Just ordered a FLIR PathfindIR thermal vision camera for my S2000. 2009 BMW's are coming with them as factory options and I like everything I'm seeing about it.

http://thermalvideo.com/thermal-imaging-sy..._pathfindir.htm

Does anyone have any experience setting up/installing on of the FLIR PathfindIR devices in their S2000? Has anyone done it before?

My thoughts are:

Mount the camera up front somewhere and run the video lead into the Garmin Nuvi 5000's video input. I believe the screen should accomodate the video signal nicely since the PathfindIR does 320x240 resolution (most thermal camera products appears to do 320x240). With the Garmin Nuvi 5000's interface once you poke at the screen to flip off of the video source.. you can't easily switch back until it detects the source again. Maybe I missed something in the manual? dunno.

The Garmin Nuvi 5000 prompts you if you want to switch to the video input upon recognizing an NTSC signal... so I'd also like to setup some sort of on/off switch to power up/down the camera (so the garmin unit prompts me to switch to the video source). I'm thinking of using the top up/down switch (for dual functionality - the top and the thermal camera perhaps.. )

I believe the camera requires 9-16VDC for power so where can I tap into that on my car?

Thanks!

I'm still working on it

 

There's a +12V accessory terminal in the under-dash fuse box (believe it's the middle of the 3 empty terminals, but I'd double check if I were you... )

Rather than use the top switch to flip it on/off, you could install a small push-button switch by the HU, by your knee, in the cell-phone warmer, etc.

As for mounting, obviously the higher it is, the more effective it will be...that being said, you're pretty limited with the front of an S2K. You might look into mounting it inside the bumper, below the headlight on the driver's side (opposite of where all the long CAI filters mount).

 

$3200??? for the kit?
that's quite a bit of coin for a little toy like that. i guess if you have really bad vision in the dark. but still $3200?? they need to drop a 0 from the price.

 

$3200 is a great deal. I have been wanting some thermal goggles since Shot Show. $5000 is the cheapest goggle. I have played with $22,000 Thermal scope. Totally bad ass.

I like the kit, it looks nice. I like your idea about putting the screen on the dash. Easy to look at while driving. I want one.

 

Yeah it's pretty pricey - but I didn't go with the kit. I didn't need the monitor that comes in the kit so I bought the unit, power/video 20' long wiring harness and the bracket for about $2800.

One bright side is that I can take it from car to car when I upgrade and it isn't a type of mod that's permanent to the vehicle. The unit is coming in Friday so hopefully I'll get a chance to set it up this weekend. Very excited!

 

If you're going to arbitrarily knock zeros off then knock 2 of them off...

No matter how good your vision is you're not going to see what FLIR can see at night.

 

Here's some interesting Youtube videos of the FLIR PathfindIR unit:

Marketing Videos:[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joIJOrZWyRc [/media][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlRdSzOcco4 [/media]

Installation Videos:[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy_-B-iVzbM [/media][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAW_5qqvvJQ [/media]

Review/Install Video:[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv5vNKsewuM [/media]

I'm excited

 

Finally got it installed tonight! Very cool unit.
Here's a video of a fist time run with it.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxLbZQMZQ3w [/media]

 

Very cool, but damn that thing takes a long time to power up.

 

Ahhh yeah it's the Garmin Nuvi 5000 that takes awhile to power up.. that does bug me a little bit. The FLIR camera powers up and calibrates quickly though. I can quickly reboot the FLIR camera to get the GPS unit to see a loss/regain of an NTSC signal and it seems as if I'm just waiting on the GPS unit to prompt me to switch to video.

I can set it to automatically switch to the FLIR and not prompt - just to see how quickly I can get the GPS/FLIR to come up. *shrug*

Overall I love it - and the wiring wasn't that bad at all!