Thermal cameras

[The Meadows]

I live in the usually very hot and dry desert. I battle heat distribution problems constantly. I have 12 thermometers set up in and around my house feeding into an arduino to help me fight the heat. I have a laser temperature pointer that helps too. But I can't really tell how well its working.

Who hasn't seen a thermal camera output? Predator vision!

FLIR sells a standalone unit with a 640 x 480 pixel sensor for 32 grand. FLIR's least expensive standalone unit costs a grand and has a whopping 80 x 60 pixel sensor. Earlier this year, FLIR introduced the FLIR One for the Apple 5 cellphones. It has the same 80 x 60 sensor and only costs $350.

A few days ago I ran into Seek Thermal's website. They introduced their product about a month ago, a $199, 206 x 156 pixel, thermal imager that attaches to an Android phone. Mine's on order. Make that backorder. They're claiming huge demand and production delays. My invoice number is > 15000. Last I read, they had shipped a few thousand but they said backorders would be filled in a few weeks.

Not sure if I'm willing to put my $500 phone with a $200 camera in my foam drone. It would be nice to see my house from the sky tho.

 

[The Meadows]

Here is a 400 watt ballast.

And a 600 watt digital.

 

[The Meadows]

Here is a hood with a 600w bulb, on for 10 minutes.

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Same hood but fan running for 5 minutes.

 

[queequeg152]

FLIR makes a device called the E4...

the E4 is a software neutered E8, meaning it actually has a 320x240 sensor (a badass sensor), but its software down sampled to 60x80.

if you get an e4 with the proper firmware you can hack it to behave as though its an E8.

 

[The Meadows]

The FLIRs are super units. But nearly a grand for the E4 and four grand if you're not aware of the firmware hack for the E8.

In the Seek's favor is the price, <$200, weight, .5 oz vs 1.2 lbs, and the display. FLIR uses a 3" lcd. My Seek uses a 5", 1920 x 1080 display.

FLIR does a nifty trick by overlaying a visual image on top of the thermal image to make pretty pictures. Currently, Seek only images thermal, not visual.

Part of my security system:

 

[queequeg152]

the seek, and the other kick starter thermal cameras are certainly neat, but im not sure they going to be more than a curiosity device.

i cant see a home auditor using something like this.
the FLIR and fluke units can be smashed, dropped and hauled around into attics and such, this thing, probably not so much.

but yea, the cost of a similar resolution, a FLIR e6, is going to be 2k at least.

ive been doing alot of insulation retrofit and air sealing work, im curious though... what do you need such a device for?

 

[The Meadows]

what do you need such a device for?

Need? I'm an amateur astro photographer and have played quite a bit with microscopes. I think I have a desire, not need, to see the unseen.

I live in a very harsh environment. 115°F is not very unusual and below record temperatures. My summer electric bills are huge. The camera located two areas of lacking roof insulation. That alone might pay for the camera. It also confirmed a leaky sink was not completely fixed. If the temperature difference is great enough, I can see the studs and rafters to nail stuff to. I can check my car tires to see if they are heating uniformly or it needs an alignment or inflation. I have two identical 600 watt ballasts. One runs about 10°F hotter than the other. I'm not sure why but do have that info now. I have a few hobbies that it will come in useful for too.

I am a real estate appraiser and do home inspections. One of the requirements is to check that the utilities and appliances are on and functional. I had one assignment to do a final inspection to check the utilities. I brought the Seek along and it showed the water from the sink and fire from the stove much clearer than a visual photo. So its a business deduction too. I don't use the Seek for normal inspections due to liability concerns. But its a good way to check for water leaks. If I were a home inspector, I'd like to have a FLIR. But many inspectors can't afford a FLIR and use moisture sensors and laser thermometers.

I'm a bit of a geek tho. I have 14 thermometers throughout my property all being logged to a file server and displayed on a web page.

 

[blueberrydrumz]

you should try the drone idea as well.. really interesting !!

 

[queequeg152]

Need? I'm an amateur astro photographer and have played quite a bit with microscopes. I think I have a desire, not need, to see the unseen.

I live in a very harsh environment. 115°F is not very unusual and below record temperatures. My summer electric bills are huge. The camera located two areas of lacking roof insulation. That alone might pay for the camera. It also confirmed a leaky sink was not completely fixed. If the temperature difference is great enough, I can see the studs and rafters to nail stuff to. I can check my car tires to see if they are heating uniformly or it needs an alignment or inflation. I have two identical 600 watt ballasts. One runs about 10°F hotter than the other. I'm not sure why but do have that info now. I have a few hobbies that it will come in useful for too.

noted
I am a real estate appraiser and do home inspections. One of the requirements is to check that the utilities and appliances are on and functional. I had one assignment to do a final inspection to check the utilities. I brought the Seek along and it showed the water from the sink and fire from the stove much clearer than a visual photo. So its a business deduction too. I don't use the Seek for normal inspections due to liability concerns. But its a good way to check for water leaks. If I were a home inspector, I'd like to have a FLIR. But many inspectors can't afford a FLIR and use moisture sensors and laser thermometers.

I'm a bit of a geek tho. I have 14 thermometers throughout my property all being logged to a file server and displayed on a web page.

interesting. have you by chance had any experience with the FLIR units? id be curious to see how this thing compares to them, with respect to details image noise etc?

my understanding is that the FLIR units seem to be far and away superior in this area.

honestly id be more interested in this if it were something like... a small tripod mountable gopro camera form factor, without an LCD screen though. one could just plug it into a laptop to do the thermographic deed.

for what its worth, our interests and activities defiantly seem to intersect some what...

im mostly interested in something able to spot poorly performing insulation, and moisture... for that im guessing this thing is plenty good enough, but i have a hard time not just... making the jump to an E4 hacked to an e8, and just eating beans and rice for a while.

oh yea, what are you using to log those thermometers? id love a plain Ethernet data logger... has to support thermistors though, thermocouples make no sense in the application i have in mind.

 

[The Meadows]

you should try the drone idea as well.. really interesting !!

When I can afford replacement parts, I will.

I've had no hands on with a FLIR. If I depended upon a thermal camera for my income, I'd have a FLIR, probably used. Durability, warranty and reputation from FLIR is good. Seek was founded by ex-employees of FLIR. Several lawsuits later and we have the Seek camera. Just announced today is a 3x zoom lens for the Seek but the original doesn't have a replaceable lens. Advertisement says it will detect a thermal source at 2000'. Hmmmm.

I have the thermometers, 10 relays, a servo, a bunch of led's, and a speaker connected to an Arduino. The Arduino reads the sensors and uploads the data to a php script on the server. The script dumps the data into a mysql database. Another php page reads the database to display the data in a formatted manner to a browser. The Arduino reads the sensors and can turn relays on and off based on the temperature. All homebrewed.

For detecting water leaks, the Seek would probably work fine. To find the missing insulation, there has to be a temperature difference between outside and inside. Otherwise it all looks the same. Here is a pic of missing insulation. The outside temperature was about 50-60°F and the inside was about 70°F. The white rectangle toward the bottom is an airplane wing.

 

[The Meadows]

I'm a bit disappointed with the results of imaging aluminum ducting. I think the aluminum is too reflective. I can tell that an inline Can Fan heats up in response to hot air going thru it. I can lower the speed of the fan until I notice the heat source getting hotter. That can be done with thermometers but its much easier looking at pics or videos or live feed. If I could vary the speed of the fan with the Arduino, I'd be set.

 

[vostok]

Cool Pics too ...

to save more bucks ..
just rent a FLIR camera from your local Home Depot
in the home insulation dept.