Northpoint AKIR-01 Teardown - Pico384 (384x288 50hz)  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2023, 05:39:20 pm
content: As found on ebay, there is old stock of a product that was sold on german ALDI and Otto which is supposedly a Thermal camera for inspecting buildings.eBay auction: #225083807494it doesnt feature a recording function, nor any temperature readout.there was a listing for one where the seller wasnt sure if its broken or not, for half the price. so i bought it.apparently (some said, it might be fake) it uses a 384x288 sensor running at 50hz, 60mk sensitivity, 17µm.Its fully made of aluminimum, every part inside even the cage housing the Core pcb's. just like most chinese flashlights nowadays.just the screen protector is made of plastic and glued in. rest is easily accessible and screwed in. everything is plugged, no soldering.oh yea, about the core. User "Vipitis" wrote its a french core, either ULIS or Lynred. the writing on the front-pcb gave it away,its aULIS / Lynred Pico384 Gen2in some sort of oem module with a bunch of connections and everything on board.any documentation about this would really help turning this into something useable. i hope theres some sort of communication interface available to the outside.https://lynred.com/sites/default/files/2019-10/Pico-384Gen2-datasheet.pdfhttp://www.tecotec.com.vn/en/uncooled-thermal-imaging-sensor/pico384-gen2-qgva.htmlits missing a calibration shutter, maybe thats why there is no temp-readout.the core's output (analog video composite signal) goes straight to a cheap monitor found in 99% of rear-driving camera kits, but fully housed in Al case.it has a 3 element germanium or silicon adjustable focus lens, but its quite zoomed it. 19mm at full frame, not at this sensor size apparently.i also havent found a way to get it out. the lens somehow has to come off.also it has a quite shallow depth of field. f1.0 it says on the listing.its useable for pcb fault finding, but when working over head, you might wanna detach the monitor.min focal distance was about 20..25cm.the display cable gets bend pretty badly, some wires got fixed in the past and one had open insulation. when it touches the case, it shorts to ground. maybe this is why it was sold as defective.its just carrying the button signals, video and vcc gnd.for me it worked out of the box but still gonna fix these issues.(that smell is gonna stay for a while..)

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2023, 05:40:50 pm
content: more pictures.

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2023, 06:09:53 pm
content: more

author: Vipitis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2023, 06:55:34 pm
content: Glad it is actually working, I believe it's a good price. As in documentation - that will be difficult to find before knowing exactly what OEM type core it is. But I have had people message me with documentation and software for cores.If the lens says 19mm, it will be 19mm, the sensor is rather small, so it's a narrow fov, but the radial resolution as in pixel per degree is better. It will give you better looking images. F/1.0 is not just shallow dof, but often required for thermal cameras. f/1.2 has been more and more common, but I would prefer to get more of the signal.Will take at look at the videos once I am home.

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2023, 08:46:47 pm
content: looked at the IC's and drew a diagramunmarked chip on Power board, maybe to translate data from the button board or something. command handling2 cables coming from the display.3pin red yellow black, most likely power and video for display4pin for button board, maybe serial, maybe i2c. gotta look into this more.2 wires with power going to the top board P104, which contains aLTC3677-3 PMIChttps://www.digikey.be/htmldatasheets/production/699882/0/0/1/ltc3677-3.htmlLTC3458 dc-dc converterhttps://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/3458fa.pdfFXOS8700 axis accelerometer(??)https://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/FXOS8700CQ.pdfconnects to the board D470 where a flat flex goes to the power board aswell. they are sandviched together with thermal pads and silicone, missed it on the teardown photos.it contains aMX25L25635 256mbit flashDRAM IC, cant see markings.FPGA Xilinx.. forget to write down its model.ADV7391 10bit SD/HD Video Encoder (digital to analog)https://www.analog.com/en/products/adv7391.htmlMAX3232 RS232 transceiverhttps://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/max3232.pdf?ts=1672917972671&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fthen it goes to another board A075with a AD9245 14bit.https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/AD9245.pdfand a 212FG2S PhotoMOShttps://www.digchip.com/datasheets/parts/datasheet/2146/AQY212FG2S.phpand some smaller components with just a few pins i didnt bother looking at.the flat flex might be for comms, 8 pins.

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2023, 09:37:57 pm
content: managed to strap a video grabber to it, so i can use it with my phone (better display, recording possibilities)next is printing a smartphone holder so i can replace the stock display with it.i made / ordered some flatflex MITM boards to see what the button panel is actually sending to the module without messing it up with bad soldering.this is how it looks with one of those cheap stk1160 usb grabbers recorded in vlc.

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2023, 10:19:50 am
content: Quote from: gamerpaddy on January 05, 2023, 05:39:20 pmSounds good so far, a good find. 19mm is the focal length, not the image circle.Bill

author: Vipitis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2024, 10:42:49 pm
content: I was browsing ebay once again and spotted another two lots for these. Seems to be even better deal than last time!"new" at 699.90€https://www.ebay.de/itm/325277509651"open box" at 399.90€https://www.ebay.de/itm/225975638832

author: radziorr
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: January 10, 2025, 01:14:38 pm
content: Were you guys able to play a bit more with these cameras?shutterless ulis Pico384 Gen2 is quite tempting..To me this core looks like is has been designed initially for thermal rifle scopes/monoculars, not for thermal inspections.Few things that could support this idea:- no temperature readout- no temp calibration- shutterless- 50Hz framerate- movable, "rifle-type" crosshair- built-in compass- hot track feature- probably direct output to micro oled/lcd screen, by that 45pin ribbon connectorI have seen similar "all-in-one" cores on chinese sites, like this one:https://hbcono.en.made-in-china.com/product/oSKJNQrcamAW/China-384-288-Easy-Efficient-Integration-Lwir-Micro-Thermal-Camera-Module.htmland probably compatible oled with 45pin connectorhttps://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/GZ039PBC03-0-39-inch-1024-768-1600789050257.htmlIf so, with known connector pinout I think it could be fairly easy to grab digital video signal from this core

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 10, 2025, 02:30:28 pm
content: besides adding a CVBS output jack to it, i havent looked into it any further.the screen they use also has the wrong aspect ratio, everything is a little distorted. not to mention the horrible viewing angles.you might be right, that its from a hunting monocular.that crosshair can be disabled tho.this is directly recorded from the camera using a cvbs to hdmi converter and hdmi grabber, i found this has the best quality of all grabbers i tried except one that was quite expensive.The compass is absolutely trash, it points to random poles.i think i saw some differential clock and pixel data signals on the 45pin when probing around.

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 11, 2025, 12:31:02 pm
content: Quote from: gamerpaddy on January 10, 2025, 02:30:28 pmMight need calibrating, assuming it will self calibrate ?Assuming a similar chip to the one we put in Argus MiTIC that needs a slow tumble (say 3 secs each) in all 3 axes away from a magnetic interference.Maybe factory set and lost the cal ? Surely they'd include a 'not calibrated' check ?Bill

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 12, 2025, 11:09:39 am
content: its a FXOS8700 axis accelerometer / magnetometerhttps://www.nxp.com/docs/en/data-sheet/FXOS8700CQ.pdfit has inernal calibration in nvram.doing a "default setting" in the menu didnt fix it.might be bad due to interference / bad circuit design maybe. i tried rotating it in all axes etc. it still points to the wrong north

author: gamerpaddy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 24, 2025, 02:25:26 am
content: tried taking some better picturesand figuring out some pinoutsand in the process breaking the glass infront of the display.apparently those buttons are just pull-up 3 pins trough diodes. but somehow with a pulsed signalbridging j1 turns it onj2 is video out, -6v, ?, VBAT and Gndj3 is 3.3v 3.3v gnd 5.4V gnd gnd ?j4 is VBAT VBAT GND GND (but not quite, different gnd or trough a diode)j5 definately has some data on it. some 3.1mhz, some 1.05mhz, some in the khz range couldnt make sense of it. if i had a ribbon breakout for it, i could do a logic capture. its all digital tho, 3.3vpin 3 seems to be backlight pwm or something. 31.25khz with high duty cycleOn the flex ribbon cable, you got1. gnd2. button plus3. is some pulsed signal the buttons connect to, maybe 90% duty cycle 3.3v around maybe 10hz,4 pulses the same.5 is menu button,6 3.3v7 button minus,8 button power.couldnt find any uart / i2c port anywhere. tried a few r and c's around the compass ic but found nothing.if only a bunch of pico384 sensor trays would pop up on the surplus market. hooking it up to a cypress fx3 or something turning it into a usb cam would be nice.