infrared thermometer

[kambo]

my mine arrived today, wow its fast!
i checked freezer, fridge, hot oven, floors, u name it...
point with the laser beam, and look at the LCD, its there; waiting for u to read the temperature...

http://www.thermoworks.com/IR-Gun

 

[ruffrecords]

cool. SO much simpler than using a thermocouple. I just ordered one from Maplin here in the UK.

Cheers

ian

 

[PRR]

They can be useful.

At higher price you can buy a "camera" (link) which shows the scene in false color based on temperature. Very handy here for seeing cold spots in wall/ceiling, or heat-leak around the furnace. The center-spot temp is displayed. The one I got is not super-great because it re-calibrates like auto-exposure on a camera, so the same color is never the same temperature. This one does not take snapshots you can download and print/file, something that say a Home Inspector could use to dress-up a report.

overheating dimmer
The TG165 does output images, also has aiming lasers so you know just where your spot is. Twice the price. I'm sure similar things sell from China a lot cheaper, like my $19 proctoscope.

 

[mattamatta]

At higher price you can buy a "camera"

They also work wonders for finding shorts in complex boards.  Remove/lift pin of/disable whatever regulator our power supply is feeding the offending rail, hook to a lab supply in constant current mode, turn it up from zero and see what's starting to heat up.

Neat because you can clearly see things that aren't really very hot to the touch (maybe only a few degrees hotter than ambient).



Re: the infrared thermometers, one thing to be aware of when trying to get a reading on something precise is that the size of the laser isn't necessarily the size of the "window" of IR view that's being measured.  Sometimes the actual measurement can be a cone of "view" much bigger than the laser spot, which really only serves to help point.  May matter for some things but not others.

 

[kambo]

just out of curiosity; would it be safe to point on (laser ad IR) a vacuum tube  :

 

[ruffrecords]

just out of curiosity; would it be safe to point on (laser ad IR) a vacuum tube  :

Yes, they are tough little critters.

Cheers

Ian

 

[JohnRoberts]

A few decades ago when this technology was still exotic, expensive, and less accessible, I proposed using this to debug power amp circuit boards during build/burn-in.  A simple digital capture of a power amp PCB under power could reveal outlier conditions, like class A bias (too hot or too cold).

The guy I put in charge of doing this didn't share my enthusiasm or vision. Today it could probably be accomplished with a smart phone app.

JR

[edit- I just got down from patching a leak in my roof....  does your infrared meter go high enough to measure my roof temp? Probably 150'F+  . I think I burned my butt coming down , those black shingles get hot mid day, in mid august, in MISSISSIPPI. 

 

[Gene Pink]

Yes, they are tough little critters.

Some photo-multiplier tubes might not like it, even room light damages the coating on the dynodes if powered on, or so I have heard. May also temporarily throw off the voltage a bit on gas regulator tubes.

IR thermometers with laser pointers... Now we can measure how hot the cat gets, chasing around a little red spot.  ;D

Gene

 

[PRR]

> does your infrared meter go high enough to measure my roof temp?

In my life, there's two types. Ones that can read a hot exhaust manifold, and ones that won't.

If you had followed my link and drilled, you'd know the TG130 is rated "-10°C to +150°C (14 to 302°F)". It won't say how hot your exhaust manifold runs. Nor an oil-furnace fire pipe. (Does read my condensing gas furnace fumes.) This range apparently covers tar that has not melted. Not hot enough for a good hamburger, but plenty hot to slow-cook a butt.

If you are doing real heat, turbos, or forging steel, there's another class. For hot-only there's optical pyrometers.

 

[kambo]

does your infrared meter go high enough to measure my roof temp? Probably 150'F+  .

measures -76 to 1022°F ; should save ur butt next time  ;D

Distance/Target 12:1 (1" target diameter at 12" distance)

made some test indoor/outdoor
at 25-30 feet its pretty accurate(large target / building wall etc).  compared to 12" distance reading, only ~0.3F  difference.
good enough for me!

gonna have to chase my neighbors cat now  ;D ;D ;D

 

[Tubetec]

These things come in very handy when checking boards ,just a quick peek before you get stuck in with meters and scopes can often prove very usefull ,it will show something getting hot or something thats not heating up at all . The one I used was autoranging like the one PRR told us about ,and the colour shift was anoying. The laser ir temp probe can be handy as a means of cross checking output tubes/bias and problem tubes in amps with quads or sextets in the output stage.
Could come in handy in all kinds of situations .
I read a story before about a guy who got caught growing bud in the attic ,apparently a law enforcement guy took it upon himself to scan the guys house and sure enough he got a signature, he got a search warrant on the back of it.Turned out later that the use of the thermal imager was unconstitutional and it all ended up thrown out of court .

 

[PRR]

> got caught growing bud in the attic

A friend is a pottery artist. Taking stuff to a commercial kiln got to be a headache. She got her own kiln. And the next month the Sheriff stopped by, asking if an electric-company tech could look inside the house. Yup, electric kiln, and the sudden large rise in the meter reading suggested an attic full of grow-lights.

Once she got the point, she was thrilled to take them downstairs, show-off her new toy and the pottery she had done in it.

Apparently there were some joints in the bedroom. But having seen a totally legal reason for the electric-spike, the sheriff lost his reason for entry and went away disappointed.

 

[JohnRoberts]

These things come in very handy when checking boards ,just a quick peek before you get stuck in with meters and scopes can often prove very usefull ,it will show something getting hot or something thats not heating up at all . The one I used was autoranging like the one PRR told us about ,and the colour shift was anoying. The laser ir temp probe can be handy as a means of cross checking output tubes/bias and problem tubes in amps with quads or sextets in the output stage.
Could come in handy in all kinds of situations .
I read a story before about a guy who got caught growing bud in the attic ,apparently a law enforcement guy took it upon himself to scan the guys house and sure enough he got a signature, he got a search warrant on the back of it.Turned out later that the use of the thermal imager was unconstitutional and it all ended up thrown out of court .

Exactly... I wanted to use thermal imaging for manufacturing, but the technology was not practical when I was ready for it (story of my life). .

Another classic problem that we don't see any more, as PCB technology improved, was copper shorts. Sometimes a copper bridge was all but impossible to find by visual inspection.  If we had sensitive thermal imaging back then we could put some current through the traces with the copper short and literally see where the traces were bridged from their slightly elevated temperature.

JR

 

[ruffrecords]

Exactly... I wanted to use thermal imaging for manufacturing, but the technology was not practical when I was ready for it (story of my life). .

Another classic problem that we don't see any more, as PCB technology improved, was copper shorts. Sometimes a copper bridge was all but impossible to find by visual inspection.  If we had sensitive thermal imaging back then we could put some current through the traces with the copper short and literally see where the traces were bridged from their slightly elevated temperature.

JR

I remember them. At one company I worked for they used to strap a low voltage high current supply across the offending traces and burn them out like fuses.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Gold]

I have one that I use for cooking over an open fire. For those in the US, I love my Lodge Sportsman Grill. Highly recommended.

On the subject of non audio specific test equipment, I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a Onset HOBO data logger with a pyranometer  sensor. The pyranometer  is for measuring solar radiation. I would like to install solar panels but have no idea how much I'd have to derate the power output. The panels would be working under much less than ideal conditions. The area is heavily wooded with only a small cleared portion. The panels may not be able to face due south either. The logger and sensor is about $400 which is about the price of a single 300-400 Watt  panel. I figure it's well worth it to not over or under estimate. Sensors for the logger are available for wind, hydro, temperature, etc. It can take harsh environments. I figure I'll leave it out for a year and see what I've got.