I spent $250 on a thermal camera for board work and it's mostly been a paperweight.

I got it six months ago thinking it would be a game changer for finding shorts and bad components. In reality, for the kind of consumer board repair I do, a good multimeter and my eyes find 95% of the issues just as fast. The camera is cool, but it's overkill and the learning curve to read the images right is steep. Has anyone else found a specific, regular use for one of these in a small shop?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.aaron18d ago

Man, what boards were you hoping it would nail?

the_julia16d ago

Honestly, what kind of old gear are you working with, @king.aaron? I've seen these things be killer for checking the basic power rails on like, a 20-year-old DVD player board or a busted router. You can quickly see if the 3.3v line is dead before you even unscrew the thing. It's not for fixing a modern laptop, but for simple "is this part getting any juice at all" on old junk, it's a fast check.

jessica_robinson2318d ago

Read a forum post where a guy used one to spot bad caps on old power supplies (which @king.aaron might find useful). Honestly, for most stuff, it seems like a cool toy that gathers dust.

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