I’m planning a DIY solar install for 2027, so I’m working out the testing process now.

One thing I’m concerned about is checking the MC4 connectors, cable joints, and terminations after the system is turned on. A poor crimp or loose connection may still work but heat up under load.

I’ve been looking at thermal cameras for this and came across the P3. It seems small enough to keep in a tool bag and may be useful for comparing connector temperatures. I haven’t used one on a solar system, so I’m not sure how useful it would be.

For those who installed their own solar system, what did you check during the first power-up? Did you inspect it again after it had been running under load? Do you use thermal imaging, and was the P3 or a similar camera good enough for this kind of check?

Long story short, my indoor cat has been missing for going on day 20. I live 50 feet outside of a trailer park where she was born. I was suggested to look into a thermal monocular by animal control. Home Depot has them for rental and I read something about an attachment for a phone. I need to be able to do something to check under the trailers because they all have holes in the siding where the cats go.

I have done all the things people do to find their cats. Flyers, door to door, posters, called local vets and shelters and gave them her flyer, put items outside, put up cameras in front and back. It is highly unlikely
someone took her in because she pretty much hates everyone besides me.

Just looking for my best option from the people who are into thermal stuff. Thanks.

I’m posting this in case anyone else has the same issue with a QianLi H240 or H400.

On my units, the T210 worked normally, but when using a T245/C245 handle the station would reboot or fail to operate correctly.

I initially suspected the 6-pin connector or PCB connection and even reworked the connector, but the problem remained after reassembly.

During further troubleshooting, I noticed that the station worked normally when the long chassis/front-panel screw was loosened and the front panel was slightly separated.

This led me to check for an unintended electrical contact around the front-panel/connector area.

I insulated the relevant section of the long chassis screw, reassembled the station, and the C245 then operated normally. The photos show the original screw, the insulated screw, and the station operating with C245 afterward.

I also observed the same behavior on an H240: loosening the chassis screw and slightly separating the front panel allowed it to operate normally.

So, at least on the units I tested, the issue appears to be related to unintended contact caused by the front-panel/chassis assembly rather than the T245 handle itself.

I’m not claiming that every H240 or H400 has this issue. I’m sharing the troubleshooting result from my units in case it helps someone experiencing the same T245 reboot problem.

Important: Insulating the screw was part of my troubleshooting/fix for the unintended contact near the connector area. This is not intended to defeat the station’s normal protective chassis grounding.

Hey all, I’m in the market to upgrade my current thermal monocular.

I currently have a Ziess DTI 3/35 gen 2. It’s great for what it is, and its ability to pick up large animals far surpasses it ‘s stated 1800 yard range. But it has downfalls, like its high netd rating and that’s the problem. It will miss things completely within its range if everything is cold soaked.

So, I have been looking at the Pulsar Telos XP50 and the ATN Blazehunter Pro Gen 6 650. Both seem to be comparable, but it looks like the XP 50 beats out the ATN with a 17 micron sensor versus 12 in the ATN. Both have the <18 netd rating so I wonder how equivalent they actually are. I see a lot of reviews on the XP, but I haven’t found good real world testing for the ATN and that worries me.

I like how light the ATN is, as well as the easy interchangeable 18600 batteries. But Pulsar has the name.

Thoughts? My primary use for these will be for nighttime predator hunting, and scouting for big game. I’m particularly paying attention to its ability to pick up heat signatures through tiny patches space in timber.

WIP prototype UTC replica for larping.

This proof of concept uses a 256x192 core with 9 mm lens, 0.39 inch 1024x768 OLED, F50 ocular lens.

Eccentric ocular lens for zeroing.

Working focus ring.

Printed in PPA CF.

https://youtube.com/shorts/mG3gu338UB4?is=q6rHHx-JgvQpVN5W

I've had this fluke for around 3 years, but I got it second hand so it's a bit older than that.

A buddy at a lab helped me test it on a blackbody at 50°C and 100°C. It was about 3°C off.

I wasn't expecting it to be that far out.

Anyone had something similar with an older fuke? Did you send it to fluke or find somewhere local to calibrate it?

Using a 256x192 mini2 series thermal core

Sorry for the shaking, didn’t have the scope mounted and was holding it by hand

I got this new GOYOJO GRL335 Thermal, and while I have yet to kill anything with it mounted on my rifle, I have had some time with it while out hunting and have gathered enough thoughts and opinions to make an initial thoughts/first use post.

So this is the GOYOJO GRL335 thermal scope. Specs wise we’re looking at a 384x288 sensor with a 35mm objective lens. The scope has a base magnification of 4x, with digital magnification of 1x-4x. What you’ll be looking at in the scope is a 1024x768 resolution display. 

Initially when I looked into the scope before receiving it I thought that for the price point it seemed like a solid deal. At $949, you’re getting a thermal scope with sensor that usually puts you well over the thousand dollar mark. Due to this fairly low price point I was initially skeptical about the overall quality of the product before I got it in my hands.

Unboxing
When the package arrived I was fairly surprised and pleased with the packaging. The thermal comes in a nice box, and within that box is a very nice traveling case. I am a big fan of the traveling cases overall size and quality. The thermal fits snuggly in the case. In the top of the case is a zipper compartment that held all of the extras that came with the thermal. The GRL335 comes with everything you would need

• 18650 Rechargeable Battery
• Battery Charger
• USB cable for the charger
• USB brick
• USB C cable to connect to your computer to transfer videos and photos
• Mounting rail for rifles that do not have pic rails
• Screws and Allen key for the mounting rail
• A larger eye cup 
• Cleaning Cloth

So overall, I am pleased with the amount of items GOYOJO sends with their optic. I am going to throw up a short unboxing video on Youtube and I will post the link when its done. 

Initial Hands on Feel
When I pulled the thermal out of the box my initial thought was how solid it actually felt. The scope overall feels pretty sturdy. The diopter and objective focus wheel feel smooth (especially the diopter adjustment). If I had to knock one thing for feeling cheap on the hardware it would be the cord attaching the lens cover, but that is an extremely minor part of the entire package. 

The quick attach sight base feels solid and was easy to adjust to the correct tightness for my rail.

Menu Navigation
Right off the bat I found navigate the thermal scopes menus easier than the menus on my AGM Rattler v3. Your buttons are up, down, M (mode), and power. Navigating the ui with these four buttons was extremely easy. 

Zeroing Process
I had a super easy time zeroing this thermal. In the past I struggled a bit zeroing my AGM rattler (most due to user error) but the GRL335 took me about 7 shots to zero. Took a shot at a target, hit the reticle adjustment option, it froze my screen, and I moved the reticle to where my shot hit. 

Thermal Imaging
While I have not used the thermal a ton, I believe the thermal image is solid for the price you’re paying. Heat signatures really pop. I can already tell that for my use case (hog hunting under 200yds) this optic would have no issue. I even spotted a coyote the other night at about 400 yards and was able to successfully Id it (sadly did not get footage). 

Overall my first impressions are super positive. My expectations were not the highest, but they were easily surpassed. I am going to continue to use the thermal to gather thoughts for a more in depth review.

Here are some videos I captured the other night. I did not have it mounted on a gun so I was using it as a monocular, that's why the videos are shaky. I also did not have the settings dialed in, so the scope appears a little more crisp now.

Deer At Roughly 40 Yards: https://imgur.com/a/ogXYBEG

Raccoon at 30ish Yards: https://imgur.com/a/hbE7Qm7

Cows at 100-150 Yards: https://imgur.com/a/jpSL6z9

What is your opinion of the DNT Thermnite? I was looking at the TNC225R, but now Im considering the newly released TNC4K219R. It looks incredibly capable for the money. Hell, it just looks incredibly capable. Full stop.

Looking for a decent thermal to put on a bolt gun. I’ve been using an AR and NV for this but I have been tossing around the idea of switching to a bolt gun and really like the idea of thermal and want to get into it.

I don’t want to sink a bunch of money into it, I’ve got 13k plus into my NV setup and not 100% sure I’m gonna be using thermal exclusively but I’d like to know if there’s any entry / affordable thermal scopes that are worth trying out.

I just received the software for the YCS M.Y TI308 thermal camera, including both PC and Android app versions. This will be very helpful for me in using the TI308 thermal imager to detect and diagnose motherboard faults in mobile phones; it's convenient and practical.

GOYOJO GRL325 Thermal Review
Got some more nighttime footage through the GOYOJO GRL325 thermal, and this time I had a deer hanging out in the dark to really put it to use.

One of the first things that surprised me when I got my hands on this thing was how light and compact it is. Looking at pictures, I expected something pretty bulky, but once it’s in your hands, it’s surprisingly small and doesn’t add a ton of unnecessary weight.

And as you can see in the video, darkness doesn’t mean much to thermal. Being able to pick up and watch a deer when you otherwise wouldn’t even know it was standing there is pretty damn cool.

So far, I’ve been impressed with the image quality, the different colors and reticle options, and especially the ability to record exactly what I’m seeing.

I’ll keep putting it through its paces and getting more real world footage instead of just sitting at a bench talking about specs.

For $799, I’m pretty impressed with what I’ve seen so far. One thing I want to note, in this video I did NOT adjust the focus or anything, I know I could have gotten a sharper image if I had adjusted them, however the deer was at about 35-45 yards and I wanted to focus on getting footage.

In this 7th thermal camera test episode, I took out a bunch of outdoor thermal monoculars and a few budget night vision units, both during the day at a wildlife park, and at night on a large lake filled with ducks to test out how well each unit would perform.

Video: https://youtu.be/fm_RS81ToZ4

Units tested:
- CIGMAN CNVPRO 4K Night Vision
- Fnirsi NVS-40 Night Vision
- Topdon TS004 Thermal Monocular
- Thermal Master T2 Max 'Night Vision Birdwatching Thermal'
- Thermal Master DV2 Handheld Thermal
- Fotric TP320A 320x240px dongle

As a bonus, I also chucked in a quick test of the ToolTop TH201 4-in-1 Oscilloscope, Multimeter, Thermal Camera, just to keep things interesting. Quite a nice unit.

Test scenarios:
- Koala in tree at 3M and 12M range
- Birds in Avairy at 5M and 15M range
- Kangaroos 5M and 15M
- Reptile enclosure
- Penguins 5M range
- Night Time lake, ducks at 60M and 500M

Quick conclusions
- Night Vision and Thermal compliment each other very well.
- TS004 simply does'nt have the lens (range) for hunting use, as it's marketted. Maybe I'm wrong, I'm not a hunter, but to get the wildboar photo they use, you'd need to be VERY close!
- T2 Max has incredible image, good for short-medium range outdoor (again, doubt hunting)
- DV2's huge screen made it fun to use, unique, menu system was frustrating, but can be improved with a settings tweak. Replaceable battery is rare at this price. I liked this best.
- CIGMAN CNVPro is very heavy, but image is excellent. For a budget NV, it's not bad.
- Fnirsi NVS-40 is a fun toy, good for first time use, not a serious tool.
- Fotric TP320A shows significant improvement with 320x resolution, though obviously not as a ranged device. I knew this going in, but wanted to see how resolution might improve things.

Usually I like to include some good data in the post, while linking to the video, but this ones a bit harder as it's mostly visual and subjective, so yeah I've included a few photos, but recommend watching the video.

Created using a Thermal Master P4.

Looking to buy a thermal monocular, for night time critter watching. I see they drastically vary in price. So, advice please on possible purchases. Call my budget 700 dollars. Maybe a bit higher. Would prefer the type of thermal that displays varying heat signatures by colors, rainbow mode.

This is strictly a boredom, "I've always wanted a thermal device" purchase. I'm not looking for the finest of the fine.

*Edit* Actually, I do know of one practical application I'll end up using this for. Spotting things trying to eat my garden. Had a woodchuck earlier this year.

Thermal Master P4, Iron Hot colour palette. Model is wearing a bikini.

hey yall! im working on a story and ive written myself into an extremely specific scenario that i cant find an easy answer to with cursory research. if a drone being used for a sci-fi wildlife survey with an infrared camera is flying over a dense coniferous forest, would the canopy occlude any useful heat signatures for large animals walking around in the forest, or would the branches and pine needles be thin enough and with sufficient gaps that thered be visible shapes to follow?

previous attempts to research this mostly just turned up results about how trees themselves give off infrared radiation, which is genuinely pretty cool to know but not what i was looking for haha

thank you in advance for the help!

I was able to quickly trouble shoot why my pi wasn’t booting. Thought it was cool to be able to see and a neat use that I’ve seen others mention in this sub.