MLX90640 Thermal Camera Breakout

by Pimoroni

A sophisticated, hackable, 32x24 pixel thermal camera breakout! Use it to monitor the temperature of your CPU or coffee pot, or to build your own heat-seeking night vision camera. Works with Raspberry Pi or Arduino.

It's perfect for building into projects - industrial, scientific, or just fun - and much more affordable than most thermal cameras. Our breakout makes it easy to use the camera with your Raspberry Pi or Arduino, using I2C and 3-6V supply. And it's available in two different fields of view, 55° (standard) or 110° (wide angle) depending on your preference.

The MLX90640 far-infrared camera is an array of 768 (32x24) thermal sensors that can detect temperatures from -40 to 300°C with approximately 1°C accuracy and up to 64FPS! The applications of this camera are manifold: measure the heat or heat dissipation of devices like CPUs, circuit boards, or electrical appliances; use it to identify thermal inefficiencies in your home; or use it for presence detection to identify bodies in complete darkness.

It's also compatible with our fancy new Breakout Garden, where using breakouts is as easy just popping it into one of the six slots and starting to grow your project, create, and code.

Features

  • Melexis MLX90640 far-infrared sensor array (datasheet)
  • 32x24 pixels
  • Field of view: 55°x35° or 110°x75°
  • Up to 64FPS
  • -40 to 300°C detection with approximately 1°C accuracy
  • I2C interface (address 0x33)
  • 3.3V or 5V compatible
  • Reverse polarity protection
  • Compatible with Raspberry Pi computers, and with certain Arduino models
  • Mechanical Drawing

Kit includes

  • MLX90640 breakout
  • 1x5 male header
  • 1x5 female right-angle header

We've designed this breakout board so that you can solder on the piece of right-angle female header and pop it straight onto the bottom left 5 pins on your Raspberry Pi's GPIO header (pins 1, 3, 5, 7, 9).

Software

Note that our Breakout Garden installer will not automatically detect and install the thermal camera software, you'll have to install it manually. Full instructions can be found here.

We've written software in C that you can use to generate images and video from the MLX90640 cameras.

SparkFun also provide an example Arduino/Processing sketch for the MLX90640.

Notes

  • Dimensions: 19x19x2.75mm (LxWxH).
  • Melexis state that up to 4 of the 768 IR sensor pixels in each array can be dead, with the unit still remaining in spec. Our software will automatically detect and correct for dead pixels by interpolating readings from adjacent sensors - if you are using alternative software we recommend that you configure it to take a similar approach.

6 customer reviews

2 years ago
Works really well. Have to say that I might get some 1mm as the 0.5mm is quite thin for my needs (mainly wiring between a uC PCB and I2C devices with single core wire). I guess the 0.5mm would be more appropriate for soldering surface mount items.
by Jonathan about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io
3 years ago
This solder is good if your joint location is not a large copper plane, in that case make sure to heat the surface adequately before applying the solder and you'll be fine.
by Sagar about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
I tried the 0.5mm but prefer this 1mm. What I do need is a new iron more suitable for lead free solder.... Another good product from Pimoroni.
by Mark about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io
4 years ago
Takes a bit of getting used to if you're used to lead solder. Dispatched in good time and worked well to solder a GPIO header on to a Raspberry Pi Zero.
by Kit about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io
7 years ago
I hope other people will become aware of fair supply chains that can be developed within the ICT and electronics industries. Use of this product will be a small step towards a fairer supply chain.
by Dawn about Fairlötet solder - 100g via REVIEWS.io

User photos