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Pointing a phone thermal camera at a fault: what the HIKMICRO P20maxV2 shows, and what to check before buying
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RMB 1,269.00
This is a Taobao store based in mainland China. If your shipping address is outside mainland China, please confirm with the seller whether international shipping is available before purchasing.
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About this product
A thermal camera answers a question a multimeter cannot: where the heat is. Pointed at a distribution board it shows the breaker running warmer than its neighbours; along a wall it shows the cold strip where insulation is missing, or a warm patch that follows a water leak; over a circuit board it shows which component is doing the heating. A phone thermal camera works by using the phone as the screen and the processor, which is why the phone end of the chain matters as much as the camera end. This listing names two models, P20maxV2 and P09, and describes the camera as high definition with industrial temperature measurement, but it does not state the thermal resolution, the temperature range or the connector. Those three numbers decide whether it is any use for your job. Thermal resolution sets how small a hot spot you can see at a given distance, so reading a cable lug from across a room needs far more pixels than checking a board up close. The range has to cover what you measure, and the connector has to match your phone, because the app only runs on supported models. Confirm all three with the seller before paying. Listed at 1,269 yuan, with annual sales around 1,000 units.
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Pros & cons
Pros
- Uses your phone as the screen and the processor, so the camera adds only the sensor and the optics
- Sold as an industrial temperature measurement tool, aimed at inspection rather than photography
- Shows heat across a whole panel at once, which a contact thermometer can only do point by point
- Sold from the HIKMICRO thermal flagship store, so the model can be checked with the brand
Cons
- The listing names two models, P20maxV2 and P09, without saying which is which or how they differ
- Thermal resolution, temperature range and the phone connector are not stated, and all three decide whether it suits your job
- High definition is a description rather than a measurement: without a pixel count you cannot tell how small a spot it resolves
- The app only runs on supported phones, so an unsupported handset leaves the camera unusable
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