want to know the price of a replacement charger form FLIR (>$1000) ! It would be cheaper to build or modify a custom charger solution. I used to lay the batteries on top of a couple of spring contacts that matched the spacing of the charging terminals and used a radio control type charger designed to cope with various cell formats and capacities, I used the Ansmann X-Base Deluxe universal chargers. An easy to produce charging solution that worked well until I got the correct chargers with other camera purchases. I used teh same adpater plate to test the batteries cappacity using a CBA III battery discharge analyzer.

The PM series had the option to be powered from a battery belt. I have two such belts and they are not just a battery pack. They also contain a low voltage detection and cut-off circuit. Nothing too sophisticated though. The battery belt uses the same batteries as found in the camera but a 12V pb battery would work Ok as well. Do not exceed 15V into the external power input !.

With regard to conductive button pad repair, take a look here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/key-pad-repair-KIT-for-Infrared-remote-controllers-Genuine-/221679086778?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339d1a6cba

I am impressed with this solutions performance and have bough several packs myself.

Good luck with your restoration.

Aurora

[philpem]

With regard to assistance from FLIR. I regret that there is little chance of that. I contacted virtually every service agent in the world trying to get any technical information on the PM series cameras. I met a brick wall in all but one case. And even then the tech was severely constrained by an NDA and ITAR regulations. He was able to confirm that the cameras are very reliable, built like a battleship and well worth maintaining in service  He also pointed me towards a likely cause of a fault on one of my PM570's. The service centres board change only, and then calibrate. I reverse engineered the CPU board on the PM570...... not an easy task and basically it turns out to be little more than a standard MC68340 embedded computer. I used an old Atari ST 520 computer to learn about the MC68000 and read lots of books on repairing embedded computers. I later proved that the fault did not lye on that PCB    I now know quite a lot about the guts of these cameras though 

I'm impressed you managed to get through to anyone at FLIR -- I managed to get a response from their HQ regarding an issue with my ThermaCam E2 (it won't work with the ThermaCam QuickReport software). I was informed it needed a firmware update and asked to contact FLIR UK, contacted FLIR UK... and got absolute radio silence.

In the end I found out the E2 (or at least my E2) uses an older software app which sets up a Dial Up Networking connection (PPP!) and the camera appears as a network drive. Thankfully it also speaks FTP, so pppd and ftp on a Linux box works just as well as the old (Win9x/2k-only IIRC) software!

[Fraser]

I now have friends in the international FLIR hardware support network 

Aurora

[Ratatosk]

Ok, the buttons are in place again an working fine with the aluminium foil. I repair all off them - no interest in further surprises.
Does anybody have the thermacam software for watching the radiometric files on the PC ?
The firmware inside the camera is 4.08 Edit 5. Is this the latest one ?

Greetings

[Fraser]

You need Explorer99 to read the files. It was a free download.

I have Explorer99 plus the comprehensive Researcher and reporter software.The last two are commercial and very expensive !

I believe I downloaded Explorer99 from either Agema or FLIR via the Wayback machine. A copy of the site from around 2004 had the file for download. Have a search and you should find it.

You will not find any legitimate downloads of researcher or reporter though. They have two factor authentication and require on line activation in order to use them.

While I applaud your confidence in the aluminium foil solution, I regret I do not share it. Aluminium oxidises and fails relatively quickly.  Good luck though.

Aurora

[Fraser]

In case anyone wonders.... the PM series were designed to take a PCMCIA hard disk or flash card. They will work fine with a PCMCIA to CF card converter provided you use a 512Mb or smaller CF card. The CF cards can be read more easily using a USB/CF bridge than a PCMCIA reader which is relatively rare these days.

Aurora

[Fraser]

Thermacam Explorer99 should still be available for free download here:

http://flir.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/366/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNDIzMzUzMDc5L3NpZC9rSlQtQnJlbQ%3D%3D/~/thermacam-explorer-and-windows-vista

You will need to register with FLIR to gain access though.

http://flir.custhelp.com/app/utils/login_form/redirect/account%252Ffl_download_software

It is too big a file to post the file on EEVBlog (approx 4MB)

Aurora

[Fraser]

@Ratatosk,

You mentioned issues with the optics on your camera.

Please do not be tempted to use harsh cleaning agents or polish on the lenses. Such will make a bad situation much worse. Ask if you need any advice on cleaning AR coated Germanium lenses.....its easy to ruin them ! Removing the hardened AR coating reduces the lens elements transmission capability from >86% to <40% 

Please also advise me of your location in the world.

Regards

Fraser

[Ratatosk]

@Aurora
I'm located in germany.
Yesterday I installed the free tool "FLIRQuickReport". It is able to read the files and make also some measurements inside them.
I tried Explorer99 today but it is for 32bit OS only and I'm using Win7 (64 Bit).

[Fraser]

@ratatosk,

Your camera appears to be working well  these cameras were designed to take a beating and still work. Any chance of a picture of your camera to see its condition ?

I was advised by a FLIR service agent that these late PM series cameras were the best that FLIR ever produced in terms of stability and build quality. At calibration they rarely need any adjustment and are rock solid within specs. Much like fine German car engineering  I have used later P series Industrial models and have to admit that I did not like them...... They felt like a cheaper build quality and seemed to suffer from dead microbolometer pixel issues. Later models apparently also need more attention at calibration time to meet spec. The PM series is still much respected in Industry. Newer is not always better, or even as good. You have done well to find a PM595. Be aware that it is liable to ITAR if you ever sell it. It has a military grade microbolometer fitted.

I was not sure that Quick report would manage to extract the metadata from the img files. Great to hear that it does 

Aurora

[Ratatosk]

Hi Aurora,
thank you for your help.
The US ITAR regulations are not relevant for us in germany. Furthermore this is a european camera made in Sweden. But anyway I won’t sell this to suspect people in suspect countries.
By the way: The competitors here are reaching HD quality (1.024 x 768) in the commercial cameras now.
http://de.infratec.eu/thermografie/waermebildkameras/variocamr-high-definition.html

The cosmetic condition is quite poor as you can see in the pictures. I think about rebuilding the inscription on the buttons with white stickers (R, C, A, RETURN). White paint wouldn’t be possible with my nervous hands…
Next step will be the hand strap. Seems as if King Kong used this thing...

[Ratatosk]

...more pics...

[Fraser]

I've seen worse 

Just to clarify on ITAR.....Germany signed up to the Wassennar Arrangement. As such ITAR applies and is a serious matter if you find yourself on the wrong side of it. The microbolometer is what ITAR covers in your camera. It is a USA made Raytheon part, ITAR applies    The PM series cameras operate at 320x240 60fps so are still a heavily controlled product, unlike the 9fps cameras like the FLIR E4.

I only make this clarification because it is possible to get into trouble if selling one of these cameras across boarders without an ITAR compliant Export licence. I wouldn't wish that upon you if you decide to sell the camera at some point in time. I suggest that you do NOT contact FLIR regarding your camera....they WILL ask awkward questions about how it came into your possession and will want to capture your personal details for ITAR registration. To the letter of the law the previous owner of your camera should not have sold it or passed it to anyone else without informing FLIR so that the new owner could be vetted. All a bit cloak and dagger I know but I am not here to comment on the rights and wrongs of ITAR and the Wassennar arrangement 

Enjoy your camera, its not an issue to own and use it in Germany

I have seen the newer high resolution cameras. The BBC use a SELEX Merlin high resolution thermal camera for their Springwatch and Autumnwatch wildlife series. Sadly it will be a long time before they appear on the secondary market at a price I could afford. Once again ITAR raises its ugly head on these units as well. I have done business with SELEX .... they would not sell such a camera to a member of the public unless all manner of checks were completed first.

http://wildlifegadgetman.com/filming-wildlife-hands-on-with-the-merlin-thermal-imaging-system/

Aurora

[Fraser]

If you need any more information on the PM series, I will try to assist.

Some things that come to mind are:

1. The user manual is available for free on line from FLIR
2. The Viewfinder can go intermittent but is repairable. It also suffers from dust ingress but can be dismantled to clean it.
3. The camera benefits greatly from an external LCD monitor of 5" or greater and decent resolution.
4. RS232 control of the camera is possible. The command set is the same as the SC3000.
5. The camera has a second (internal) engineering RS232 port 
6. A wired remote control is available for the PM series. I have some but they are quite rare.
7. The RTC clock battery is available from Farnell and is a 'powercap' type.
8. Auxiliary lenses sometimes come up on e*ay USA. I recommend the 0.45x and 2x. Expect to spend around Euro250 on each though.

Aurora

[Ratatosk]

Hm.
Dual-Use products are always questionable. I think it is even tricky to sell them within NATO countries. You never know...
Even the FLIR Identifinder (AKA "ICx", FLIR R400) is now a dual-use item, as I learned.
It wasn't when ICX RADIATION started with this product in Solingen (Germany).
Anyway the SELEX Merlin high resolution camera is a nice thing. It has the same 2048x1536 resolution with Microscan as the german product (and no ITAR controlled parts !!!). I wonder how far the development will go with the microbolometer.

Concerning the possible extensions of the Thermacam 675 I think about pimping the firmware and using LEMO plugs for some extension. Do you have the correct article numbers, pinning and so on ?
Especially the external LCD monitor is a nice gadget.

Have a nice evening!

[Fraser]

@Ratatosk,

The pinout of all the Lemo connectors is thankfully provided in the user manual but I do not think they provide the Lemo plug model numbers. I have them all so will take a look at the ID on them later. As you likely know, LEMO plugs are nice quality but also pretty expensive.

From memory the connectors used on the 675 are as follows (I will confirm later)

1. 10 Pin Lemo Plug FGG 2B 310 providing : 12V input, RS232 I/O, S-Video and optional 14bit Digital I/O.
2. 5 Pin Lemo FGG 0B 305 providing : Microphone input, earphone output.
3. 7 Pin Lemo FGG 0B 307 providing : Composite video out, 12V output to power LCD monitor

I would be very interested to know more about the firmware. AFAIK it is not Windows based but I do not know exactly what it is running either. As stated, there are two RS232 ports on the camera. One goes to the Lemo 10 pin connector and the other terminates on a ribbon connector mounted on the main LiCo PCB. One feature that I would like to 'unlock' is the high temperature filter that is fitted as standard to all PM series cameras. It is just not enabled in software. From memory the configuration could be changed using the PCMCIA card with appropriate file present, but I know nothing of that procedure.

IIRC The firmware resides on a large Intel E28F016 FLASH chip that I have not tried to read.
The RS232 is presented at the cameras ports after having passed through a LT1381 level converter.

Best Wishes

Fraser

[Ratatosk]

Ok, I will check some of them.

Thank you !

[Fraser]

I have just added a FLIR PM575 to my camera collection so can now offer comment on the following specific models of FLIR branded camera.

1. FLIR E4
2. FLIR PM570
3. FLIR PM575
4. FLIR PM695
5. FLIR SC500 (aka IR747)
6. FLIR SC3000 (Stirling cooled)

Note: The PM695 is a PM675 with a visible light camera bolted on. Internal PCB's are the same.

PM570 : Generation 1 microbolometer
PM575/595 : Generation 2 microbolometer
PM675/695 : Generation 3 microbolometer

Newer generations of microbolometer, combined with newer image processing algorithms, provide lower noise content in the images. The PM570 still offers excellent performance however and should not be considered 'inferior'. 

Aurora

[vcdenis]

Hi,

I am Vincent. I recently get a PM695 that was pretend to be dead. As a matter of fact, the battery was dead and the camera is perfectly fine! 

But after use, I noticed that the NiMh battery came only last an hour which is short time. I look up for batteries on Internet but 150$ for a battery is very expensive  . I paid 20$ to repairing mine.

I tried something else. I did buy the connector for the output plug and I hooked up a LiPo battery on it. I worked fine but I used a 3s battery with a voltage of 12,6V max with a nominal voltage of 11,1V. As you may noticed the camera switch itself off when it is powered under 12V to 13V. I was able to get 45min of power out of a 3300mAh that I cannot fully discharged.

So my plan is to rebuild a new baterry cas with a 3D printer and then put inside a 4S 14,8V LiPo 4500mAh battery in order to extend my time of use. With 2 or 3 battery of that type, I think that I should be able to last one full day of experimentation.

After some use, I think that this camera is pretty good and It is worth to put some time in it to get the maximum of it.

I hope that the info that I put in my message will help other guys and feel free to comment. I am intresting in any suggestions.

Best regards,

Vincent

[Chanc3]

Great to hear that the camera wasn't dead!

That sounds very promising - although you should be looking to get about 2 hours of use out of it.

If it helps, I have about 20 original unused, but low charge batteries. I have also been looking into the possibility of swapping out the cells inside, to use a LiPo or something similar to increase the charge.

I've actually managed to get my PM695 working wirelessly using a lemo connector, which I wired up to RS232. I've got a list of commands I can then send to the camera to operate the focus, palette, remove the silly FLIR logo, take an image etc. Lots can be done with them!

[vcdenis]

Yes, it would be great if one battery could old around 2 hours. I went on my favorite modelsim web site : hobbyking

I toul this : http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__65275__Multistar_High_Capacity_4S_4000mAh_Multi_Rotor_Lipo_Pack_EU_Warehouse_.html

It's a 4000mAh, 2x the capacity of the regular battery  . It's a 4S so it provide a power between 12,4 to 16,8V, so I should be able to get the maximum of it and keep the voltage sufficient for the camera.

I start modelling the battery case for 3D printing and I think that I will be able to fit a LiPo charger inside the case. Obviously, I will no longer need the big size 4 socket Flir charger. Using this little guy : http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__33407__Hobbyking_174_DC_4S_Balance_Charger_Cell_Checker_30w_2s_4s_EU_Warehouse_.html, I would only need a 9 to 16V supply.

I think that I can get my double capacity battery for 50$ : 1/3 of a Flir battery on Ebay.  O0

If your are intresting, I could post some pictures of my work.

Your work with the RS232 sounf very cool  I was thinking to do something like that but I was not able to find the list of commands. Could you send it to me by MP?

At the end, I hope to get a fully wireless system that I can command from a computer with some cool functions like video recording, motorized mouting head, etc... I do not lack of ideas for this little camera!

[Fraser]

@VCdennis,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on battery replacements. I do have a word of caution however. The internal battery connections are designed for a battery of p.d of 13.2V nominal from a 2Ah Ni-MH pack. I regret that I cannot provide a maximum battery voltage for you but please be aware that the power supply for the camera has two separate paths, one for battery and a separate one for external power. Whilst the external voltage range is quite generous and tolerant, I cannot guarantee the same for the internal battery regulator section. It is a well known test by FLIR engineers that if the camera will not work on battery, then try external power as the regulator path is different. Also, as I feel sure you are aware, the internal battery 'remaining charge' monitoring is calibrated for Ni-NH which has a very different discharge curve to Lithium Ion technologies.

I believe some care is needed when feeding alternative power in to the battery terminals. If you kill the main regulator PCB it is a challenging repair.

The safest way to power the camera for long durations is the battery belt feeding a suitable voltage into the external power port. I have two of the original AGEMA/FLIR battery belts. They are quite complex in that they have their own battery 'remaining charge' monitoring and cut-out. The external input carries decent protection and is designed to take a range of voltage without 'complaint'.

Take care

Fraser

[Fraser]

Still on the topic of batteries......

I have just bought a Genuine SKYRC B6AC+ universal charger to cycle my many FLIR batteries. I am hopeful that some of the lazy batteries can be brought up to a useful capacity.

I bought my B6AC+ directly from an Austrian official distributor as there are a great many clone units being sold as 'Genuine'. The quality of the clones is variable to say the least !

The B6AC+ can connect to a PC and both the charge and discharge curves may be plotted. I already own a CBA III battery analyzer but having the graphing facility in the B6AC+ is a bonus. The charge and discharge curves can tell you a lot about the condition of the battery cells.

The cost of the B6AC+ is more than justified as it will get a lot of use in my lab. I want a reliable charger and discharger that can automatically run a charge/discharge cycle several times. The B6AC+ can run a charge/discharge program of up to 5 cycles. Perfect for my needs    It even has a wireless connectivity option and a smartphone app !

I will be making a custom battery holder that the FLIR batteries will just rest in, using their weight to press on spring loaded 'pogo-stick' battery contacts.

If anyone else is interested in a genuine SKYRC B6AC+ you can buy it from Robitronic in Austria.

http://shop.robitronic.com/en/Brands/Sky-RC-robitronic/SkyRC-Charger-B6AC-V2-1-6s-6A-50W.html

The SKYRC web page is here:

http://www.skyrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=20&product_id=201

Aurora

[vcdenis]

Thank Aurora for pointing out the issue about the power voltage of the battery that might be different of the external feed. I think that I will open it again - I had to change the power botton - in order to check the power circuit on the battery side. I could also add a regulator circuit inside the battery in order to get something like a nice 13V.

I will measure the voltage of a fully charge Flir battery then I will think again about my design.

For the discharge monitoring, I will add a dedicated circuit inside the battery that monitor the lipo elements preventing a voltage under 3.1V per element.

I will do the checkings recommanded by Aurora and up date my design. I have a week before receiving the electronic for the battery so I will put it in good use by checking my design.

I also have one of this nice battery charger. They are probably better than the old Flir battery charger.