This is a review video I did on the Flir One Pro thermal imaging camera for the android smartphone. Now I had one simple test for this camera and it failed but it is a cool device all together. However I ended up returning mine as it did not do what I wanted it to do.
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Okay, guys so I'm gon na do a little tool review here. This is gon na be on the floor. One Pro okay, I bought the Fleur one pro for my Android phone to specifically use it for one function. Now I deal with commercial refrigeration.
I know there's other uses for this. I will say that the Fleur one pro was very cool. A couple things I didn't like about it was the battery life battery life is not very long. Okay, while you're using it.
I think you get like 20 minutes of use or something like that on a full charge. Okay, so it does not last very long. I was - and I didn't get footage of this, but it was interesting using the Fleur 1 Pro to look at like a condenser coil when the system was operating a traditional tube and fin condenser and then look at a microchannel condenser. That was very interesting to see in a did show temperature differences in the condenser.
It's interesting to use it to look at temperature losses or gains through walls to see poor insulation and that kind of stuff the Fleur 1 Pro does work for that. But my review is on one specific function. I wanted to know if on a walking cooler, let's say that had a head master or a head pressure control valve, if I could see the liquid level in my liquid line receiver when the system was pumped down. Ok, this was there to try to help me to verify if the unit had the proper winter charge.
Okay, so I'm gon na go ahead and go to the video and show you guys and then we'll talk about it at the end. So we've got the Fleur 1 Pro here, so the guy right here, the little USB chingus goes in and out, but it's still not enough. So, in order to use it with my case, I got to use one of these little extenders so I'll get that on there that the floor, one pro also comes with a USB C charger and a case a little handy case that holds it so we'll get Some footage, so this is a test of the floor, one throw. I have a receiver that is pumped down at the king valve and I'm looking to see if I can tell where the liquid level is a receiver and so far, nothing.
But what I'm going to try doing is rinsing the receiver with some water pulling it down to see. If we can see the different liquid levels done, let's try again not really giving me a good liquid indication. Try changing some of the settings! Good levels recorder! You definitely see the temperature signatures, like you know like down here where it's purple my fingers point. That's where the paint is missing off the receiver, the color patterns I mean you can see.
I think that's an epic fail for the Fleur one. As far as checking procedures all right, so you guys kind of saw the the failure that I found with the floor. One Pro, I think it's a cool product, you know, but it just didn't, do what I wanted it to do. But if you were gon na use it, you know to look for heat losses or heat gains.
I think it's definitely worth it. I paid $ 399 for the floor, one pro, and that was the floor. One pro for Android with the USBC connector on it. Okay, got it from Amazon, it was a prime thing, so you know that it just wasn't really something that was justifiable for me to keep okay, it's a novelty for me. You know, I mean it was fun, but that was pretty much it. Okay, I mean I I even like, for instance when, outside just out of curiosity cuz, I was having a problem with a raccoon in my backyard, and I was just kind of curious. If I could see you know in pitch black, if I could see the heat signatures of the raccoon and negative, you couldn't you couldn't see anything. You just see darkness and I also read to there's something about the thermal sensor inside the flare one pro.
It's not good in pitch black, so I definitely think that for the situation that I want to use it for, if I was to buy one of those really really, you know five, six thousand dollar thermal imaging cameras. It might do what I want it to do, but I was just looking for something that was affordable, that I could potentially put in all my trucks and save ourselves the hassle of having to heat up a receiver. So but you know, unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. So alright guys thanks for taking the time to watch this tool review, and I will see you guys on the next one.
Guessing by your upcoming video that you've changed your mind on this contraption? Service area Ottawa??
Could this be used for leak detection?
Mine is the older FLIR-1 for Android before the 'Pro' version. I bought mine as a toy, having had the luxury of borrowing an older standalone FLIR camera from our Facilities manager for a weekend and playing with it. Since then though, I've used it for a ton of stuff, including (a short list) looking at wiring for hot spots, seeing how much heat my house loses in winter, looking at old video game PCBs to find dead chips, finding air pockets in radiators, seeing wiring in walls (plug in a heavy load for a while), and even taking weird photos of friends and pets. I am now on my second battery, the original Li-Ion polymer battery having failed and an eBay replacement installed. (was super easy) Even though it is not that useful in my job, no regrets in buying it. The temp display when you target something seems pretty accurate too. Are you in Ottawa ?
I would suggest a strip of tape, no reflective like painter's tape. It's the key for some things.
You can't use the camera on metal, it's reflective even on infrared. Try putting something on top of it like paper.
I have a flir one pro for my iPhone.
I definitely don’t use it all the time, but occasionally it is useful.
Several times I have confirmed clogged micro channel condenser coils.
I confirmed a leaking reed valve on a recip compressor (when unit was shut down you could easily see hot gas leaking back from the discharge all the way back into the accumulator).
I found a loose wire connection inside an exhaust hood control box at a contactor that was intermittently tripping the breaker.
I found missing insulation in a wall once as well.
I do have to say that I haven’t FOUND anything with it but it’s helped me confirm many things taking my confidence in the diagnosis from say 80% to 100%. I actually carry it in my small bag all the time. I personally like it.
Hey Chris, did you try heating up the receiver and seeing if the Flir could catch it. I’m getting a One Pro and also want it for these scenarios.
I think temperature difference would be to small to pick it up with the flir. Cooling it and then letting it warm up is a good tricks, as the liquid side will warm up faster, but still, it might not be enough. I suspect the big problem was reflectivity of the paint. I would suggest putting a black matt tape on entire length of the tank and only look at it. Disabling autoscaling of color scale could also help.
Had to say something, this review sucks 1 You should not be working on anything if you do not understand that a liquid receiver will show the same temp for gas and liquid unless you heat it high enough to boil the liquid inside, a water hose won't do the trick skippy, not at the pressure the refrigerant is at. 2 this tool will show small pressure drops in driers, coils, piping, and valves not to mention the electrical hot spots it can find, I have one, its far from a novelty. 3 maybe the Raccoon decided to spend the night somewhere else Einstein. Before you recommend or not educate yourself, lets hope your boss doesn't see your "review" it's embarrassing, Just a suggestion, get yourself some Copeland manuals and study up.
Now I want to test my handheld and see if it works. Good review!
From another video I've watched the temperature difference between the liquid level is only about 10-20 degrees. The camera takes a minimum and a maximum reading in the field of view and then calculates a color scale in between these readings. So 10 degrees becomes difficult to see in the color graduation. Is there a method for manually setting the minimum and maximum temperatures on the Flir?
Use it on door heaters in the walk in freezers
You can not get liquid level only by calculation, because that camera only shows thermal stratification
Increíble nic vid 👌
Hit m bk pls 👍 Service area Barrhaven??
"BOILING HOT" water poured down the side………………………. sure you;ll see my other comments.
or blast it with a torch down the side, heat metal fast and try to not burn the paint off, probably still require a good thermal camera 😉
How much airflow was there across that receiver?
I use my FLIR One for finding liquid level in propane tanks, the trick is they have to be in use. So when the liquid is boiling out of the tank you see a very clear difference in temp. however a static liquid will homogenize to the ambient temperature of the tank pretty quickly. Think of the tank being a heat-sink since the liquid is in contact with a large area of the tank surface. Service area Nepean??
I find myself using FLIR for finding pipes in walls not much in refrigeration use.
Another random idea, what if you bypass discharge gas or suction gas into the receiver inlet, that might change the temp enough to see a difference before the whole receiver temp changes
So I just looked up what I said down below. I won’t say I’m wrong but I am mistaken, maybe. Apparently the frame rate is (also?) limited in order to stop you from turning one into an accurate heat seeking missile. So if you’re looking to get better performance, maybe just don’t do that and you’ll be good.
Looks like your getting reflections off the receiver.
You can’t think of any invisible imaging in the same way as visible imaging. Thermal cameras work on heat signatures apparent to the camera and nothing else. If there is something in the way, that will interfere with the reading the camera will see. They can see through walls, but not if there’s a big metal or insulating blanket in the way.
Unfortunately a big metal box is gonna conduct heat really well and it’s not going to give you a clear indication, because the heat the camera is seeing is being conducted away. This might my help for your specific goal, but these are EXTREMELY handy for tracking down electrical faults that are not an open circuit, which is a lot of them. So you will find faults where some current gets through extremely easily.
It will also be handy to see if a room has any major hotspots for more consistent cooling. Your customers will definitely trip balls when they see a thermal camera on you, and if anything it will trick their minds into thinking they have better, more ‘customised’ aircon, in some magic way. Keep it in your bag.
Also, don’t take this as gospel, I don’t know, but consumers are extremely limited as to what you are allowed to see, because the government restricts how good they can be, I’m not sure in what ways, I only know that this is a thing, and it stands to reason that usability in pitch darkness would be a big limitation. Because unless your website has a .mil at the end of it, flir are not going to sell a bunch of pitch-black infrared cameras to anybody in the sake of tactical advantage. This is also part of the reason why thermal imagining cameras have visible light cameras.
We have some vogt ice machines that have a sight glass column run along the length of the receiver to see liquid level. It would be nice to see them on walk-ins.
How did it do heating it up though? I been using your torch method and my hand or laser… but i honestly still have troubles finding the liquid level to be honest. Sometimes it feels clear as day… and sometimes I can’t hardly tell. This kicked my ass on a big walk in recently. Swore it was clearly about 40%… then put gas in and couldn’t tell at all. Was hoping the TI would help clear the confusion
Im not sure why i started watching your videos but once i did, i found myself intrigued. Ive been in the medical field for about 16 years and have my go at a cdl driver…. but once i saw you vids ive been getting a feeling like i may want to do this! Thanks
Torch it!
Bummer. Makes sense though. I’m sure it’d work great if you heated up, but then it would be just as effective as your finger. Are you in Kanata ?
Thanks so much for testing the Flir One. Like you I was having difficulty justifying the purchase. It's an interesting notion but I wasn't sure I'd be able to usefully apply it for refrigeration repairs. Are you in Barrhaven ?
You will have better luck with the Flir that Home Depot rents. I have used it on larger parralell comp systems and have seen the liquid levels, oil levels, split condensers, etc..
What temperatures are you looking for?
Why Don't they Put Sight glasses in the side or end of the receivers of where the Liquid level should be ?
Thanks , By the way i saw one of your video's the other day , i think it was contactor one or hoshizaki , anyways u put Me on your end Roll and i appreciate the End of video suggestion. Thanks again chris. take er easy and have a Merry Christmas ! 🎄
Good vid. Thanks for trying ! Maybe Put a Bag of ice on top of the receiver to cool top of receiver off enough to show a Mega change in Empty metal top surface vs hot lower liquid temperature. i think that would work. Hell i think i'm going to try that with my IR Gun. You just gave me a idea.
Nice try tho man! Almost
Same here thought about buying it. thnx for the real life test 👍 Are you in Nepean ?
Isn’t that the second tool you took back to Amazon? Amazon is going to wonder why you purchasing tools and taking them back. LOL
I thought to buy one to help me watch restrictions on lines but…
When I saw this subject I knew that’s what you’d use it for. I was wondering if it could do that myself, since I recently bought the c2 which I’ve found useful thus far in the heating season.
Random idea: Is there a device of sort that can spot the difference between the liquid and vapor? Perhaps something like a stud detector of sorts
Just picked one up
👍👍👍
Im almost thinking an uncoated tank might show better but overall no bueno
Excellent video, I was thinking of purchasing one, but after your review I think I will wait to see if there is a better one available. Thanks for the video's. Service area Orleans??
I'm glad you made this video it help me make up my mind , Not to buy this, I heard mixed reviews. Nice job👍
The camera had good color detail and the lines to help to find the image, its a little improvement over my snap on camera but I think the metal dissipates the heat too much.
Since this cameras read temperature could it be that there was no temperature difference on the receiver between liquid and no liquid are? You sprayed with water though so I don't know ahha
Flir has another spot imager that has a laser to tell us spot temp , we could use it to go up the receiver and see the temp difference?
Cool Flir,on camera. After few days adjusting it will look better.