Night Vision Thermal on a remote control Gimbal - external mount on vehicle

[Wingge]

Anyone ever come across this type of setup?

I'm thinking about a coyote hunting setup, wherein a thermal scope would be mounted to a gimbal positioned on a vehicle roof, with video piped into the cab. This would be for high plains style hunting, covering a lot of ground in a night. Basically imagining the old vehicle mounted spotlights, but on a steady gimbal, and thermal.

Would be nice not to reinvent the wheel if someone else has some real world experience to share.

 

[TheHorta]

This is what you seek.

ROVIR 640 19mm Vehicle Mounted Thermal PTZ System

The ROViR 640 19mm thermal vehicle mount PTZ camera system is designed to enhance scanning capabilities while on-board a vehicle and is over-built to maintain performance through years of use and exposure to the elements. The ROVIR 640 19mm is a short to medium range unit.

www.ultimatenightvision.com

 

[Wingge]

They are out there. Flir made a ton of them. They work, and the sky is the limit on cost.

Main issue is damaging the lenses with flying rocks and shit. Thermal lenses are expensive as shit.

What do you want to know?

I guess I'm a bit in the "don't know what I don't know" or "know just enough to be dangerous" stage. Another money sink hobby I have is building fixed wing fpv/autonomous aircraft, and I have previously mounted a thermal to them on a gimbal. That experiment ended with a realization that the size of thermal scanner I could mount to the aircraft was insufficient to do anything useful for me. I priced a bigger gimbal and optical zoom thermal that would do the job and if I recall it was in the $15-20k range. That wasn't worth if for me. Plus with all the recent regs that have been passed on line of sight/etc for these aircraft, I didn't want to invest.

With the aircraft I've found that piecing everything together yourself will save $$$$, so I've assumed that will be the best route to go for this project also. That, and I have it in my head that the optic I mount for this purpose will be able to be used for other purposes also (handheld scanner most likely). That assumption may change as I learn more of what may be out there already.

Here's my "wading" into the DIY concept" list:

• Gimbal is detachable, plug connectors, and if permanent mount will need to be water proof mounted and unmounted.
• Gimbal will ideally be 3 axis (want a clear pic while moving over rough terrain).
• Thermal and lens capability similar to Halo-lr or Trijicon 60mm varieties. I want to mark animals at 1000+ and have a pretty good guess by movement pattern what that animal is.
• 2 axis and zoom control from the cab.

Right now I'm looking at drone gimbals, and mounting something I can take off and use elsewise (spotter or scope) with front lens attachment video feed. Maybe magnet style mount with cabling through a window. The remote control of thermal zoom/nuc etc is an issue that I haven't looked too much into yet, but the rest I have some ideas.

If anyone else has been down this road though I could save my self a lot of trial and error time.

Thanks

 

[kirsch]

It is a little risky, but if you use a magnet with a 50-100 lb pull weight, and don't drive 100 mph, it does work, and can be removed whenever not in use. You can use something like a Vello Freewave for the rotating base if you want full control (left and right), or use something like the Night Goggles Owl if you just want it to rotate 270 degrees back and forth automatically. Neither does tilt, but if positioned well, and on more flat terrain, it works fine and tilt really isn't needed if your FOV is big enough. You can use a Pulsar with StreamVision as an example and then have a phone or tablet inside the vehicle. No cords required.

I connect mine with an ARCA-Swiss Plate and can have the thermal device on and off in 3 seconds. It works, but I am always a little nervous going down the road with it. It is a risk.

 

[Renegade]

Anyone ever come across this type of setup?

I'm thinking about a coyote hunting setup, wherein a thermal scope would be mounted to a gimbal positioned on a vehicle roof, with video piped into the cab. This would be for high plains style hunting, covering a lot of ground in a night. Basically imagining the old vehicle mounted spotlights, but on a steady gimbal, and thermal.

Would be nice not to reinvent the wheel if someone else has some real world experience to share.

Years ago I made my own from a GoLight mount. Worked great and a lot cheaper than the FLIR boater version.

 

[TheHorta]

It is a little risky, but if you use a magnet with a 50-100 lb pull weight, and don't drive 100 mph, it does work, and can be removed whenever not in use. You can use something like a Vello Freewave for the rotating base if you want full control (left and right), or use something like the Night Goggles Owl if you just want it to rotate 270 degrees back and forth automatically. Neither does tilt, but if positioned well, and on more flat terrain, it works fine and tilt really isn't needed if your FOV is big enough. You can use a Pulsar with StreamVision as an example and then have a phone or tablet inside the vehicle. No cords required.

I connect mine with an ARCA-Swiss Plate and can have the thermal device on and off in 3 seconds. It works, but I am always a little nervous going down the road with it. It is a risk.

Like this?

US Night Vision ATAC 362° Mobile Thermal Camera - P&R Infrared

The ATAC 362º is the world’s smallest and most affordable multi-sensor, thermal/daylight/low light pan-tilt-zoom thermal camera!

pr-infrared.com

 

[scott5456]

I've got a prototype in the works. Waiting on a friend to get the 3D printing done hopefully in the next week or two. Using a 384 sensor and a 7"lcd screen with magnetic mounting. Tilt/pan by wireless remote. I went a different route. I am not trying to recreate the image of my Halo-LR, just give me a heads up when I need to use it to confirm identification. I cover a ton of ground at night and scanning with the Halo gets old quick. If you want a Halo like image that bare sensor alone is $4k+ and puts you in range of the ROVIR. FOV is also a concern with the longer range sensors. My plan is to come up with a canned solution for a cheaper ROVIR system that will be for sale.

 

[Wingge]

I've got a prototype in the works. Waiting on a friend to get the 3D printing done hopefully in the next week or two. Using a 384 sensor and a 7"lcd screen with magnetic mounting. Tilt/pan by wireless remote. I went a different route. I am not trying to recreate the image of my Halo-LR, just give me a heads up when I need to use it to confirm identification. I cover a ton of ground at night and scanning with the Halo gets old quick. If you want a Halo like image that bare sensor alone is $4k+ and puts you in range of the ROVIR. FOV is also a concern with the longer range sensors. My plan is to come up with a canned solution for a cheaper ROVIR system that will be for sale.

Sounds really interesting, would love to hear about the setup as it progresses.

My reason for the longer range optics and sensor is probably pretty specific to my situation. You can see a good mile plus usually in any direction, and there are always dozens of animals in view (antelope, deer, big jackrabbits sometimes fool me at range!), so if I have to pull up on every one then it isn't really saving me any time ... need to id with some certainty from the cab to be a net gain for me.

Protecting the device isn't that much of a concern for me, as the roving around is relatively slow on 2 track pasture roads, nothing too hairy. Get a solid enough gimbal and magnet put together and I won't mind putting the Halo on there.

 

[3443letoff]

Anyone ever come across this type of setup?

I'm thinking about a coyote hunting setup, wherein a thermal scope would be mounted to a gimbal positioned on a vehicle roof, with video piped into the cab. This would be for high plains style hunting, covering a lot of ground in a night. Basically imagining the old vehicle mounted spotlights, but on a steady gimbal, and thermal.

Would be nice not to reinvent the wheel if someone else has some real world experience to share.

This is an old thread, but thot id add my experience. I mounted a scope on top of a pan n tilt device, ran power for scope and tilt device to a power bank velcroed to roof. Started with 14 in tv but went to 10 inch instead. Works great.