Thermal Imaging for improving fuel economy

[bennelson]

It's only a $250 camera. It's been very useful for my house so far. I found part of my ceiling that was missing insulation. I NEVER would have seen that without the camera. (Yes, I've insulated it since then. I was fortunate that it was accessible.)

Using the Flir One as a night vision device works, but only OK. The thermal imager is pretty low-res. Normally it creates a combined image from the visible spectrum and thermal range. The image from the visible spectrum gives the final picture its detail and edges.

In the dark, with thermal only, the image is blurrier and harder to tell what is what. Other than that, the thermal portion still works well and can see temperature differences at a distance pretty well.

I'll have to see if I can take a photo of the neighbor's dog at night some time.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by bennelson

It's only a $250 camera. It's been very useful for my house so far. I found part of my ceiling that was missing insulation. I NEVER would have seen that without the camera. (Yes, I've insulated it since then. I was fortunate that it was accessible.)

Using the Flir One as a night vision device works, but only OK. The thermal imager is pretty low-res. Normally it creates a combined image from the visible spectrum and thermal range. The image from the visible spectrum gives the final picture its detail and edges.

In the dark, with thermal only, the image is blurrier and harder to tell what is what. Other than that, the thermal portion still works well and can see temperature differences at a distance pretty well.

I'll have to see if I can take a photo of the neighbor's dog at night some time.

Sounds like a smart phone version of the fluke thermal imager.

[guyd]

I have the seek thermal version. I find the resolution much better when switched to monochrome. I havent used it on my car yet.....

[OG VX]

Cool thread! Thank you EM monthly email...

[engineered]

Yea, these are very cool. I've been planning to get the new FLIR one when it comes out.

[kurzer]

i looked for thermal images of the prius hw20 some month ago. thank you!

because our prius is driven sometimes from door to door, it would be good to keep amap heat inside. so i go for mirror foil the edges of the hood and maybe set some foam on top.

i´d like to see some more pics. after a drive in diffrent states of cooling out. maybe under the hood?

[gsasquatch]

It's possible to rent these cameras at some home improvement big box stores. Since they are rather spendy, and you'd really only want them for a day or two, that might be the way to go.


The tires are always going to be warm, that's where all the energy from the rolling resistance is going. Even at a real high psi, the lugs are going to wiggle around and get warm, especially with the soft compounded siped snow tires like OP has.

[JohnAh]

A thermal camera could be an easy and quick way to test out the (relative) rolling restistance on a bunch of different tires or compare different pressures. -Just put one of each type as front wheels, drive fast for ten minutes and compare temperature with the camera. It may not be exact science, but will probably give a much faster and more reliable result than changing all four tires, check downcoast distance and hope the weather don't change before all 4*n sets of tires are tested...

[Daox]

A regular (and cheap) IR camera could be used for that too.