Image Too Dark Or Too Light; Performance Varies With Time Of Day; Eastern Or Western Exposure; Multiple Cameras And/Or Jcu Iis On A Single Network - FLIR M400 Operator's Manual

Troubleshooting Tips

Image too dark or too light

By default, the M400 thermal camera uses an automatic gain control (AGC) setting that has
proven to be superior for most applications. However, a specific environment may benefit from a
different AGC setting. For example, a very cold background (such as the sky) could cause the
camera to use a wider temperature range than appropriate. Try to keep the ocean, and not the sky
or the boat, as the predominant object in the image. Refer to "Scene Button—IR imaging only" on
page 17 for information about how to make adjustments to the image.

Performance varies with time of day

You may observe differences in the way the camera performs at different times of the day, due to
the diurnal cycle of the sun. Recall that the camera produces an image based on temperature
differences.
At certain times of the day, such as just before dawn, the objects in the image scene may all be
roughly the same temperature, compared to other times of the day. Compare this to imagery right
after sunset, when objects in the image may be radiating heat energy that has been absorbed
during the day due to solar loading. Greater temperature differences in the scene generally will
allow the camera to produce high-contrast imagery.
Performance may also be affected when objects in the scene are wet rather than dry, such as on a
foggy day or in the early morning when everything may be coated with dew. Under these
conditions, it may be difficult for the camera to show the temperature the object itself, rather than
of the water coating.

Eastern or Western exposure

While a boat is under way, the camera may inevitably end up pointing directly east or west, and
this may cause the sun to be in the field of view during certain portions of the day. We do not
recommend intentionally viewing the sun, but looking at the sun will not permanently damage the
sensor. In fact the thermal imaging camera often provides a considerable advantage over a
conventional camera in this type of back-lit situation.
However, the sun may introduce image artifacts that will eventually correct out and it may take
some time for the camera to recover. The amount of time needed for recovery will depend on how
long the camera was exposed to the sun. The longer the exposure, the longer the recovery time
needed.

Multiple Cameras and/or JCU IIs on a single network

You can configure your system with multiple cameras and multiple JCU IIs on the same network.
More than one JCU II can be used to control a given camera. The camera will respond to
commands from both JCU II's in the order the commands are received across the network.
Unpredictable behavior may result from users sending conflicting commands from separate
JCU II's (for example, one user pans left and the other user pans right). In general, the camera will
respond to the last command received and there is no way to set priority, given that IP networks
use a "best effort" delivery protocol.
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