Recommendations for sub-$200 camera for electronics troubleshooting? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MRiddickW
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 18, 2021, 10:05:22 pm
content: Hi all,I'm thinking about getting a camera for general-purpose electronics troubleshooting. Mostly on a PCB flat in front of me, but also possibly mucking about inside say a power supply chassis. Basically trying to move beyond "poke components and see if I burn myself," especially for 120VAC.Any recommendations for my purposes? What resolution should I be shooting for? Is it possible to get something decent for less than $200? I don't mind buying used, so if the answer is "wait for a good eBay deal on this great XYZ," I'm happy with that.I'm shying away from phone attachments since my phone dies fast enough as it is. THAT SAID, if there's an option that blows the others out of the water, I can suck it up. I have an iPhone, so it'd need to be Lightning compatible.Thanks!

author: ArsenioDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 01:29:24 am
content: Yeahhhh for the most part you won't be able to find something sub-200 without waiting for INSANE deals. Gen 1 Seek thermals are your best bet around that price

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 01:57:53 am
content: You should just about be able to strip the core out of an old (ie 10 year or so) fire service camera and build your own for that.With the right models the core is a stand alone cameraLikes of this project of mine with a Raytheon ASi :http://www.fire-tics.co.uk/project1/index.htmAs well as Raytheon ASi (from the likes of the Bullard T3 models), you can do the same with the Raytheon BST (MSA/EEV/Marconi Argus 2, Marconi/E2V Argus3, Bullard T4) as well as either of the BAe/Lockheed cores (MSA6000).Sorry, but at present I'm not selling cores outside UK+EU27.regardsBill

author: MikeNC407
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 06:24:42 am
content: I did exactly as Bill said just a few weeks ago with pretty great results. I pulled a Thermal Eye 4500AS core out of a Bullard T4 Max and stuck it into an old security camera housing that I attached a screen and tripod to.If you wanted to go that route there’s a listing on eBay for a Bullard TIx for $150, and I’m pretty sure it’s got an older Thermal Eye core in it that you could pretty easily make use of. There are worse cores to start with than these.I’ll attach a picture of my ratty project camera and a not great example of it being used to look at an old PCB (no power was run on the PCB so there isn’t a lot of thermal variation to be seen). Just as an example of what you could do.Edit: I looked further into the listing for the Bullard TIx and it doesn’t appear to be in working condition. Unfortunately I don’t see any listings for other likely to be working cameras under $200 at this time, though they often come up if you don’t mind waiting for a bit.

author: ArsenioDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 19, 2021, 04:59:12 pm
content: Negative on t1xs having the ASi cores, there's the VERY telltale black halo around hot objects of BST, which isn't great, plus the raytheon tempbar on the bottom.

author: MRiddickW
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 06:29:11 pm
content: Interesting, thanks all. I asked a retired firefighter friend of mine if he knows where I might find a surplus one for cheap, but he just sent me a screenshot ofan Amazon listing, so seems like he's not interested. :pWhat kind of resolution should I be shooting for? The one above is 60 x 60. Is that reasonable? 120 x 120? More? 32 x 32 seems a bit low, but I don't have enough experience to know.Oh, and I don't mind going the DIY route as y'all mentioned either.

author: Bill W
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 11:09:19 pm
content: The ex-fire ones are mostly 320x240, or at least a 'good' 160x120. Very little turns up at higher resolutions.With those you can identify parts purely in 'thermal' or with a cold screwdriver tip.Once you get to lower resolutions it is common to add a visible camera and try to blend the images.This can work well - if you want a basically visual image and a red blob over the hot contactor etcIt can also be OK to get some visible data onto a thermal iamge, eg the fuse board numberThis can work badly - parallax being a big issue for close-up workThis can fail completely - if the room is dark or smoke filled. Don't tell any firefighters after their boss buys Flir K-2'sThis can be used to decieve the buyer

author: Vipitis
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2021, 11:47:40 pm
content: The BST with 320x240 usually come with a lens that let you focus to something closer, which is a huge difference to some of the modern offerings. And makes all the difference

author: bostwickenator
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 26, 2021, 02:33:18 am
content: Having done just this fairly recently this is my recommendation.Grab one of the focusable Seek Thermal Compact devices (rubber ring with little bumps instead of a smooth barrel) second hand on ebay they'll be cheap enough. You'll also want a ZnSe laser focus lens to get macrohttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073DRKYWT.I designed a lens holder herehttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3772639(lens holder, or just use tape whatever)Focusable ones looks like thisIf you want to use a PC to view the camera you'll need a microusb b to usb a cablehttps://www.amazon.com/AFUNTA-Female-Standard-Extension-Transfer/dp/B00MEBEOW8/.Then use the open source desktop viewer application I maintainhttps://github.com/OpenThermal/libseek-thermalHere is an example of thermal fault finding on this setup.https://youtu.be/Ie3ggu82_votarget board is 2cm across to give a sense of scale.Hope that helps.