Cavechat.org

I recently purchased a FLIR E4 series IR camera for the purpose of cave detection. We did the first field test with it today. Outside temps were around 26 degrees. We located several small sinks located around 700 vertical feet above a know cave. These were small shallow sinks. At least five or more tested well with the camera. By traditional methods of heat and airflow detection, only a small spot of heat or minimal air flow could be found. But with the FLIR, a much larger area of heat could be found. In some cases, "plumes" were detected. I took three pictures of each sink, 1) heat signature only, 2) picture of heat signature within a picture and 3) a normal digital picture, all done with the FLIR. We were very pleased with results. Please note, we "upgraded" to E4 camera to E8 capability (for free).

Donnie Carns
Beans Cove Pa

Cool! Feel free to share photos.

http://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufact ... end-model/

https://plus.google.com/photos/11636315 ... 9144133921

The last two pictures are a black bear carcass in the bottom of a sink. This is the first attempt to use this equipment. Hopefully I will get better with it.

Donnie Carns
Beans Cove Pa

No access to these pictures.

The link should be working now. There is an "upgrade" for manual temperature settings but it is bit more complicated. This feature would help quite a bit. I say "upgrade" since I want to avoid the "H--K" word.

Nice. How well does it work at longer distance, like aiming toward the side of a hill looking for warm spots?

Love the image with the superimposed snowflakes.

I did some calculations. At 50 feet, each pixel for a stock E4 thermal gun will represent the average temperature of a 11.8 inch by 11.8 inch area. The pixels for an upgraded gun at 50 feet will represent a 3 inch by 3 inch area... a huge improvement!



In addition, I believe Greg Springer found some success in identifying blowers from afar with a thermal imager. Here is a video (skip ahead to 4:15 if you want to see the part where he finds a blower):

rlboyce wrote:I believe Greg Springer found some success in identifying blowers from afar with a thermal imager.

We got to dig at two of the blowholes that Greg and Neha found with the Tamarisk camera. While the camera may have helped them to spot the blowholes from a distance, the two digs that we worked on would have been easily spotted with good old-fashioned eyeballs. The cave we opened was a wide, low, crawl that was surveyed to only 102', with obscure air.

I hope that your camera finds you something good Donnie, I'm still ready to come dig, whenever you need some hands.

We have a dig in Maryland this Saturday that you could definitely help us with. A lot of dirt needs moved, but there is plenty of air to keep us all motivated. I think Donnie will be bringing his Flir too. : )

Way cool topic!

The superimposed snowflakes effect was a complete accident and I have no idea how I did it. I plan on getting out this week end for more fieldwork with the camera. We have another very good area to look at. Haven't found a sasquatch yet, but one never knows.

Don Carns Jr.
Beans Cove Pa

Went out on Saturday and Monday. FLIR worked well both times but did discover, since the hack, it needs a temperature recalibration. It reads about 8° to 10° low. The Monday trip yielded three more hot spots. The following link is the Monday trip.

https://plus.google.com/photos/11636315 ... 1515834225

Donnie Carns
Beans Cove Pa