Thermal imaging is like a dark art. I honestly don’t know, nor do I need to know how it works – lets just all agree – its bloody cool technology. And now, it’s in your hands, for around $1000 – and literally, in the palm of your hands.
Distributed in Australia by a small company called Steplight, this FLIR C2 is amazing. Really, Amazing.
It’s about the size of an iPhone 6, its light, it’s rugged, and it’s everything a decent building inspector or sparky will need.
Yes, you can point it at the bushes in day or night conditions and you’ll see if there is someone hiding there.
Yes, you can see people in a room like never before.
But in reality, you’re not spending $1000 to muck around.
Electricians for example can use thermal imaging for electrical testing. You probably don’t realise that many electrical connections are fixed together by a screw that clamps the cable down. If the screw isn’t tightened properly or is mis-aligned it can cause a high resistance connection. More resistance causes the current to flow poorly which in turn causes heat. And heat will melt the insulation and could cause a short-circuit or even a fire. Even your switchboard is plastic, so checking for areas of high-heat can be a valuable diagnostic tool
All that according to my electrician brother-in-law Brad:)
As was pointed out to me on twitter, you could also use a device like this to detect heat leaks, better insulation at home, less waste could reduce your energy bills.
The FLIR C2 is small, compact and perfect for household style diagnostics and at this price it is a likely addition to many toolkits.
It’s a viewfinder with thermal imaging, that also allows you to snap photos – the key feature there is that it takes a normal and thermal photo. The resolution isn’t great, but it does what any sparky would need.
Images are improved on anything that has come before it because what you see is a combination of the photographic image and the thermal to give greater definition and lines to the thermal image. Sadly when the images are taken off the FLIR C2 only the thermal image is viewable, the original is only seen on the device itself.
Outstanding bit of technology something every good sparky should consider for their toolkit.
You’ll find it online for just over $1000 at Steplight
[schema type=”review” rev_name=”FLIR C2 Thermal imaging camera” rev_body=”Easy to use, small and portable Thermal imaging camera. Simple and low features, not great quality pictures but everything a sparky could need” author=”Trevor Long” pubdate=”2015-06-13″ user_review=”4.5″ min_review=”0″ max_review=”5″ ]
