The party had started: New Thermo camera for 1.200  EUR  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 17, 2011, 12:45:36 am
content: By FLIRhttp://translate.google.gr/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=el&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.conrad.de%2Fce%2Fde%2Fproduct%2F101610%2F%3Bjsessionid%3DEF9496E17FED001617904D6C55158B1C.ASTPCCP10%3FWT.ac%3DHomepage_101610_pictureonly_teaser&act=url

author: Tin_Courier
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 12:57:09 am
content: I'm really wishing for even a basic thermal camera at work - super quick for pinpointing dead input shorts. Have been tempted lately by basketcase-looking offerings on Ebay, but...Used to have a Flir-based camera at current shop, hacked into our enclosure (and allegedly with hacked firmware - didn't notice any functional differences, though), real long focal distance (maybe optics set up for hunting, etc?)At a previous job working in building and home performance audits, had access to several nice Fluke and Extech thermal cameras, in the 2500-5000 US$ range, (thought the Fluke I used most was a Ti5, but not finding that now, could be wrong). That thing was NICE! Could set scale (visible on screen) to several pallates, set min and max values for scale manually or on-the-fly, etc. Really wish I had one now, rather than the $5 IR non-contact thermometer I sweep over the board looking for shorts now.Might just roll the dice on an Ebay thing one of these days.

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 02:08:59 am
content: Kiriakos, all you have to do for a chance at winning one is follow planetextech on twitter, but since you don't like the pumpkin digits...

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 03:19:34 am
content: I hate pumpkin digits, you found my sensitive spot, stop playing with it..LOL Good luck to you..

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 03:24:10 am
content: IRs aren't good enough? Easier with a screen I guess...

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 04:19:48 am
content: Quote from: FenderBender on September 21, 2011, 03:24:10 amWay easier. I've used my IR gun to trace out breaks in floor heat cables under tile, but it takes a lot of time where a camera would show it instantly. Finding hot spots in electrical equipment is also a lot easier with a camera than with the gun because of how heat transfers from one part to another. I'd love to own an IR camera

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 11:59:10 am
content: I've never thought of using an IR camera for fault finding.This is very StarTrek, just point your "Tricorder" at the device and it shows you what's wrong with it.

author: Tin_Courier
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 01:39:19 pm
content: I think electrical (if not yet electronic) fault-finding is one of the big application for IR cameras. Some of the marketing videos will show an electrician scanning a breaker panel, etc, idea being, I think, that you can find lossy connections before they're actually problematic. Really, I think you could get the same information in most cases with a spot-IR thermometer, but the camera gives you the whole field-of-vision at once.When we had one at my current shop, I would get a board back in from the field with a dead input short, check the usual suspects (iffy TVS's, smps module...), and if it wasn't them, I'd grab the camera (ill-suited as it was for bench work), max out my supply to dump 3A into the board for a little while, then just look for the hot component with the camera. Might damage the board, but when it's a tossup to troubleshoot or replace it anyway, could be a real good deal.I've found a couple surprises this way; Rabbit and Atmel micro's blown 5 Ohm's VCC to ground, or muxes occasionally. Pretty sure I wouldn't have taken the time to probe them out, but when it's quick and easy, why not?Have also used a nice Agilent bench meter for the resolution to know when I'm getting closer to a fault, but this still takes a little probing. Along the same lines, these guys look kind of interesting:http://www.eds-inc.com/leak.htmlI'd still opt for the camera, if price wasn't a factor.

author: onemilimeter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 02:04:50 pm
content: I'm new to thermal camera. Wish to buy one in future. What are the important specs that we should aware of before getting one? Cheers.

author: AntiProtonBoy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 02:49:26 pm
content: I believe thermal cams were actively used in power electrical engineers for a while now, again for fault finding and detecting coronas, etc.

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2011, 11:35:13 pm
content: Scanning breakers with an IR gun works, but it's difficult. Typical breakers have a small surface area, and are designed to use the wires and bus bars attached to them as heat sinks. This means that the hot area from a fault can be large, and finding an exact epicenter with an IR gun can mean looking for temperature differences in the decimal places. It's one thing to narrow the fault down to a few neighboring breakers in someone's house, but another in a commercial, medical or industrial environment where shutting off circuits unnecessarily could be problematic or require special permission. IR cameras are especially valuable then.