Flir ThermovisionVoyager II Operators Manual

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Th  e Voyager’s Camera Body is sealed at the factory against atmospheric 
humidity, suspended particulates and other contaminates. It is important 
that you not open the Camera Body for any reason, as it will compromise 
this seal and possibly damage the unit. Opening the Camera Body will 
void the manufacturer’s warranty.
Bulkhead Box
Th e Bulkhead Box is the central hub for all other Voyager system 
components. It accepts vessel power in (24VDC), and exports it to the 
JCU and Camera Body. Th  e Bulkhead Box also passes command signals 
from the JCU to the Camera Body, and exports up to four video signals for 
viewing around the ship.
 
Cables
Th  e Camera Cable connects Voyager’s Camera Body to the Bulkhead Box. 
Th  is cable will be either 50’ or 100’ long, depending on which length you 
ordered. It relays power and control commands between the Camera Body 
and the JCU, and outputs standard RS-170 video. Th  is cable connects to 
t h e  b a c k  o f  t h e  C a m e r a  B o d y  b a s e  w i t h  a  c i r c u l a r  c o n n e c t o r.  It  i s  i m p o r t a n t  
not to bend this cable too tightly.
Detailed instructions for connecting the cable to the Bulkhead Breakout 
Box are included in the Installation Guide
. 
						

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JOYSTICK CONTROL UNIT (JCU)
Th  e JCU is your primary method of control for the Voyager. It allows 
you to point the Voyager, zoom the cameras in and out, switch between 
infrared and visible-light cameras, focus, and adjust the Voyager image 
quality, among other functions. In conjunction with the Joystick, the 
Voyager provides Accu-Point, a complete set of on-screen symbology, so 
you can see where the camera is pointed at all times
Refer to the List of Icons section for a description of the symbols that 
appear on the screen, depending on the camera settings and the JCU 
buttons that have been pushed.. 
						

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VOYAGER JCU CONTROLS
Each of the JCU’s functions, and their corresponding on-screen 
symbology, are described in this section.
Power – Press this button to turn the system On and Off .  When 
turning the system On, two splash screens will display. When the 
thermal image is displayed along with the pan and tilt symbols the 
Voyager is ready to use. It will take approximately 40 seconds before the 
system is completely active; a “Loading, Please Wait...” message will display 
until the Voyager is ready for use. When turning Voyager Off , drive the 
Camera Body to the Park position with the Joystick (described below), and 
press the Power button to deactivate the system. 
Th  e Voyager II is in the Park position when its optics are pointed straight 
down. Th  is position protects the cameras from damage when not in use. 
Park the Voyager before turning the Voyager Off .
Setup – Press this button to access the Setup menus. (See Menu 
section for full explanation.)
VIS/IR – Press this button to switch between IR and visible-light 
cameras and back, as desired. 
Dim – Th  e JCU controls are backlit to make them easier to see at night. 
Th  is button controls the brightness of the JCU backlighting, so you can 
adjust it for your comfort. Press this button to cycle through the four dif-
ferent settings or levels of brightness. 
						

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Joystick – Use the Joystick to pivot the Voyager’s Camera Body left 
and right, and tilt it up and down. It is intuitive to use – push the Joystick 
to the left, and the Voyager will pivot left, push the Joystick to the right 
and the Voyager will pivot to the right. Push the Joystick forward and the 
camera will tilt down, pull it back and the camera will tilt up.
Zoom – Twist the knob on the Joystick to zoom in and out with the 
active sensor. Twist the knob to the right to zoom in, and to the left to zoom 
out. Th  ermal and visible-light imagers zoom together, so that when the 
operator changes from one imager to the other the same FOV is displayed.
Home Icon
Home – Th  e Home position is a known preset position - usually 
straight ahead and level with the horizon – which operators can use as a 
reference. To set the Home position, use the Joystick to point the camera’s 
line of sight to the position you want to set as “Home.” Press and hold 
the HOME button for 3 seconds; the Home symbol will fl ash when the 
new Home position is set. When you want to drive the camera to this 
Home position, press and release the HOME button. When you push the 
HOME button, this icon will appear on the screen briefl y.   
						

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Stab – Pressing this button cycles the 2-axis gyro-stabilization on 
and off . 
Point – Th  e Point command turns off  the Voyager’s pan stabilization. 
Th  is can be helpful when you want Voyager to stay pointing in the same 
position relative to the vessel in a turn. 
Night – Voyager’s infrared imagery is normally black and red 
video. Th  e NIGHT control toggles the IR imagery from black and red 
to black and white. Two rainbow color palettes are also available via the 
Setup menu.
Focus
 – Th e Wide FOV thermal imager has a fi xed focus; the 
operator can’t adjust it. If the operator tries to adjust the Wide imager’s 
focus, the Focus symbology will fl ash. Th  e Autofocus (AF) and Manual 
focus (the IN and OUT buttons) control only the Narrow FOV thermal 
imager. Use the Manual Focus controls for coarse focus adjustment and 
press the AF button for fi ne focus adjustments of the thermal image. Th e 
visible-light camera uses a continuous autofocus and its focus cannot be 
adjusted manually.
Before AutofocusAfter Autofocus 
						

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For best results it is suggested you use the manual focus fi rst  when 
trying to look at an image, and then move to the auto focus mode. Th is 
will speed up the focus process. Please be aware that sea conditions may 
aff ect Voyager’s auto focus ability to lock on a target. 
Scene – Voyager has four available automatic gain control (AGC) 
settings: Day Running, Night Running, Night Docking and Man 
Overboard (shown below). 
Night Running
Man Overboard Day Running
Night Docking
Pressing this button toggles between these four presets. Th e infrared 
cameras in Voyager automatically adjust to the scenes they are viewing 
to provide you with the optimal image quality. However, you may 
want to view diff erent areas of the temperature spectrum, or prefer an 
image that has more or less contrast than that provided. Toggling between 
these four presets will change the image gain and level settings used as 
a baseline. Which setting to use comes down to personal preference – if 
you like the way the Man Overboard setting looks, even though you are 
running on open water during the daytime, use it. . 
						

							GETTING STARTED 
						

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During installation, the Voyager was most likely isolated from vessel 
power with a customer-supplied switch or circuit breaker, so be sure it is 
turned on. Also turn on the display and select the Voyager as the video 
source for the display. Most multi-function displays (MFDs) allow the 
user to select from a number of available inputs. 
Press the Power button on the JCU to turn the Voyager on. From 
there, use the controls on the Joystick Control Unit ( JCU) to 
operate and confi gure the Voyager. If the Voyager is operated with 
engines off , be aware that this may drain power from the batteries, unless 
connected to shore power and equipped with a suitable battery tender.
Th  e Voyager will go through its start-up routine – two splash screens 
will display for a few seconds, the IR wide FOV will display, and 
when the icons are displayed, the system is ready to go (see images  
below). Th  e Voyager starts up in red-hot mode. Th  is is because many users 
will be turning the system on when there is little or no light available, 
and is an eff ort to preserve the operator’s night vision. If the white-hot 
display mode is preferred (as shown in the bottom picture), simply press 
the NIGHT button on the JCU. 
						

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Move the Joystick to the left and right to pan the camera body left and 
right, and see how the image responds on the monitor. Th  e Joystick is 
pressure-sensitive; the farther you defl ect it from center, the faster the 
camera will move. With a little practice, it won’t take long before you will 
be able to follow moving objects in the air and on the water. 
After you are familiar with how to make the camera point at what you want 
to see, take a look at the infrared image itself. Voyager’s thermal imagers 
don’t make pictures from light like the visible-light camera does; it senses 
diff erences in temperature and makes images based on those diff erences. 
When Voyager is in white-hot polarity, the warm things in the scene will  
display as white, or lighter shades of grey, and cold objects will display 
as black or darker shades of gray. (When you confi gure the Voyager for 
black-hot polarity, this will be reversed.) 
As you use the Voyager during daylight and nighttime, you will notice 
diff erences in the picture quality – this is normal. Objects absorb heat 
energy from the sun during the day, and give off  (radiate) this energy at 
night, so thermal contrast – and therefore how things will appear to the 
Voyager – will change based on the time of day and the weather and so 
on. 
						

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Th  e Voyager automatically adjusts to these changing scene conditions 
to try and give you the best possible picture. Th  e camera contains four 
preset conditions that might provide better imagery in certain conditions: 
Night Running, Day Running, Man Overboard, and Night Docking. 
While these names indicate their intended use, varying environmental 
conditions might make another setting preferable; night running while in 
a harbor, for instance. Experiment with the diff  erent settings, and fi nd out 
for yourself which setting works best in diff erent conditions. Four images 
showing the changes apparent in each setting are shown below.
As you experiment with the Voyager, you will see the world in a diff er-
ent light. Consider every object you view in terms of how it will look 
“thermally” as opposed to how it looks to your eye. Right after sunset, 
objects warmed by the sun will appear warmest. Early in the morning, 
many of these objects will appear cooler than their surroundings, so be sure 
to look for subtle diff erences in the scene, as opposed to just hot targets.
If you have any questions about the operation of the Voyager, or you 
would like to provide feedback on the product, please feel free to call us at 
1.888.747.FLIR in the United States.
Night Running
Man Overboard Day Running
Night Docking