IT thermometer deal on Amazon today

[bill.young]

Amazon has a deal on an IR thermometer today. It's the same one I have and it's pretty handy:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DMI632G

If you use code TEMPG4FF you can get it for $14

[coryatjohn]

I bought two of those last year for $9 each. I keep one in the kitchen. Work great for taking the temp of water when boiling shrimp or crab.

[barrowj]

Thanks, just ordered and with your code got it for $13.89.

Joe

[dana_swift]

I bought a FLIR E5 about a year ago, wow, that was worth the high price. I discovered that a piece of equipment was ready to catch on fire. Paid for itself in just one day!

The equipment was a battery backup system for a computer. A single point thermometer may have shown the problem brewing, but not likely. I have one of those also, and did not ever notice the equipment running so hot the SLA batteries inside were int the process of MELTING. Just looking around at everything with the FLIR showed the problem instantly, and immediate action was taken.

Then the single point optical thermometers are pretty cool for a whole lot less $$$

D

[Xray]

I have 3 and one on my phone even, I have to resist getting any more.

[scottp55]

Thanks a LOT Dana!!!:)
Almost in bed last night when I read that..and knew I wouldn't sleep until I went to shop and unplugged/switched off UPS.
Probably have to get out of chair and crawl under box to hand check it too.
Got UPS covered with a "dirtbag" filter...would one of these inexpensive ones only tell me the temp of the filter medium?
Probably steal my outdoor thermometer and park it on top of UPS now to compare against shop thermometer/hygrometer.
One more thing to add to shop "shutdown" now.
scott

[dana_swift]

Scott,

I think the lesson I learned is to not trust anything long term. Things that worked fine when everything was new, may not later. Especially after the batteries have been online for about 2 years. I had not paid attention to the UPS for longer than I would care to admit. I knew the batteries needed replacing because the hold time on the UPS had gone down to about 1/4 of what it was when it was new. I didnt realize that the charger was cooking the batteries, and I just happened to purchase and look with the new IR camera as things were getting out of hand.

Another thing I have found looking around with an IR camera is wall wart power supplies often run far warmer than I would expect, with NO LOAD. Some models seem to be fine. Its worth just walking around your shop or house and touch them and see if they are warm or hot. If so.. replace them. A modern power supply should be so efficient that it does not warm up significantly when it is at max output.

I need to do some cutting later today, so I may take some thermal photos of the bit during a cut, if I remember to do that, I will post the photos :)

D

[scottp55]

Good point Dana.
A couple years ago notice the paint above a 4 gang wall switch was discolored and cover plate was WAY hot, threw power and switch plate was melting from the Leviton smart switch module in the center gone bad, but wasn't Really bad till that overheating one took out the adjacent ones.
You forgot Brand New stuff! Threw a replacement Chinese battery for Bosch cordless drill/driver that was Supposed to be an exact replacement into the charger a few months ago, and a half hour later smelled plastic burning...too hot to touch(actually burned me) and now it's permanently welded into the Bosch charger.
Sounds like FLIR was worth the price.
(UPS only 2 degrees above ambient, but will keep an eye on it now:)
Thanks for the reminder.
Curious to see a FLIR of bit cutting when I know it's dialed in.
scott

[curtiss]

I like it because it goes up to 1022 degrees, which means your equipment is just melting without catching on fire...