Spent $350 on a thermal camera for my truck and it's been a total waste

I know a lot of guys swear by thermal cameras for finding shorts and hot spots, so I finally bought one last year. I figured it would save me hours of poking around. But honestly, for the kind of work I do on home appliances, it's been useless. Most of the time, the heat difference on a bad relay or a failing motor winding is so small it doesn't even show up clearly. I spent more time messing with the settings and trying to get a good image than I would have just using my meter and checking voltages the old way. I had one fridge compressor that was running hot, and the camera just showed a big warm blob, it didn't pinpoint the exact problem like I hoped. For $350, I expected a magic wand and got a fancy paperweight. Has anyone else had this happen, or did I just buy the wrong model?

2 comments

2 Comments

dianagreen9d ago

That reminds me of the time my buddy bought a fancy torque wrench for his motorcycle. He was sure it would solve all his problems, but half the bolts were in spots you couldn't even fit the thing. Sometimes the simple tools just work better for the job right in front of you.

kaip119d ago

Yeah the "simple tools" thing is so true, @dianagreen. I tried using a full socket set to fix a loose chair leg once and just ended up grabbing a basic wrench from the junk drawer.