Detecting hot spots on a circuit can help you determine if it’s working correctly, needs extra cooling, or if you’re about to find a major fault. Classic laser thermometers emerge as an affordable alternative for measuring temperature, but the truth is they aren’t that accurate, and they don’t work on every surface. A better option would be obtaining thermal images, and that’s where USB2FIR comes in, a USB infrared thermometer based on the MLX90640 sensor, which works directly through your computer.
Heat is our enemy. Processors, graphics cards, power supplies. In the best case, excess heat makes them run slower or shut down. In the worst… fireworks. This is much more common if we design our own circuits or have to improvise repairs. A faulty voltage regulator or a miscalculated resistor becomes a tiny supernova before dying, but with a basic thermal image we could avoid that spectacle.
The problem is… it’s not such an accessible resource. For example, if you want to capture thermal images with a smartphone, you’d need something like the FLIR ONE, with an official price of $200 (not counting the phone). So… DIY? Of course, there will always be trade-offs in precision and image resolution, but with the help of the USB2FIR module, the final investment drops to less than half the cost of the FLIR ONE.
USB2FIR is based on the MLX90640 sensor, technically a 32×24 sensor grid with variations in minimum/maximum temperatures and field of view. Linux and macOS don’t require drivers for USB2FIR, but on Windows, Zadig—a generic driver installer—is enough, which you might remember from the NES Classic hack. The Python code for USB2FIR is available on GitHub, and if you know the language, you can put USB2FIR to use anywhere.
The price of a USB2FIR ready to receive the sensor is €38 plus shipping, though nothing stops you from following the diagram and building one yourself. The most expensive part is the sensor. An MLX90640 goes for $45–50, but I insist: if the alternative is “200 + phone,” USB2FIR looks like a good shortcut.
Official site: Click here
https://old.neoteo.com/como-medir-la-temperatura-del-gpu/
