EEVblog #988 - FLIR ETS320 Benchtop Thermal Camera Review

Review of the new FLIR ETS320 Benchtop Thermal Imaging Camera designed for electronics and PCB use.

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[bigclivedotcom]

It's a nice idea. I use my "enhanced" E4 for monitoring or troubleshooting PCBs (and LEDs) a lot.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I'd think that for a stand-mount application, MSX with auto offset detection could be done with an optical proximity sensor

[rossmanngroup]

5:00... I get a lot of flak from people for not using a thermal camera. After seeing the resolution, the functionality, and the price, I stand by my decision that this is ridiculous.

I think the technology has great potential. The same way laptops in the 80s that were 20 lbs with no mobile broadband had potential.... but no. Not buying that POS.

Great video as always Dave!!

[ramjetross]

In the lab, I've had trouble thermal imaging my solar devices because of all the metal reflecting the infrared, but I thermally evaporated about 100nm of C60 fullerenes on top of my device and was able to completely remove the emissivity problem since C60 absorbs pretty much everything. 100nm of C60 coating is still transparent visibly and I was able to see where my shorts were. The heat is still localized too so you don't have to worry about the C60 diffusing heat around it too much either.

I know that not a lot of people have access to organic C60 thermal evaporator systems, but if anyone knows of a insulative water soluble or IPA soluble thin coating that you can spray on top of your PCB or device you can remove all your emissivity problems and then dissolve the coating once your done. The coating has to be thin so that the heat doesn't diffuse to far before it gets to the top surface. You have to make sure the coating isn't transparent to thermal IR. I know PMMA and most polymers are transparent.

Anybody know of a coating?

[PlasmaHH]

It should be rather simple for them to implement a functionality where you say "This is all the same temperature" and it snaps a photo and from that estimate an emissivity for each pixel and use that

[andrewwhite]

Building services bought a general purpose hand held FLIR. We have adopted it in R&D. It brilliant for finding where the extra current is going. amazingly sensitive and saves hours cutting tracks.... Use the tip of a small screwdriver close to the PCB to shield the camera from the source. This more than makes up for low resolution. No problem finding an overheating 0402 😙

[pldaniels]

So close... maybe next iteration, and maybe by then we'll have 640x480 for the same price-point. In the meantime, back to the freeze spray and IPA testing methods.

[callaway]

As a working electrical engineer that has been looking for a camera like this for years, I think this is a great product. I work for a company that makes mil & aero electronics and let me tell you, finding these features in a thermal camera that is actually intended for electronics (as opposed to industrial equipment, HVAC, etc.) is near impossible. A Fluke camera that can resolve a pixel to less than 10 mil (0.010") cost 10x this one. I think this is actually a great price for what it is. If I did the math right, this one will resolve a pixel to just under 7 mil.

The FOV is fine for 90% of our applications, for the rest we'll just have to move our DUT around to see the whole thing. I wish it had adjustable focus, but the price would skyrocket! I think someone has finally heard us in the electronics world and has come out with the product we need. Hopefully this is only the beginning of a full product line. Before you complain about the price, check out the Flukes then get back to me. The ETS320 is not intended for the hobbyist.

[minihackerme]

If you have to sign in to use the software, what happens if you don't have an internet connection? Or if your connection goes down? If you're in a factory, you have to stop the assembly line?

[constanzo]

In the software you can make a measurement area and then right-click and choose local parameters and set different emiss-values for this area....useful feature

[scotshabalam]

FLIR could make a budget version of this by taking out the display and CPU, instead giving it USB 3.0 and letting a computer handle that stuff. It would probably be faster too.

[TheBreadboardca]

I have been reviewing this for the last week or two as well, I released a video two days ago on first impressions,

On its own, I agree with Dave, the camera has limited functionality, an SD card to record sequence data while on battery would be nice.
But when coupled with the included software it is a whole different animal and becomes very useful. The height adjustment allows larger object to be viewed but still limited to the 70mm focal distance, but that 70mm could be 100mm above the base for example.
You can also use standard web cam type software to capture the live stream from the camera as it is fully able to support that (But it is just a copy of the LCD screen), it also presents as a USB hard drive when connected to a PC so it is easy to get to the images you may have stored on the camera, even without the FLIR tools.

[ksfixitmangaming]

As always I love your NO Bull Crap opinion ! Honest and to the point ! Great video and as always will be looking forward to the next.

[mikeselectricstuff]

MSX is probably hard to do at close range without a beamsplitter

[TheBreadboardca]

Regarding the licensing, once you have logged in the first time, you dont need to keep logging in, I just verified this with the ETS 320 I have here and it all works just fine even without any network connectivity, so it seems you just have to do it the once.

[dhebert]

My 2nd gen Flir one, for 350 bucks has MSX technology. It's a fun toy to bring with you anywhere, happy purchase for me anyway.

[danielhope]

I love your videos! I am an australian 3d modeller.
There is something about your vids I find fascinating!!

[Nermash]

I think that I will save 2500$ and continue to use wet finger probing :)

[whitcwa]

Some photographic enlargers had a follow focus cam and lever which kept the image in focus as you moved the head up/down.

[BoltClevo]

How about a proper API? You need to be able to draw the polygons and stuff in your software, clear the data, start the camera, then log the data. That would make it useful. You could also drive a relay board and if the temperatures got too high in any area, save a snapshot, and cutoff the power with a relay. Then the techie could get the board and the snapshot and see exactly what got too hot. Is there an API at all with it Dave? I bought a testo 875 back in 2013 or something and when I asked where my API was they told me to get stuffed. Nice.