Lepton

That's the the breakthrough in technology, and the first new word that leads to the next existing word that gets invited to our sphere of interest:

Thermography

The Lepton module does nothing new that hasn't been done before - it sees the world in temperature, not light - which we've seen thermal imaging in movies, TV, and gun cameras on YouTube many times. The breakthrough is the cost - just 10% of conventional thermal imaging modules. Mind you... at 80 by 60 pixels, we won't be needing our 1080P displays to view the image but it's a thermal image. The technology has been available for over a year, but only now are they just barely able to keep up with demand, and a range of products are hitting the market at reasonable prices.

I had been looking at Flir cameras for a while to use at work and on Stinky's exhaust manifolds, but that $5000 price tag ensured I wouldn't be interested, nor would my employer. Well... I just demo'd a $500 Flir yesterday (now we're talkin'). A visit to Amazon brings it to my door for $400. [ ]

A new product has just been introduced - the Seek Thermal company has unveiled "Reveal", with much higher screen resolution (same sensor, same 80 by 60 real resolution) for that $400 - but I have to wait until the end of the month. Razzle-dazzle aside, the Flir is more precise for temperature measurements because is has a built-in range finder. Another option is to see the hot spot with a less expensive unit ($250 - $300 on average - but watch the delivery date), then get more detail with an IR gun.


This is such a handy tool for somebody in my line of work, I'll be an early adopter and eat the $400 or the $250. One year from now, you guys will probably be buying Therm-Apps for $100. You can get something similar for about $250 today [LINK]







How is this on topic? Aim that bad boy at your exhaust manifolds and instantly know which stick is acting up. Vibration in the truck? Stand back from the truck with the camera after driving a while and look at your brakes.

 

The next sUAS/UAV (quadcopter) I purchase will have Flir capability. Prices have come down dramatically with advances in technology.

That's a good price for what it does.

 

I saw a unit that incorporates the image stabilization gyro for this very purpose. It's spooky that enthusiasts can have all the military capability of "overlording" - but at least the home budget can't easily mount weapons (yet).

 

Yes, my fleet has GPS, real time FPV (sorry First Person View), collision avoidance among other things. It is amazing what is available on these small packages. As to weapons, it's been done by a few upfitters and that is what gets people upset. Sad to say just like any other tool (read GUN, HAMMER or KNIFE) put it in the wrong hands with the wrong ideas...


Thanks for the updated lexicon.

 

you would be surprised (actually most likely not) at what I could do, and have the ability to access, ant that is inclusive of said tail of this comment, but I also want to now remind everything that our friendly NSA (National Security Agency, the only branch of the government that really and truly listens to its Citizens) may now be taking an interest in this type of thing...

 

This was more than I could resist.

 

These devices would take troubleshooting to the next level for sure. How many times I've scanned my nice IR temp gun only to not have that feeling of certainty due to the variables present.

 

On the drone thing... I have very seriously looked at this as my next hobby. When the DJI Phantom came out, I was excited to see how this could be such a mainstream item. Then... the invasion of privacy things started kicking in, then the states requiring pilots licences to fly them, and the propensity for people to shoot them down, etc....

I saw this one guy use a home-built to lift something like 12 gallons of water, and I know there are many out there besting this. I knew getting into the heavy lifting could lead to tighter personal drone laws - not unlike like ultralight aircraft having a speed limit and a service ceiling.

Were I to take this up, I would likely be out in the boonies shooting videos of squirrels... but the FPV looks to be intense. Get a 3D camera and a set of display goggles and you can be a vicarious bird.

Now... do the night vision in 3D, and your an owl. Do thermography in 3D from an aerial platform and you're a flying viper.

Back on topic.... SRBF150 - that is precisely what I had in mind when I was looking at thermal imagers in the first place. The IR gun is great for zeroing in on one item, but it sucks at the big picture because of variables that occur - like looking around fender wells.