Aren't thermal imaging cameras amazing? They can reveal the heat in circuits, engines, plumbing, home insulation, firefighting, medicine, forensics, environmental science, search and rescue, energy monitoring, chemical reactions, detecting wildlife, detecting trespassers. What could you do with one? Find the cold spots in your house? Fine-tune the cooling system in your overclocked game machine? Investigate whether Rover was sitting in your recliner? Too bad the price puts these cameras out of reach... or it used to, until now.

The Adafruit MLX90640 IR Thermal Camera Breakout makes low resolution thermal imaging affordable. It can detect a 32 by 24 pixel grid of temperatures within a 55 degree field of view, or a 110 degree field of view.  With a few extra goodies from Adafruit, you can turn it into your own mini thermal recording camera.

Your Feather-based thermal camera will be able to capture and store the images it senses as modified BMP files on flash media. These can be downloaded to a full-sized computer where the temperature data can be visualized and set in motion using open source tools written in the Processing language.

And don't miss the 3D printing guide, PyBadge Thermal Camera Case, for a project that will enhance your camera's protection, ergonomics, and style.

Parts

The project is based on the MLX90640 from Melexis, a low cost sensor that uses thermopile technology.

Angled shot of a Adafruit MLX90640 IR Thermal Camera Breakout.
You can now add affordable heat-vision to your project and with an Adafruit MLX90640 Thermal Camera Breakout. This sensor contains a 24x32 array of IR thermal sensors. When connected...
$74.95
In Stock

You'll need a board with Adafruit Arcada support + a TFT LCD screen and STEMMA connectors.

Angled shot of a Adafruit PyBadge for MakeCode Arcade, CircuitPython, or Arduino.
What's the size of a credit card and can run CircuitPython, MakeCode Arcade or Arduino? That's right, its the Adafruit PyBadge! We wanted to see how much we...
$34.95
In Stock
Angled shot of 4-pin JST PH to JST SH Cable.
Are you a maker in the midst of a STEMMA dilemma? This 200mm long 4-wire...
$0.95
In Stock
Slim Lithium Ion Polymer Battery 3.7v 400mAh with JST 2-PH connector and short cable
Lithium-ion polymer (also known as 'lipo' or 'lipoly') batteries are thin, light, and powerful. The output ranges from 4.2V when completely charged to 3.7V. This...
Out of Stock
USB cable - USB A to Micro-B - 3 foot long
This here is your standard A to micro-B USB cable, for USB 1.1 or 2.0. Perfect for connecting a PC to your Metro, Feather, Raspberry Pi or other dev-board or...
$2.95
In Stock

This guide was first published on Mar 27, 2020. It was last updated on Mar 19, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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