FLUKE TiS10 Thermal Camera - Fraser has a new patient :) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2020, 06:05:21 pm
content: I have been watching an auction for a faulty FLUKE TiS10 camera for some time. The unit has a failed display. It appealed to me because I have not delved inside a TiS series camera of this type before. It offers me further insight into FLUKE thermal cameras but the price has to be right as the fault is likely serious and not easily rectified. I discussed my intentions for the camera with its owner and we agreed a mutually acceptable price for it. He is a great seller and is dispatching the camera to me todayThe Camera: The TiS10 is the basic TiS model with only 80 x 60 pixels of thermal data displayed. It is however, the same "Aurora" electronics package as all the other TiS cameras in the seriesThis was confirmed during the FCC testing. We are likely dealing with pixel combining in the core to reduce the effective resolution. I may try to better understand that side of the cameras design if I have the required tools and skills.The camera will arrive over the next day or two and I will carry out a disassembly to reveal the design and likely cause of the display failure. Fortunately we can have an early look at the main board and microbolometer housing as the FCC have released the internal images on their web site. It looks a decent enough design and clearly uses an Altera Cyclone V.I attach some images that may be of interest and will update this thread when I have the unit and have found time to disassemble itDo we have any FLUKE TiS camera owners on the forum ?Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2020, 02:41:45 pm
content: The patient has arrivedIt is in very nice condition.Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2020, 04:30:10 pm
content: OK diagnostics and fault finding completed .... it did not take long !Some background on this particular patient......The previous owner stated that a section of the display failed but when the lower front section of the LCD panel was pressed, the missing area returned to normal. This worked fro a while but the problem got worse and affected more areas of the display. Eventually the whole LCD went dark and pressing on the LCD had no effect.From this statement I immediately considered the following likely causes....1. The LCD connector connections behind the screen were intermittent2. The flexible ribbon to the glass LCD panel had intermittent contact with the conductive tracks on the glass substrate3. The LCD panel was cracked at the lower edge and pressing the glass temporarily reconnected tracks in a butt joint fashionIf the LCD was cracked, it was scrap. If it was 'just' the ribbon to glass interface then Z axis tape might resolve the issue. I considered the purchase with the view that the LCD was scrap and likely an expensive spare part from FLUKE.Disassembly of the camera to access the LCD panel could not have been simpler. Four screws were removed and the whole LCD panel and surrounding plastic & rubber moulding just lifted away from the camera. Two more screws released the LCD panel from the plastic case moulding and retaining frame. Lovely simple design with no nasty surprises such a hidden screws or adhesive !As soon as I had removed the LCD panel and inspected it I saw the cause of the problem. At the bottom edge I could feel and hear cracked glass as the panel was gently flexed. Visual inspection revealed a crack in the glass contact landing point to the right of the bonded ribbon cable. The cracked glass was being held in position by the elastic rubbery coating that had been placed over the contact landing point. This presumably created enough tension between the cracked parts to form butt joints across the crack face. The LCD panel is most definitely scrap. No surprise really. Can I source another ? No idea at the moment and not all that fussed as the camera was bought to study its design rather than repair it. I will definitely get my moneys worth out of the knowledge that I gain from examining the unit and, hopefully, its firmware.For anyone interested, the LCD panel is passive but has some passives mounted on a rear FPC that forms the data cable to the main PCB. The panel is marked up as "YHBL08203-16 160922" and has a label reading "OSIE320240-035A 07 12 16 DE"Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2020, 05:25:02 pm
content: The TiS series uses the DM3730CUSA video media processor. Thankfully the datasheets and reference manual are easily obtained. The reference manual details the LCD panel interfacing requirements of the chip and it has 3 modes. Two parallel and one serial.I have some reading to do, but I may be able to source an alternative LCD panel and splice it to the original LCD connector. This is not something I tend to do very often so it will be a learning process, but fun at the same timeFraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2020, 09:05:32 pm
content: Through some research and comparisons of manufacturers products, I am pretty sure the panel was made by Winstar. It may be custom due to the cable format but from what I can see it is just a standard 3.5” RGB TFT LCD panel without controller. I can buy a decent Winstar WF35LTIACDNNZ# panel from Rapid electronics to replace it for less than £15 but that is a 12 O’clock biased type. They have better ‘all angle’ panels for around £23. I will do some more reading on the merits of the ‘all angle’ panels to see if that is the preferable version in this application.My next fun task will be to reverse engineer the original LCD port pinout. Some of that may involve practical tests with the new panel and a breakout board with patch wires.So all is not lost with this TiS10. I may well be able to install a new LCD panel for not a lot of moneyFraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2020, 11:05:24 pm
content: Inspecting the flex cable that links the LCD to the main board has chucked a spanner in the works. It appears to have only 22 conductors. Not normally enough for a simple RGB panel drive. Could this panel have a COG controller I wonder.Tomorrow is another day and all my tests have been visual today so I may need to break out the DSO and LA for some live tests to determine just what signals I have heading for the LCD panel.More when I have news.Fraser

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 24, 2021, 02:53:51 pm
content: The conclusion to this case......https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/replacing-an-unknown-rgb-lcd-panel-with-a-generic-type-advice-needed-please/In Précis, the TiS10 uses a MIPI compliant custom LCD panel and must be procured from FLUKE at significant cost.I scrapped the camera as beyond economic repair.

author: Scuddles
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: May 30, 2021, 04:07:40 pm
content: What about the microbolometer? Is it actually capable of more than 80 x 60 pixels but just limited by firmware like the FLIR Ex series?

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2021, 04:12:55 pm
content: Yes, but unlike the FLIR cameras, the FLUKE firmware has not been studied and an upgrade formulated.

author: ArsenioDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2021, 04:34:34 pm
content: You mean you don't collect instrumentation of all your microbolometer control/read lines?That's pretty surprising/

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2021, 04:47:43 pm
content: Not sure what you mean ? I already know the resolution of the FLUKE microbolometer but hacking the firmware to unlock that resolution is a completely different matter. There is zero incentive for me to reverse engineer the Fluke cameras or firmware.

author: ArsenioDev
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2021, 05:15:17 am
content: I've been systematically getting captures of the pin states for all the microbolometers of decently modern build so when I get better at FPGAs I can make interfaces for them and just go full custom cause some of them are down pieces or missing their pixel maps etc etc etc.

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 31, 2021, 09:48:10 am
content: I can see why you have an interest in that information. Personally I only go as far as repairing thermal imaging systems. Designing and building them from scratch is outside my realm of interest. If I have a great interest in a particular system I will reverse engineer the hardware and keep notes on important signals to aid future repairs.I do not do so much of that ‘in depth’ stuff these days though.The ULIS microbolometers are an excellent basis for building a thermal imaging camera from scratch as the data sheets for several of them are in the public domain. The hardware is not actually that complex.... it is the firmware side that would be beyond my abilities to create.