Changed my mind on that cheap thermal camera

I thought it was a waste of $300, but it found a bad connection in a harness that was driving me nuts for two days. Anyone have a better brand they trust for intermittent faults?

3 comments

3 Comments

laura_lane3mo ago

Wait, you found a bad connection in a harness with a $300 thermal camera? That's wild. My cheap one just shows me hot spots on circuit boards. I didn't think they were sensitive enough to pick up the tiny heat from a single loose wire. What were you working on?

aaronf403mo ago

Yeah, those cheap ones can surprise you sometimes.

jake_chen5d ago

Oh man, 100% yes. I had almost the same thing happen with a cheaper Seek unit a couple years back. I was chasing a gremlin in an old boat's wiring harness, and the multimeter was showing nothing weird. I was just about to give up and started randomly scanning the bundle out of frustration, and this tiny hot spot showed up right where a wire passed through a bulkhead. It was barely a couple degrees warmer than the rest, but the camera picked it up. Turned out the insulation had rubbed raw and it was arcing just a tiny bit under load. Saved me from having to tear the whole dash apart. Now I always bring it out for any weird electrical issue. It's honestly one of the best lazy troubleshooting tools I've ever bought, way more useful than I ever expected for the price.