Problem With CairnsIRIS thermal camera and helmet.

[abhall98]

I am currently with Australian Bush Fire Brigade and have had donated a CairnsIRIS thermal camera and helmet.

However the unit displays a very static image.
High heat objects are barely visible.
The display is very unclear.

Is this a problem with the image sensor?
Has it been overexposed (burnt in)?
What would the cost of a replacement sensor be?

Any Help and advise would be appreciated

[Jonathan Bastian]

I am currently with Australian Bush Fire Brigade and have had donated a CairnsIRIS thermal camera and helmet.

However the unit displays a very static image.
High heat objects are barely visible.
The display is very unclear.

Is this a problem with the image sensor?
Has it been overexposed (burnt in)?
What would the cost of a replacement sensor be?

Any Help and advise would be appreciated

It could be a sensor problem, or it could just be the limits of quality of that paticular sensor, or a host of electronic gadgets in between. ISG (www.isgfire.com) has offered in the past to estimate repairs on older units, even those not made by them, but if this is a sensor issue, I think this might be beyond their resources. Dave L. can answer more if he reads this in time.

Frankly, with the costs of thermal imagers dropping to the USD 6500-8500 range, you'd probably be better off buying a new, inexpensive imager rather than spending a small fortunate repairing your antique.

[jbrescue]

The bad news is the Cairns is no longer even supporting the Iris. We had two at our department. One died. And cannot get it fixed. Had to replace it.

[dalittle]

Well, there is some good news and some bad news.

First the good news: We (ISG) have managed to fix a number of CairnsIRIS cameras in the past – ones that did not require any CairnsIRIS specific parts (which are no longer available.)

Now the bad news: You are in Australia, we are in the USA - and thermal cameras are controlled by export regulations thereby necessitating special approvals to move these cameras across country borders - and ISG does not have approved export licenses covering CairnsIRIS cameras. Therefore, we’d have to get special approval from our government (called an IVL license) to send the camera back to you once it is in our possession. Complicating this typically lengthy process is the fact that we don’t even make that camera. So it will really require nothing short of an act of god to get this done.

CairnsIRIS used to be priced new at US$25,000. Today, a brand new camera with much higher performance is around US$ 9,000. (around 11,000 aussie dollars).

I agree with what Jonathan Bastian said – you’d definitely be much better off with a new one.

Apologies for this one, I know this is not what you wanted to hear.

David A. Little
ISG Thermal Systems USA, Inc.