EEVblog #669 - FLIR TG165 Thermal Imager Teardown

What's inside the new FLIR TG165 Visual IR Thermometer / Thermal Camera using the new Lepton sensor?
How does it compare to the FLIR ONE & FLIR E4?
Does it have a calibration shutter?
Does it have any extra capability built in ready to be hacked?
How easy is it to open? (SPOILER - it's a BASTARD!)

Datasheets:

Forum:
Teardown Photos: COMING SOON

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[dougstar]

Hey mate, I have one of these. You can quite easily get the screen (more just a plastic lens) off by using a rubber suction cup, with a slight amount of pressure, eventually it breaks the adhesive and pulls off (little bit of heat wouldn't go astray). Removing the plastic screen reveals the 4 screws you couldn't access in the video, this would allow the whole thing to split in two without breaking it.

[synthoelectro]

This page of yours is right up my alley, basically, I was always ripping apart things as a kid and well these days I only open things if needed. Watching what's inside is half the fun so thanks for a awesome channel.

[redtails]

25:15 yeah so some people keep coming in the comments here to talk about that Dave should not tear down older gear because there is no use. but I often comment that modern devices, like this visual thermometer, can be broken down to input (sensor), processing (single ARM chip), output (LCD screen) and power. 99% of all modern devices follow this layout and although it is very interesting to look at teardowns and reviews of modern gear, it is not very interesting from an electronics point of view (this is no critique to the video maker). Single-chip solutions are becoming really common. Also, serviceability (aka cracking open the case) often takes half the time of the teardown itself due to progressively more aggressive design. So I'd love to see teardowns of older gear just as much as I like teardowns and reviews of newer electronics. 

[thesherm]

There is a Flir engineer sitting behind his desk laughing at you right now. 

[tHaHxr]

By the way dave, the processor could be working on a multiple of that 8 mhz with an internal PLL. It might be working at the max 72mhz (8*9).

[OtakuSanel]

it was extremely frustrating watching dave trying to take it apart. one of the very first things that came to my mind is screws under that plastic screen cover. you can pretty easily remove that screen cover and the screws would be accessible. i'm amazed that he didn't figure that out. 

[MakerHands]

@eevblog
The coil at 29:47 is for the calibration shutter.
The shutter actuates at 19:28 to 19:31.

[rossmanngroup]

I would love a way to get the video out of this as VGA, DVI, or HDMI so I can capture it for youtube streams so people can see the thermal troubleshooting methods. I can't find any thermal cameras of quality that can output to an external monitor.

[Oshbotscom]

I found it rather amusing that at 17:00 Dave was still concerned that he might break the SD slot and USB connector. Worth the watch right there. :)

[mvm]

Reviving this thread. One of our guys dropped ours and it wouldn't work and you could hear something rattling around inside. Saw this video and knew also that the screws were under the plastic screen that fits over the LCD. Used a thin tool to go around the perimeter of the plastic screen then used a heat gun to warm everything up. I pried up the plastic screen and found it was held on with rubber cement. Once this was up, you could clearly see the (4) small screws that held the unit together. Remove these and the unit comes apart.

Hope this helps somebody.

[klnkr]

The STM32F103 contains a PLL for stepping up those 8MHz from the crystal... It will most likely not operate at such a low frequency.

[mrmacomouto]

Is the rubber molded over the screen glass? I've seen a few devices like this where you have to pull the screens glass cover off to get to the screws.

[reinholdfrank]

Hi Dave.
The shutter is not for calibration, it is for a non uniformity correction of the fixed pattern noise of the bolometer, because the individual detector elements do have individual characteristics and drifts, which would result in a detector typical pattern over time. So the shutter is used to compensate for this to get a clean homogene picture, it reduces noise.
Greetings from Austria
Reinhold

[coreddit]

19:30 you can see the shutter operate when the screen freezes. 

[richfiles]

Reminds me of this damned motor I used to work on back at my old job. It was an elevator/flap drive for a refueling tanker jet's boom. They aimed the boom with those flaps, and those motors moved the flaps. Thy wanted to do an all electric design, to further reduce the delay in actuation for hydraulic systems, considering you have to move valves and fluids and such. The motors were bonded together with Ecobond epoxy, which is good for about 2000 PSI shear.

To salvage a stator or a rotor... We MACHINED THE HOUSING off the motor, down to the stator. I eventually came up with a method of screwing a threaded mount to the endcap, and then we threaded a long threaded bar with a plate on the end, and a weight that could freely move. You STILL and to machine the steel motor housing off the stator to salvage a stator, but at least with my tool, we could salvage the rotors (say, if a stator failed Hi-pot post bonding) by popping the end caps off with an inertial "snap" that exceeded the 2000 PSI strength of the Ecobond epoxy. It didn't really save too much, but it did save us some destruction, particularly when there was bearing damage. We only had to replace the inner and exterior end caps, plus bearings, and everything else was saved.

I hate non serviceable designs... especially when you're called on to service them... /)_-

[JeffDM]

That I can tell from FLIR's web site, MSX isn't about being able to measure an arbitrary spot on the screen, it's mixing cues from a visible light camera with the thermal camera image to better understand & locate what you're looking at.

So you're missing a camera for MSX.

[racrav]

I use the hairdryer trick to take labels off. Just 45 seconds and it keeps the glue good. They always go back on and stay on too. I was going to mention this in the video that referenced the stickers that auction houses use. You should be able to remove those using that trick.

[SilverCoreLabs]

I'm glad you explained this, I can see quite a few people be confused over this product. I can also see people buying this not to their homework and expecting something like a thermal camera with radiometric images when in fact it's just an enhanced spot IR temperature gun.

[zaprodk]

22:24 it's a standard xtal, nothing new here. Also, i'm 100% sure that the LCD glass is glued down like the front trim, you just lift it off, and access to the screws is visible. Also, that front-assembly on the Lepton is a shutter!

[miket]

the screws must be behind the screen assembly, they form the over mold at the same time as the plastic usually in the same mold