Ben's Flir One Thermal Camera
 

Hey Guys,

I just bit the bullet and ordered a FLIR ONE infrared camera for iPhone 5/5s.

Best price I could find right now was $250, ordering straight from the company. Still pretty pricey for a gadget, but with all my solar, electric, and home projects, I'm sure I will use the heck out of it!

FLIR ONE™ personal thermal imager by FLIR® - See the Heat°

It is listed as being out of stock for another couple of days, then add shipping time to that, so I don't expect to see it for at least a week, probably two. Still, I'm pretty excited to have the thermal camera on its way.

Very cool Ben!

Any initial projects you have in mind for the camera?

I'm thinking of it too. I think I trust FLIR over SEEK but I would have to buy an iphone which I am loath to do.

It will be good to hear and see your results.
I really hope they release an Android version.

Yep, we're all waiting to see how this works for you!

-AC

I already happen to have an iPhone 5, so this thermal camera was the obvious choice.

I can see myself using this on all sorts of projects. For example:

General House - looking at insulation, heat escape through windows, around doors, around can lighting fixtures, etc.

Electric inefficiencies - hot spots on power strips, wall worts, circuit breaker, etc.

Solar Thermal - I have a solar hot water panel, which is mounted and half-plumbed (I have no idea where to put the tank! I have a small house!) seeing where and how that gets hot would be interesting

Solar PV - PV runs better when it's cold. Would be fun to compare summer vs winter performance using thermal imaging.

Electric Car - Look at how much heat is at the motor controller, motor, and electric connections, troubleshooting bad cells, etc.

Garage UPS Project - see how much heat is coming out of the transformer and the switching power components.

It's going to be fun!

Camera arrived!

Short story? It's pretty neat!

FLIR One Thermal Camera – First Impressions (Click this link to get to LOTS of photos!)

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In the image above, you can see the "slim case" that goes on the iPhone and the FLIR ONE device itself.

Once in place, you can quickly start taking photos. In the image below, I could actually see the impression of the framing right through the wall! Now that's one heck of a stud-finder!

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In this image below, you see my utility room. Mostly, you are looking at the furnace, with the air-intake pipe in black, and the exhaust pipe in the light colors. Behind the furnace on the right is my natural gas water heater, with its exhaust pipe running straight up. It also looks like there may be some insulation missing in the ceiling above and to the right of the furnace.

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This is NOT a high-resolution camera. The images saved out from it are 640 x 480 JPEGs. Nothing wrong with that, but it sure seems small compared to the 4000x3000 images I'm used to working with from a DSLR!

It shoots video too, but I haven't played around with that yet.

It looks good. This is the only time I have ever wanted a iPhone.

Looks great Ben. I can't wait to hear more about how you use the camera and what you find with it.

Already found some holes in my insulation and the fact that my circuit-breaker box is ridiculously cold! It was at 32 degrees - IN MY KITCHEN!

Here's some more fun photos for you.

My circuit breaker box, next to my kitchen door.
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Some thermal stratification in my hallway. Warm air really does rise! The bright spot near the top is NOT a light. It is an always-on smoke detector that runs on hard-wired 120VAC power.
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My wood stove running. It's interesting that even with the heat of the fire, you can still see the wall studs in the photo. I think that the wood stove may heat the surface of the wall, but not the studs, so it actually exaggerates the delta-T, allowing the camera to see the hot wood stove and the cold studs at the same time.
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My morning coffee. A typical ceramic cup on the left, and my stainless steel insulated travel mug (without the lid) on the right.
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Here's the inside of my refrigerator. Note that there's no heat signature from the fridge light bulbs, because I swapped them out for LED.
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I'm really impressed on the quality of the images. Every homeowner should have one of these to monitor their house for problems and areas of concern.

Here is some video shot with the FLIR ONE.

I compared the heat of a 60 watt incandescent, a 23 watt CFL, and a 8.7 watt LED bulb.
Please click the link.
http://youtu.be/uhwORsv0rWY

Ben could you try some outdoor night thermal images and video ,to see how the cameras performs as a night vision aid. Possibly with a cat dog or person in the background , I am curious if it has uses for the outdoor enthuses.

If I had a IPhone 5 I would pick one of these up very impressed.
I wonder what a used iPhone 5 goes for.

TRY_EBAY

-AC

Thanks I already looked there. To buy to buy a phone I will not use and don’t need then add this cost on top just put it to expensive. (for me anyway) I hope they come out with one for the Samsung galaxy S series.

Ecomodded: Sorry buddy, it's CRAZY cold outside right now even during the day. I'm NOT going outside at night in this weather. Also, I don't have a cat or a dog (wife has allergies.)

However, I did play around with the camera last night (indoors) a little bit in the dark.

Here's a photo of my four-year-old daughter, taken in the dark.

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The thermal imager is pretty low res (I think it's 120x80 or something weird like that.) So without the visible light camera creating the edges in the image, the thermal alone looks somewhat blurry. This was indoors, so the walls and furniture around her held some heat, otherwise the background would be black or very dark. Just based on this, I think that the camera would do a fine job of seeing objects outside in the dark.

Also, keep in mind that this camera is PASSIVE infrared. It does NOT have any infrared LEDs on the front of it or anything else. It simply senses infrared heat emitted from objects. So, theoretically, it should be able to see a dog 100 feet away in pure blackness.

Pinballlooking: I agree. If I didn't already have the iPhone 5, I wouldn't have purchased one just to use the FLIR ONE thermal camera. But, I already had the phone, and the camera looked pretty slick. Lots of other people are excited about the SEEK camera for Android. http://obtain.thermal.com/product-p/uw-aaa.htm

If a person does not have a cell phone under contract obligation you can find a carrier that offers a free iPhone5 if you sign a service contract , Some carriers will offer a free phone others at a reduced price as a signing bonus. A friend did this , renewed his contract and had a option of paying $80 cash , or $30 plus his old iPhone for a iPhone5 which is what he did.

I was talking to a guy at a local geek meeting, who works for a company that develops Thermal Imaging equipment. I don't think it was Flir, because I would have remembered that name.

I told him about DIY infra red camera conversions, which involve removing the IR filter that covers the lens on most digital cameras. Seems that the IR filter is easier to remove on certain cameras.

I asked him if it was possible to make your own Thermal Imaging camera this way, because Flir and other Thermal imaging cameras are so darn expensive?

He corrected me, saying that Thermal Imaging is not the same thing as Infra Red, and Thermal Imaging takes place at a longer wave length than IR, and working with this longer wavelength is more difficult, and more expensive than working with IR, and that is why Thermal Imaging should not be confused with Infra Red imaging.

Have you learned something that is different??

-AC

The android and iPhone6 is out soon.
Updated FLIR One infrared camera is smarter, smaller, works with Android | Ars Technica

Holy **** this tech is moving fast , 4x as sensitive

I have a friend at CES and tomorrow he is going to try to stop in and check it out.

Good catch!

The article also mentions a price reduction of the "old" Flir 1 to $250, and that the new Android-compatible Flir 1 will have improved imaging quality.


If the above image (click to see higher rez) gives us a clue, the visible light portion of the image looks better, but the Thermal Image part looks no better than what is now available.

-AC

I think it looks a lot better. Look at the picture he took of his little girl this one is much shaper.

Quote from iPhone Android article

The new device comes with an updated Lepton sensor that’s four times as sensitive as the Lepton in the original FLIR One

That photo was taking in complete darkness. It was to show the "Nightvision" capabilities of the camera, which is NOT as sharp without the visible spectrum image adding in the detail.

Compare it to any of the OTHER images I took.

Good point I still think it looks like it has a shaper picture.

But either one would work fine for what I would want it for. I just don’t have a iPhone I have an android phone so I will wait for the new one to come out and come down in price to about what you paid.

In my option you got a great product at a good price where technology and cost are right now.

If I was using a iPhone 5 I would not wait for the new product to come out.

That's my understanding.

Some old video cameras had a "Night-Vision" feature on them. They had an infrared light on the front of the camera, and the camera was sensitive to infra-red light. In that mode, the video camera could see in complete darkness, at least up to the point of whatever the light on the front of the camera could illuminate, which wasn't that far away, because it wasn't a very powerful light.

The video image was typically black-and-white or a green monochrome. But yes, that was infrared lighting, NOT thermal imaging. There were also night vision goggles that worked the exact same way. The big down-side is that if you had an IR light, you were extremely visible to anyone else who had the same type of night vision goggles.

With a lot of video cameras, they can see the wavelength of infrared emitted by a typical infrared remote control. Point your remote into a video camera lens and press the button. Chances are, you will be able to see the infrared LED of the remote light up through the viewfinder.

Ok my friend just went by the Flir both at CES.
He said the new model was much better than the current one they had them there to mess with.
The new one won’t be come out until second half of this year.

I remember the good old days, back when you bought something for several hundred dollars and something FOUR times better didn't come out six months later!

*Sigh* technology is basically obsolete the moment you buy it.
Still, the best time to buy something is either right now, or never.

Here's a few more fun photos for you.

Hot tap water in my bathroom sink.
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Possible missing ceiling insulation in my utility room.
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North and south views of my house.
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Ceramic coffee cup vs insulated travel mug
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I've also been helping out over at my parents' house on a little remodeling to get some more heat to the kitchen floor. Part of it is over basement, and part of it is over dirt. Using the camera pointed at the floor, we could CLEARLY see where the basement stopped. (I forgot to actually snap a still photo!) Camera worked great for that.

This image is very interesting because it really helps to visualize why radiant floor heating is so comfortable. Most people relax by sitting down or reclining on a couch, which puts them in the colder part of the room. If this image was of a room with a radiant floor, the greatest warmth would be closer to the area where people tend to relax.

In other words, the thermograph would be reversed, top to bottom.


The stud area clearly illustrates the rule of thumb that because of thermal bridging, a normal stud wall reduces the nominal insulation value, and yields an effective total insulation value that is 18% lower than the rated value of insulation. So if you built a normal stud wall and filled the cavities with mineral wool, a 6" cavity (5.5") would have an R-value of R23. So applying the 18% thermal bridge penalty would give you an effective R-value of R19 for the wall. This is assuming standard stud spacings. That's a big loss.

When you said, "the wood stove may heat the surface of the wall, but not the studs", I think you are incorrect. The wood stove is actually heating the sheet rock (R-0.9 per inch), which is a pretty good thermal conductor, and the sheet rock is conducting the heat through the stud (R-1 per inch) and out of the house. Look how clearly defined the stove and pipe are, and how 'vague' the stud area is.The blue 'stud shadow' is wider than the width of a stud because the heat in the sheetrock in the area of the stud is being drawn toward the stud and out into the cold.

A 1/2" layer of Poly-Iso foam over the studs before the sheetrock would certainly help reduce (but not eliminate) the thermal bridging. A better strategy would be to build the wall, using staggered studs, or some similar strategy, like perhaps a Mooney Wall.

By the way, if you present the Mooney Wall on your personal blog, don't forget to cite Build It Solar, they certainly deserve the credit, in the same way as you should cite other sources of information and ideas that you might elaborate on.

It will enhance your credibility.

-AC

The thermal imaging devices, like the lepton series of sensors, are awesome little gadgets for the price. The key quality in this domain of products is cost effectiveness. It is a fledgling application, and obviously the industry leaders have saturated the market from above. Nearly all of the users who could justify buying a product for four figures have done so. Now, companies such as flir have set their sights on the entry-level market at the next level down.

There are half a dozen companies that have been manufacturing the high-dollar thermal cameras for decades. The sensor arrays and software engines have been through many generations of improvement. Up until now, their market focus has been on aerospace and military applications. To these companies, the entry-level market is below their quality (and profit margin) level. They just can't put a low-rez sensor on a missile or weather satellite.

The only exception so far has been flir. With virtually zero competition in this emerging market, they have a distinct advantage. I imagine the reason they improved the original flir one so soon is that customers were not overly impressed with them. Obviously, they sold all they initially released, and have been having trouble keeping them in stock. Why not improve the device? Like cell phones, if they market a new device every year or two, bleeding-edge buyers will gladly fork over 3 figures for the "new and improved" model. Repeat customers are a good thing.

Whether or not the new unit is four times better or not is in the eye of the beholder. With such a new product, it is easy for the OEM to make subtle or drastic improvements, depending mainly on the "bugginess" of the prior design. Remember that the bulk of flir's technology ten years or so ago was in ultra-high sensitivity and resolution devices. They are basically "dumbing down" the tech they already have to feed the masses.

Whether or not the tech is obsolete or not is for you to decide. They have many sensors in use today helping to predict the weather for the NWS and NOAA today that were put in service in the 90's. Not to mention what's in all the NRO spy satellites that still don't exist yet, but were made who knows how long ago. How much longer have our astronomical and planetary observatories and unmanned spacecraft lived past their expected life cycles? I myself became immune to the obsolescence factor before the days of high speed and wireless internet service. SWMBO, not so much (she has a galaxy in her purse, literally).

That's exactly what I was thinking when I took that photo.

My brother-in-law has a room with radiant flooring. I'll have to take a photo of that next time I'm over there.

I just climbed around in my attic, something I was NOT looking forward to doing, seeing as how cold it has been out lately AND my attic access isn't exactly convenient.

It's sort of a story-and-a-half house, so getting above the upstairs bedroom means crawling on my belly through fiberglass insulation. YUCK!

Still, the thermal images are enlightening! Also, it's very challenging to hold a camera, a flashlight, crawl on your belly (without accidentally putting a foot through the ceiling) and focus the camera and take a picture all at the same time!

I'll post some images and my thoughts on them later.

Just a few pics for examples of the quality of images you can expect with Flir One. Certainly doesn't have the resolution of a $6000 camera, but the optical overlay makes images readable. I'm pretty happy with it for $250

Stoker

Photos: thermal hand print on the door frame.
2 wires exiting my panel, each running a portable heater

Besides, since plastic pocket protectors and slide rules went out of fashion, what's a true geek to do....:D

If you go through the article on the improved FLIR One, there is reference to the C2, coming out this year. I think I will wait for it. A $700 price tag is a bit more than the combined $350 (for the upgraded FLIR One) and a used iphone (maybe $300?) and it is all in one package.

More and more I need it again. Damn thieves....

Those marketers are Sly , just when your happy with the product they entice you with the improved version.

at least it was only $250 .. Some people want the new version of the same car they just bought because it has improved cup holders etc. etc.
I guess you can always sell the old model to someone less educated

The big thing with the new one is it works on more than just iPhone.
If you have a phone that it will work with you can save money.
It is great it is going to work with Android.
The C2 does look really nice but it will be to costly for me.