New M30T for solar thermal inspection not good

[JCDiaz]

I heard that the M30T is not good for thermal inspection over solar farms, mainly because of a limited difference (+/-) 2° in the thermal photos. Meanwhile the M300RTK with the M20T can go as low as (+/-) 0.5°.
Any comments?

 

[Recoveryone]

I heard that the M30T is not good for thermal inspection over solar farms, mainly because of a limited difference (+/-) 2° in the thermal photos. Meanwhile the M300RTK with the M20T can go as low as (+/-) 0.5°.
Any comments?

Find it odd as both cameras are of the same specs

 

[jaja6009]

I heard that the M30T is not good for thermal inspection over solar farms, mainly because of a limited difference (+/-) 2° in the thermal photos. Meanwhile the M300RTK with the M20T can go as low as (+/-) 0.5°.
Any comments?

After reading your post I went to look up the specifications of the H20T, M30T and Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced as they all share a similar thermal sensor.

I could only find the temperature accuracy rating listed for the M30T. The H20T and M2EA were not listed, so this is possible but not proven unless you will post where you got your information from.

I find another spec from the M30T more concerning than the accuracy of the sensor (If true).

The FOV on the camera is much more concerning to me. This FOV in my opinion is better for SAR and not solar panel workflows that involve making a thermal map. At 61 degrees it seems like the image will be not zoomed in which would mean you would have to fly lower to obtain your images for thermal mapping to be sure to be able to spot sub-cell anomalies. While not a deal breaker in any way, lower altitude flights and more images may have to be factored in with the M30T and something like Raptor Maps when providing their most detailed inspection workflow. This is just from my initial thinking on a 61 degree FOV, I would like to see a Youtube video and feedback from others.

 

[Recoveryone]

 

[jaja6009]

I prefer Steel City City Drone's video. His thermal overview starts at around 24:00.

And yes, it looks like he is making his kid run around again as a target. LOL.

This comparison is not the best as I do not know the vertical distance, but it seems to show a few interesting things.

The 300 is higher in altitude but is more zoomed in. (Again, I do not know the vertical distance)
The 30T always starts at X 2 zoom
Both are very nice thermal images
Pilot 2 looks good (and feels good, I get to fly our work's 300 RKT)


I am just speculating on the FOV, the thermal sensor is radiometric and 640 resolution so it can most likely do all of your higher end aerial thermography. I am just curious as to how the FOV might work for those who choose Raptor Maps as their solar inspection solution. They have different inspections as outputs and the highest resolution Comprehensive is stated to be at 3cm GSD. So the cameras specs can cause some setups to have to fly lower to be able to obtain the desired GSD.

I am not complaining but just thinking out loud.

Out PD just ordered a 30T so hopefully I can get some side by side images from our 300 and their 30.

 

[Mharz]

Has anyone actually made a measurement or are we believing what we're told from specs and Youtube?

I've been watching the thermal space for years and my business plan / market area doesn't yet justify me making an investment in thermal drone but be assured that after taking the Thermography Level 1 course, the first thing I do with my thermal drone is see how good that radiometric claim really is. Most of the sales people have no idea what you're asking or even why.

We really need a better resource or repository for knowledge on the topic.

Anyone game to do some testing?

 

[Recoveryone]

 

[jaja6009]

Has anyone actually made a measurement or are we believing what we're told from specs and Youtube?

I've been watching the thermal space for years and my business plan / market area doesn't yet justify me making an investment in thermal drone but be assured that after taking the Thermography Level 1 course, the first thing I do with my thermal drone is see how good that radiometric claim really is. Most of the sales people have no idea what you're asking or even why.

We really need a better resource or repository for knowledge on the topic.

Anyone game to do some testing?

I do not have an M30T but could do some quantitative testing on my Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced and also on a Matric 300 RTK H20T.

Any sidework I have done though is all for qualitative inspections such as solar or roof moisture and my real job in Public Safety 99% of the time is only qualitative.

Just generally playing around with my toys though I have found them to be on par with FLIR handheld units.

A thermocouple and some electrical tape could allow anyone to perform some validation tests.

In regards to salespeople, maybe find some new vendors, my vendor knows the answers to almost any question I have from batteries to radiometry to RTK vs PPK workflows.

 

[Mharz]

I do not have an M30T but could do some quantitative testing on my Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced and also on a Matric 300 RTK H20T.

Any sidework I have done though is all for qualitative inspections such as solar or roof moisture and my real job in Public Safety 99% of the time is only qualitative.

Just generally playing around with my toys though I have found them to be on par with FLIR handheld units.

A thermocouple and some electrical tape could allow anyone to perform some validation tests.

In regards to salespeople, maybe find some new vendors, my vendor knows the answers to almost any question I have from batteries to radiometry to RTK vs PPK workflows.

I'd be interested in your thermocouple results.

I'd suggest that you mount the thermocouple behind a surface of known emissivity so we can do the correction. We'd also need to know the stated accuracy of the thermocouple so we can do error propagation/analysis. I know there's other thermographers tooling around here and I'm sure between us all we could come up with a short test procedure.

 

[Recoveryone]

Night capabilities of the M30T real world testing