Spent $380 on a thermal camera attachment, saved my butt on a walk-in freezer call... or did it?

Picked up one of those FLIR phone attachments last month for a restaurant job in Fresno. Found a bad connection in the ceiling that would've taken me another 2 hours with a meter, so that paid for itself right there. But then it missed a hot neutral in a panel that my clamp meter caught instantly, so now I'm split. Worth the money for troubleshooting speed, or am I just justifying a toy? Anyone else rely on these or stick to the old-school tools?

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1 Comment

robinson.jake1mo ago

Treat it like another tool in the bag, not a replacement for the old stuff. I ran into the same thing on a commercial kitchen job last year, the thermal cam found a loose breaker that was heating up way before my meter showed anything. But I still pull out the clamp when I need to confirm a load or trace a neutral, because the camera just shows you a hot spot, not what's actually causing it. The real value is when you use both together, like scan the panel first to narrow it down, then verify with the meter. That $380 saves me time on the weird stuff, but it'll never replace the basic tools for getting the actual numbers.