Flir Vue Pro vehicle mounted thermal

[Wildfowler]

I scored a used Vue pro 640 19mm lens recently and got it hooked up in a go-light housing on the roof of my truck and am using my laptop as a monitor.

So I'm parked in a fresh cut corn field checking out my surroundings when I see this hog step out of the edge of a soybean field into the cut corn.

This hog is about 100 yards away, perfectly upwind of me in my truck. I stepped out and got the rifle ready to shoot when I discovered the battery was dead in riflescope DVR. No worries. I step back into the truck and hit record on the phone app and capture the action from a different perspective.....

I was using instalert from the color pallet. When I first got the camera (my first flir) and was playing around with it in the day time, I really didn't think much of instalert. It seems to produce a lot of red highlights from objects that are catching a lot of sun. Earlier in the week I tried it while out in the field and realized that it works really well for hunting. So far, in my limited experience with it at night away from pavement, anything that "pops" red is a warm blooded creature.

Anyway, there's not much to this video and there's no sound, but I thought it was pretty cool never the less.

The far tree line in the right upper corner of the screen was too far for me to range find. With the Vue I was able to spot 5 deer without a problem. Ok, I was able to see 5 spots and judged them to be five deer from their movement. They did seems to vanish and reappear, but when I zoomed in on them they were visible the whole time.

I was able to see them the whole time with my IR Hunter 35, but am satisfied with the "detection" range at that distance. I believe the treeline was about 600 yards. But I'll check it next visit in the daytime to know for sure.

 

[scrmblr1982cj8]

Nice!

 

[theblakester]

Nicely done. Congrats on the vehicle mounted spotter

 

[gshock]

Good hog down and more toys!!

 

[FrankT]

innovation and technology, gotta love the combination!

 

[Jake]

Very cool!

 

[Chopperdrvr]

Nice score on the thermal and hog.

 

[RattlesnakeDan]

I kinda like that red hog, maybe harder to pick a "spot" to shoot though huh?

 

[Hard_ware]

Nice! I've been looking for a vue with the 35mm to put in my Ir modded go light but have not found a good deal yet. A pwm box can be made to switch settings on the vue without a computer, like if you are using a built in dash LCD screen with the video output.

 

[Wildfowler]

Nice! I've been looking for a vue with the 35mm to put in my Ir modded go light but have not found a good deal yet. A pwm box can be made to switch settings on the vue without a computer, like if you are using a built in dash LCD screen with the video output.

I wish I could toggle between the zoom settings from the golight remote control.

It's all i can do to juggle the phone, golight, and keep the laptop on the dash as it is now. Hahaha

 

[Wildfowler]

So I went back to the field where I shot the hog during the day and was able to rangefinder for tree line. Various points included distances of 790 to 846 yards. I have no idea if the deer I saw the first night were that far away or not but I am pleased with the possibility of being able to detect a deer or hog size animal that far away.

I wound up killing a coyote off of that dead hog later that night and discovered that the range on being able to connect to the Bluetooth worked that far away. I was able to turn on the video and record me inspecting the dead coyote at approximately 85 - 100 yards away.

The first few nights of me using this system after receiving it, I was experiencing trouble with the Bluetooth connection. It would not stay connected. I figured out that the Bluetooth connection is working just fine, however my phone would interrupt the connection if I switched to a different application or answer a phone call, text message, etc.

Keeping the Bluetooth app loaded on the main page of my phone has been totally reliable once I figured this out. I think there must be about a minute that I could respond to a text message and switch back to the app before the Bluetooth connection is interrupted by the phone software.

 

[Oso Grande]

Well done! Glad to see yours is working well!

I took my Vue out this weekend, but with the rain and going for hours without seeing so much as a deer I kept questioning if it was working right.

Hardware: I'm really curious as to the pwm box you have in mind. Can you walk me through how you picture it going together? Thanks...

 

[Hard_ware]

You can buy a 4 channel servo box with , or just get 4 servo testers. Now you can set them for what you need to trigger the flir vue using the pwm signal they output. You have to set the flir vue internal software configuration for using the 4 pwm channels and what settings each channel controls and how many switches it will make 2 or 3 per channel..
For example you can set channel 1 to 3 mode, with blk hot , a color palette, and wht hot, the channel will be set to mode 3 , which when the servo is at 1ms it switches to blk, when the servo is moved to 1.5ms it switches to color palette, and when you move the servo output to 2ms it switches to wht hot. That is my understanding of how you can set it up. I don't have one to play with yet. I would make a box and put resistors tied to switches that would switch the servo tester when the button is pressed to change the output. Example if the servo tester is at a certain position say 1ms measure the resistance of the knob and now place a resistor of the same measured resistance connected to a switch to complete the circuit. Now when you press the switch the circuit will output the 1ms pulse you need to trigger the change. Then do the same for each trigger you need per channel, or just rotate the servo testers knob to trigger the change that way.

 

[djones]

lots of intelligent posts. for a while i was afraid i was the smartest one here

 

[Ratdog68]

lots of intelligent posts. for a while i was afraid i was the smart-ass one here

Well... you are. ;)

 

[jrweston]

Nice! I've been looking for a vue with the 35mm to put in my Ir modded go light but have not found a good deal yet. A pwm box can be made to switch settings on the vue without a computer, like if you are using a built in dash LCD screen with the video output.

Nice! I've been looking for a vue with the 35mm to put in my Ir modded go light but have not found a good deal yet. A pwm box can be made to switch settings on the vue without a computer, like if you are using a built in dash LCD screen with the video output.

Do you have any idea where I might can purchase a 19mm Thermal Lens for a Flir Vue Pro 640. I currently have a 9 mm lens. Please text my cell # 334-689-1918 if you have any information. Thanks

 

[Wildfowler]

I just found this online. It’s not a Vue pro which means no Bluetooth phone app control but once I get mine set I generally don’t make changes anyway. 2x and 4x on an analog display don’t really offer any better ID.

All you need is an inexpensive display and a golight to canabalize for the tilt pan housing.

FLIR VUE 640 Thermal Imager 19mm Lens - 30Hz | OEMCameras.com

You may be able to call and “haggle” on the price if they still have these in stock. I know this company also offered a 35 mm lens option.

I personally wish I had more magnification than the 19 mm, but too much magnification and I doubt you could drive with this. As it is now this set up will detect armadillo sized critters 600 yards away in a clean field.

Deer/hog sized much farther. As it is now I just pull out my rifle thermal for better ID if I’m not sure.

A little more magnification would be nice though just to see a deer head “pick-up” from farther away but it’s not necessary.