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I bought a thermal-imager and ...

crossy

crossy

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Thailand, just north of Bangkok.
Not up in smoke, but rather warmer than I would like.

So, I bought a Mileseey TR256i thermal-imager, plugs into the USB on your phone. There are many similar units around with comparable features, I had a 13% voucher for this one :)

First experiments were encouraging: -

The technology proves what doggo owners have known for years; our best friends have cold noses.
Chihuahuas also use their ears as radiators.

219201_0.jpg

To more mundane things.

This is our 300A shunt carrying 150A. The right hand lug looks a little warm, certainly warmer than the other.

I shall re-make in the morning and we shall see how much difference it makes.

219262_0.jpg
 
Last edited:
Great information - thanks for posting.

Connections rely on the wire to carry away the heat.

For 150 amps the minimum wire size to use - based on the ampacity charts - is 2/0 also called 00 in the US.

For 200 amps regular use it would be 3/0. ( roughly 85mm2 if I am reading the charts correctly )

https://www.cerrowire.com/products/resources/tables-calculators/ampacity-charts/

1xtechnologies.com

MM2 to AWG - Wire Size Conversion Chart, Table, & Calculator [PDF]

MM2 to AWG Wire size, how to convert mm to awg, mm2 for awg, from mm2 to awg, mm2 into awg, conversion chart table, diameter, amops, pdf, formula
1xtechnologies.com 1xtechnologies.com

Even at these sizes, things can get warm.
 
HarryN said:
Great information - thanks for posting.

Connections rely on the wire to carry away the heat.

For 150 amps the minimum wire size to use - based on the ampacity charts - is 2/0 also called 00 in the US.

For 200 amps regular use it would be 3/0. ( roughly 85mm2 if I am reading the charts correctly )

https://www.cerrowire.com/products/resources/tables-calculators/ampacity-charts/

1xtechnologies.com

MM2 to AWG - Wire Size Conversion Chart, Table, & Calculator [PDF]

MM2 to AWG Wire size, how to convert mm to awg, mm2 for awg, from mm2 to awg, mm2 into awg, conversion chart table, diameter, amops, pdf, formula
1xtechnologies.com 1xtechnologies.com

Even at these sizes, things can get warm.
Click to expand...

Here is how you have to know about mm2 , amps and length.
We use meters not feet.
 

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There are two requirements to select a wire for use - at least in the US for national electrical code.

1) Using the planned amps, look at the ampacity chart. Never go smaller than the ampacity chart for a wire no matter if the wire is short or long. This sets the absolute minimum wire size for the use no matter what. Use the coolest temperature wire rating unless it is a special case.

2) Check for power loss to see if you might want to go to a larger wire to reduce losses further than the wire size in ( 1 ) by going larger.

You can use a calculation by hand, or blue sea has an on line calculator. Probably others do as well.

This calculation is to check if you want to go to a "larger wire" than the absolute minimum size in the ampacity chart.


 
crossy said:
Not up in smoke, but rather warmer than I would like.

So, I bought a Mileseey TR256i thermal-imager, plugs into the USB on your phone. There are many similar units around with comparable features, I had a 13% voucher for this one :)

First experiments were encouraging: -

The technology proves what doggo owners have known for years; our best friends have cold noses.
Chihuahuas also use their ears as radiators.

View attachment 224470

To more mundane things.

This is our 300A shunt carrying 150A. The right hand lug looks a little warm, certainly warmer than the other.

I shall re-make in the morning and we shall see how much difference it makes.

View attachment 224471
Click to expand...

Not bad for a phone-centric device. Most of those are awful - nothing resolves but big blobs of color.

Some of my "test images" are of the dog pack as well.
 

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Pretty good price might have to treat myself also looked at the slightly cheaper version and that's the potato quality I though most of the plug phone versions are.
 
crossy said:
The technology proves what doggo owners have known for years; our best friends have cold noses.
Chihuahuas also use their ears as radiators.
Click to expand...
v_green57 said:
Some of my "test images" are of the dog pack as well.
Click to expand...

So, when you put the doggies in a 2P3S configuration like this, you can use the thermal image camera to make sure they are correctly 'balanced' to get maximum power delivery :)

winter-home-banner-dogsled.jpg
 
v_green57 said:
Not bad for a phone-centric device. Most of those are awful - nothing resolves but big blobs of color.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the even more expensive devices also use a visible-light channel to sharpen up the image.

A bit like analogue colour TV used to be, a relatively high-definition monochrome image (luminance) and a low-definition colour image (chrominance) just splodging the colour around - I come from PAL land those were the terms we used.

If you ever saw a TV with a dead luminance channel it was literally impossible to tell what the image was supposed to be other than scenery (green at the bottom, blue at the top) or a talking head (pink blob in the middle).

The eye/brain does the hard work of defining where the edges are.
 
HarryN said:
Great information - thanks for posting.

Connections rely on the wire to carry away the heat.

For 150 amps the minimum wire size to use - based on the ampacity charts - is 2/0 also called 00 in the US.

For 200 amps regular use it would be 3/0. ( roughly 85mm2 if I am reading the charts correctly )

https://www.cerrowire.com/products/resources/tables-calculators/ampacity-charts/

1xtechnologies.com

MM2 to AWG - Wire Size Conversion Chart, Table, & Calculator [PDF]

MM2 to AWG Wire size, how to convert mm to awg, mm2 for awg, from mm2 to awg, mm2 into awg, conversion chart table, diameter, amops, pdf, formula
1xtechnologies.com 1xtechnologies.com

Even at these sizes, things can get warm.
Click to expand...
If using 105C rated cable like windy nation power flex I believe the ratings are a fair bit higher.
 
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