tCam-Mini rev4 - (onboard antenna) Wireless streaming thermal camera board

tCam-Mini rev4 is a small, open-source thermal camera board designed by Dan Julio. Add a FLIR Lepton 3.5, 3.1R or 3.0 and it streams 160x120 thermal images over Wi-Fi to your phone, a desktop app, or your own software. Rev4 also has a hardwired interface, so a Raspberry Pi or microcontroller can talk to the camera directly without Wi-Fi.

Lepton sensor not included. Shop FLIR Lepton sensors. Need more range? Get the external antenna version.

Get Started

Out of the box, the camera creates its own Wi-Fi network named tCam-Mini-XXXX. Join it from your phone or computer, point the app at 192.168.4.1, and connect. From there you can move the camera onto your own Wi-Fi network.

• Quick Start Guide (PDF)
• Latest firmware, desktop app and downloads on Dan's website

tCamView iOS App

View, save and share thermal images from your iPhone or iPad (iOS 11 or later). Get it on the App Store and see the full app guide.

• Streams live at the camera's full frame rate. Tap the image to move the spotmeter, tap the palette bar to change palettes.
• Saves full radiometric images that also open in the desktop app, with optional JPEG export to your Photos library
• Library sorted by month, with a swipe-through browser, iOS sharing and delete
• Camera settings for AGC, emissivity and gain mode, plus manual temperature range, units and spotmeter display
• Scans your network to find cameras automatically (tCam-Mini firmware 3.0 and later)
• Sets up the camera's Wi-Fi: access point or client mode, SSID and password, and static IP
• Collects no user data

tCamView Camera screen

tCamView Library screen

tCamView Settings screen

tCamView Camera List / network scan screen

More Apps and Software

Android: tCamViewer by Jim Turner on Google Play | APK on GitHub | details. Saves images, time-lapse and video, graphs temperatures, and sets temperature alerts.

Desktop app for Windows, macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi 4

• Live view with multiple color palettes
• Save images and video with full radiometric data, or export JPG, PNG and TIFF
• Spotmeter plus up to four markers, histogram, and temperature graphing over time
• Baseline mode for comparing temperatures to a reference point in the scene
• Export graph data as text or print it to PDF
• Set up Wi-Fi and install firmware updates over the air

Build your own

• Simple JSON command set over a TCP socket that works from any language
• Python library for Wi-Fi or a hardwired Raspberry Pi connection
• R library by Bob Rudis
• Recording web server that connects to multiple cameras and saves images that meet your criteria

Capabilities

• Exposes the full Lepton feature set
• Radiometric mode with temperature in every pixel (Lepton 3.5 and 3.1R), or AGC mode for higher-contrast images
• Control emissivity, gain mode and spotmeter location
• Single image or continuous streaming
• 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi: access point mode out of the box, or client mode with DHCP or a static IP
• mDNS (Bonjour) discovery, so apps can find the camera on your network without hunting for its IP
• Over-the-air firmware updates from the desktop app
• Hardwired interface: ground the Mode pin and the camera takes commands over serial (230,400 baud) and sends images over slave SPI (up to 8 MHz)
• USB-C for power, firmware loading and debug output

Applications

High temperature event monitoring, equipment thermal monitoring, building heat loss checks, wildlife detection, thermal biometrics, and remote cameras feeding AI or data pipelines.

Analog Video Output

Alternate firmware lets tCam-Mini rev4 drive a monochrome NTSC or PAL composite video signal. tCamMiniAnalog on GitHub

Enclosures

• 3D printable and laser-cut enclosure files on Dan's downloads page
• zharijs enclosures with STL/STEP files and a hardware BOM, for both antenna versions

Hardware Overview

• Espressif ESP32-WROVER-E module (ESP32-D0WD-V3, 8 MB PSRAM, 8 MB flash) with built-in antenna
• Supports FLIR Lepton 3.0, 3.1R and 3.5
• CP2102N USB-to-UART bridge with automatic ESP32 reset and boot control
• USB-C connector
• Hardware expansion port (serial + SPI) and I2C expansion port (reserved for future use)
• Multi-voltage power supply (3.3V, 3.0V, 2.8V, 1.2V)
• Red/green status LED
• Wi-Fi reset button (also starts OTA updates)

Open Source

Hardware design files, ESP32 firmware (Espressif IDF) and the desktop app are open source under GPL-3.0 in Dan's tCam GitHub repository. Precompiled firmware, the tCam Family Serial Updater and desktop app installers are on Dan's website. The development history is on Hackaday.io.

tCam-Mini in the News

• CircuitState: Open Source Wireless Thermal Imaging Module based on FLIR Lepton 3.x and ESP32
• Hackaday: Hands-on review, tCam-Mini Wi-Fi Thermal Imager

In Operation

Export Information

• Part Number: tcam-rev4-ANT
• ECCN: EAR99
• HTSUS: 9027.50.4020
• Country of Origin: USA

Important Notes

• FLIR Lepton sensor sold separately.
• GroupGets does not provide software or coding support. For firmware and app questions, see the documentation and issue tracker on GitHub.

🕑 Lead Time 🕑

If you can add this item to your cart, it is in stock and ready to ship.