Try pointing it at the sky (not the sun). Providing there's a tiny bit of high cloud cover, you'll get the temperature of that (can be -40, but I have seen it as low as -55). Low cloud is usually not very different from the ground temperature. If there's no cloud cover, you won't get a reading (doesn't measure down to the -270 of the Universe background temperature;-)
In message , Andrew Gabriel writes
Impulse sale at the trade counter
£20?
Cancel that. Just checked and the CPC is now £47.
CPC often have them on special offer. There's a smaller pocket one I've seen which was somewhere in the £10-£15 range at one point.
Blimey that is a good price !
Nope. still £16.95 +vat
If you click on Buy you'll find that it's not available under that product number. A search will then reveal that it's available at increased price under a different number.
Are you sure? I just followed that CPC link above and the unit price is =
=A319.92 inc VAT...
Spec is virtually identical, the CPC is 8:1 rather than 9:1. More button= s on the CPC but less sleek looks. B-) That is assuming the images on bo= th web sites are accurate...
The CPC one has an optical resolution of 8:1 whereas the Maplin has 9:1.
However, the CPC one has *5* buttons which is a much better value toy than the Maplin with only 2. :)
When you click to add to the basket you get "The product IN0229461 was not found."
If the range is that good, presumably it is possible get the temperature of the outside of the roof at various places and compare that to the outside ambient temperature?
That would allow detection of any hotspots on the roof and hence where more insulation was needed, or where warm air was sneaking past existing insulation and escaping?
Maxie, I went and bought one. The shop next door had a long queue outside or hot cakes, then the line moved over to Maplin when tthey saw me buying one. Isn't that amazing Maxie?
Hum, I wonder if it was a mistake on their computer? Mine turned up OK, and it says £16.95 on the invoice. On the web based dispatch note, it's rather strange. It shows it as not delivered but charged for, and they've added the IN02294 £40 one to my order as a free item which is marked as delivered.
I bought one of this model before when it was on offer at something around the £25 mark, IIRC.
Yes if you can see your roof. Someone already mentioned checking for cold spots inside the house as a means to find heat loss, such as the loft hatch. You can do the same outside, looking for hot spots.
What you need to realise is that these things measure a cone defined by the angle they quote. You are not measuring a spot the size of the beam you are illuminating. I forget what it is, but it's too wide to be able to make a useful measurement of a roof at a distance
The trailing 61 refers to one of their offer mags... Why don't you ring them up and quote the full number first then proceed from there?
Trailing 61 is actually the website bargin offers, not the offer mags.
Isn't the cone size defined by the 9 to 1 ratio quoted in the spec? So for every 9 feet you are from the target the "spot" size is 1 foot in diameter. I would not expect the edges of the cone to be particularly well defined. So if you have a very hot or cold patch close to the notional side of the spot, it could effect the reading - but how much of an effect is unknown
It's also not clear to me what you would expect if there are two things in view of very different temperatures. This would depend how it analyses the IR spectrum it sees, but I've never got round to experimenting.
? hmmm
The Maplin has an internal thread around where the IR comes out as if something could be screwed in to focus the beam.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required