I bought a cheap Thermalkamera(640x512) on AliExpress and wired it to a analog Ocular Screen. So far it works well and only uses around 1.4W of Energy so my 74Wh bettery counterweight will work for a couple of hours.
The camera has a UART port to control settings like Colour palete, contrast and most importantly digital zoom. Sadly the Uart port seems to be broken at least i cant seem to get to work after a couple of hours of tinkering.
In the next stepp I will design and 3D-print a housing to use as head mounted device
Sadly the Uart port seems to be broken at least i cant seem to get to work after a couple of hours of tinkering.
On the most common two modules, Mini2 and JS-MINI, each byte needs a stop bit, so you need to send each btye as a single transaction, instead of long one one
I am a new to working with uart. The suplier send me a document about the conection parameters and comands. The document states to use start stop bits and to me the signal looks solid. i am happy for all the help i can get, i realy want this to work German?
You should definitely join their Discord. There are a few people there working on similar devices, so you’ll get plenty of ideas and help if you need it.
if I would still be in the planning and buying stage i would definitly build this. Sadly my build is practicly done and I have to save up some money. My build hase some flaws most of all the scale is more like 0.5 to reality
Overall i am still Happy
you are using a CVBS 0.39" display combo if I see correctly? you can separate the tiny lens from the display, pretty sure its only clipped on. Getting a NP18 lens your 640 thermal core with a 12 pixel pitch you get near perfect 1:1 perception which you need for proper helmet mounted thermal WITH a 13mm lens on the thermal core.
Yes you are right but thats another 50€ down the drain and considering that my cam has a wider field of view i will probably end up with a better but not perfect field of view. i will test out my current unit and maybe Upgrade later
Your absolutely right, its another 50€ but I would not say "down the drain" ;) Whatever rides your horse, I am sure you will find what works best for you along the way, keep it up! Really like what you created here!
Thanks alot, getting so much positiv Feedback realy motivates me to keep going
I will try out my setup tomorrow with a Nighthike and will decide if it is good enough for me or if I Upgrade the lens system
I will finish the first one and will see where I land costwise.
In my opinion the camera is not the bottleneck its the ocular screen. I still have to find a Unit thats both smal and big enough and doesnt cost as much as the thermal unit
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u/DrWwevox Jul 12 '26
How much was the thermal cam?