TSP #70 - FLIR MR160 Thermal Imaging & Moisture Meter Review, Teardown & Experiments

[@mikeselectricstuff]

I'd think the SD card is just for image storage, not software as SW would be in the PIC32 flash.

[@laptop006]

+mikeselectricstuff Once I saw the PIC32 I started wondering if you were actually behind this one.

[@Thesignalpath]

+mikeselectricstuff Yes, at that time I had not seen what is on the other side of the board yet. I have added a note to the video. :)

[@AureliusR]

First time I've seen my baby in a commercial product! (The PIC32MX that is!) Awesome to see it gaining a foothold.

[@tjtube263]

You designed the chip?

[@DDL-n2u]

Very useful, thank you! It was a nightmare finding detail on the color pallette, the heat signature only etc. Looks like a fantastic device, can't wait to receive it.

[@elvishfiend]

Shahriar, often lenses will ship with a removable plastic layer to protect it. Is it possible that it's still on the lens, and that's what's scratched?

[@Richardincancale]

Agree about the temperature scale - would let an HVAC person see where there are faults in building insulation to fix - even to demonstrate where double glazing would be useful.

[@majbthrd]

I tore down a Chumby years ago, and they used a nicer SD card socket designed for such an application with a metal latch to ensure retention. That seems superior to FLIR's approach of dabbing glue on an insertion socket to try to prevent a card ejection. What a topsy-turvy world of electronics we live in where Joe Average can buy NAND flash plus error correction controller (e.g. SD card) at the local drugstore for less money than an engineer has to pay a distributor for a 'less-than-cell-phone-quantity' design (and then deal with recurring EOL notices to boot).

[@JJayzX]

Some people seem to be playing this device down. I think it is a very important device if you're looking for a home to buy. You're going to invest potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. If the owner lies and says it's a dry place when it's not. Then you could be out tens of thousands possibly. Then afterwards you can still keep using the device to keep on top of anything that may happen to a house over time.

[@stefantrethan]

+JJayzX Makes one wonder how we did without until now ;-). I think it is a bit far fetched that this would be cost effective for the average home owner. Perhaps a professional building inspector or maintenance guy, who already has a couple decent thermal imagers anyway, might shave some minutes off his day and make it worthwhile. Besides, if you are looking to buy a home, you ain't exactly shopping for non-essential gadgets like this ;-).

[@JJayzX]

+stefantrethan The average home owner probably doesn't watch this channel to begin with ;-p

[@Flielow]

Great review, thank you!! I wish I had your technical know how and how to look for problems and fix them myself. You made my choosing of purchasing this device much easier!!

[@stevenfraile7105]

Really nice work- you helped me quickly learn my MR176!

[@speedymeds]

Interested in Flir MR 176 comparison

[@sandilane1405]

I'm looking for a good moisture detector for food. I could prob save a lot of money here in Maryland if all the guess work about my food being dry dry in my free dryer ... I tend to run it forever to ensure it's dry. Have any suggestions?

[@CraigOverend]

I'm wondering if this could be a useful field tool for garden science as I recently read a study showing that plant canopy temperature using TIR can be used to measure water stress. It could be useful for measuring plant canopy with the TIR, leaves with the capacitive sense and soil moisture with the prongs. Any indoor plants you can water and then neglect and show before and after results? :)

[@123dankata]

Hi , Great review! Is it possible to comment briefly about the differences between the MR160 and the TG267? I am looking for something that can detect a potential water leakage from the roof and was wondering if there is something in the way MR160 measures the surfaces that will give it competitive advantage over the TG267. thank you very much.

[@DoRC]

it's bs that they don't show temp on a device where a significant portion of the cost is from the thermal camera.

[@tjtube263]

What are your workstation tables/desks/benches like? Can you recommend a good one?

[@ZenyWorld]

You are a genius man! I am engineer too, but not in your level. Congratulations! Top.

[@tasosjw]

What a detailed review!!!! Thank you 🙏

[@dtiydr]

7:00 A SD card to hold your firmware.. that was a new one. Does not exist today for sure in similar commercial products.

[@shlomsi2000]

I was really surprised to see the push buttons are the type used in the old Atari CX40 joystick. Just bare metal covered with clear tape. I hope it's of better quality than the Atrai's which used to fail all the time due to metal fatigue, and the sticky tape did not hold them very well causing them to drift off their pads.

[@AureliusR]

+shlomsi2000 They're called tactile dome buttons, VERY common in all sorts of consumer and pro products. Rated for a few tens of thousands of presses. I guarantee FLIR will have sourced them from a quality manufacturer.

[@shlomsi2000]

+Aurelius R Thanks, yes it would make sense that they are made from high quality materials. Very interesting however that they are reliable when all that holds them is one sticky tape, maybe i'm just traumatized from way back when I used to fix and replace those on old joysticks :)

[@AureliusR]

shlomsi2000 Well, it certainly won't be your average sticky tape. It'll be a type of adhesive qualified for that application.

[@chaddles623]

I really like your videos I've bought a Cat S60 and I find leaks in residential roofs for a living and some commercial flat. I would like to see how I found find the leak in a roof, when it's not raining with thermal imaging, can you pls help me with this instead of just showing the obvious water damage, Ive head doing it at dusk on a roof is the only true way on a flat building. but I wanna see how I can apply my Flir Cat S60 on a residential composition slopped roof, it would help me so much if you could make a video on this, I've asked Flir, and they said on Amazon that I should be able to see a hole from the roof, and I don't, I feel like I've thrown away my money, unless can find actual use on finding roof leaks with this equipment, thank you and keep up the detailed video's, they are more helpful than someone just saying it can happen but I need to see it happen.

[@julienm1310]

Merci pour ta vidéo, mon appareil avait une panne avec la caméra, et tu as raison la nappe de la caméra sort du connecteur avec le temps, sinon super appareil

[@adjacircidrao]

Excellent video, thanks for share this experiments.

[@witeshade]

I wonder if not including the temperature display puts the device into a different tax or import law bracket. I remember seeing a different video (maybe one of Mikes) where I believe he mentioned that the framerate available from the sensor had some kind of legal limitation on it. Perhaps this is another aspect of that same requirement.

[@stefantrethan]

+Daniel G The 9Hz framerate thing is an export restriction - someone imagines it will keep the designated bad guys from getting this technology. The lack of absolute temperature could be two things: protection of their thermal camera market, or lack of calibration shutter. Since Shahariar says the shutter clicks periodically it ain't the second thing.

[@OOM94582]

I am comparing MR160 and FLIR ONE PRO. I wonder if you happen to have a FLIR ONE PRO that you can use it to detect the moisture on the ceiling tile. I guess I want to find out if MR160 will detect temp difference due to moisture that ONE PRO cannot detect. Thanks!

[@honinscrave]

The Pro will probably have a better resolution, but it otherwise would have about the same results

[@MrAnton0628]

at what distance does it detect moisture?

[@N430-b9m]

Thanks for a very good review

[@Orcinus24x5]

Ah, you FINALLY fixed your intro!!! :D :D :D

[@MrGonzalo41]

very good video, congratulations

[@tonysmith-jd3tv]

Can you use on carpet and flooring?

[@Thesignalpath]

Sure. You will see if the carpet is damp.

[@TheDigitalAura]

Cheap looking packaging for such an expensive piece of kit.

[@ToniT800]

I bough this unit month ago. Now I can pick up girls much more efficiently :) Thank you FLIR

[@clauschoy]

How to reset the meter, the meter was calibration itself in accident =_=

[@Sri1316]

is this product available in India ?

[@notionSunday]

Enjoyed watching.

[@mikehorrod4367]

different frame rate on this video?

[@Enzaie]

Great video as always!!!

[@TheTugge]

Do you know the reason why the update rate can't be higher than 9 Hz?

[@Thesignalpath]

+TheTugge The limitation is due to export control. Higher than 9Hz update rate enters a whole different category of instrument.

+TheTugge More than 9Hz would probably slip this device into army/national security/roswell category :-)

[@Razor2048]

I wonder if anyone will make firmware mods for the device (probably boost the frame rate and add temperature monitoring :) ).

[@hazemeriqat2365]

Helpful video

[@agentsmithisalive]

Great video!

[@csmaster65]

What's the reasoning behind the maximum 900 Hz update rate for commerical products? ( 3:30 )

[@TheHuesSciTech]

+csmaster65 9 Hz, not 900 Hz. And I'm guessing higher frame rates are considered useful for the military.

[@tjtube263]

Why is it useful to the military?

[@TheHuesSciTech]

tjtube263 Seeing enemies at night?

[@tjtube263]

TheHue's SciTech I'm talking about the higher frame rate. But I think you know that.

[@TheHuesSciTech]

tjtube263 Seeing fast enemies at night?

[@JustinAlexanderBell]

I really want a better thermal camera.

[@alextrofimov7947]

Magic white smoke!! ))

[@gacherumburu9958]

👍👍

[@smunaut]

I think they don't have the absolute temperature ... In their cheaper products they don't have the calibration shutter and external calibrated temp sensor to get the true absolute temperature. And since this is FLIR, this would just be unacceptable to display a temperature that's off by a couple deg C ... if you can't do it right, don't do it at all.

[@Thesignalpath]

+Sylvain Munaut It does have an internal shutter. It is using the Lepton sensor which (as far as I know) is a stand alone module.

[@smunaut]

The lepton _can_ have a auto shutter, but doesn't have to. In the Flir One for instance, it doesn't have it (it uses a manual shutter where it prompts the user to put the shutter on basically, see mikeselectricstuff teardown).

[@Thesignalpath]

+Sylvain Munaut I can hear the shutter open and close periodically on this unit while the camera is operating.

[@smunaut]

Ok. Wasn't sure if you were saying there is one because it's a lepton or because you had some other info. (tear down wasn't showing th e sensor)

[@zaprodk]

+The Signal Path Blog You would think that the temperature-option is turned off so not to compete with more expensive models.

[@marco56702]

26:50That stinks! Once you smelled it, you never forget it !!

[@hdmalpas]

Very expensive for a one chip solution.

[@MPrint67]

FLIR E series is so much better than this thing. While it’s convenient to have a pin and pad meter all in one, you’re sacrificing the thermal detection capabilities for that. I owned an E5 and it is light years ahead of this. If you’re serious about moisture detection, spend a few hundred more on an E4 or E5. The image flips so often on this that you can easily miss something.

[@stefantrethan]

I guess they can save on the calibration shutter by not offering any temperature readout. Still - I would not buy this. There is no pressing reason to combine these two functions into a single instrument and the thermal camera is just too crippled.

[@Thesignalpath]

+stefantrethan The point is moisture detection which is guided by thermal imaging, and it works really well.

[@stefantrethan]

+The Signal Path Blog How does it work better than just about any other thermal imager and any other (separate) moisture meter?

[@Thesignalpath]

+stefantrethan By combining the thermal camera and moisture meter in one device, you can search for problem areas quickly using the thermal camera and verify by measuring the moisture level with both the pinless and pin methods. If you already own a separate thermal camera and a moisture meter, then you won't need this device.

[@habiks]

Looks like a cheap chinese product, where they forgot to drop the price. Thanks for reviewing what I never want to own. If you need it for "electronics debugging", you're better of with some plain alcohol, eyes and fingers.

[@Thesignalpath]

It is rated for a 3m drop. It has an extremely solid build.

[@habiks]

+The Signal Path Blog the resolution is better when I use my 5 fingers and I can estimate the absolute temp much better :)) This is just a toy..

[@stefantrethan]

+Google+ SUCKS BALLS - the worst forced social network You forgot your nose. Use your nose to smell the burning, use your eyes to see the smoke, use your fingers to unplug the device, use the alcohol to drown your sorrows ;-) A thermal imager is pretty nice to diagnose faults quickly, but this is the wrong product for electronics work.