Thermal Cameras for Electrical PCB Circuit Boards

Let’s have a look at each product in particular.

Hti HT-301

The main reason for why we included the Hti HT-301 in our list of thermal cameras for electrical circuit boards and PCB manufacturing is because of its very high IR resolution.

You see, inspecting PCB boards is an activity which requires a high level of detail in the image because the components are much smaller than what you would be measuring in an HVAC inspection or plumbing. It has a thermal resolution of 384 x 288 with a total of 110,592 pixels which is more than what any thermal camera under 1000$ can offer.

This is a professional thermal imaging camera for smartphones and its temperature range is also suitable because it can accurately measure any object which has a temperature between -4°F to 752°F (-20 °C to +400 °C). This can cover any temperature up to the solder melting point and that won’t be the case. It also has a 0.06°C thermal sensitivity, so you’ll be able to spot even the slightest differences.

The best way to use this is to hook it up to an Android tablet and the reason why is obvious: You need to have a larger screen to get a clear view at all of the small chips, connectors and switches. Even better, if you use an extension cable, you can place it on top of the test bench looking down on the board and place the tablet vertically like a monitor.

This is one of the essential tools in PCB development to quickly identify and troubleshoot issues. Out of all the industry thermal cameras for Android, this is going to provide you with the highest resolution including spatial resolution and the highest frame rate.

Seek Thermal Compact PRO

The Seek Thermal Compact Pro is also a smartphone thermal camera that is great for PCB boards an any kind of electrical circuit board.

Like the HT-301, we recommend mounting this on a tablet and this time you also have the option of connecting it to an iPad because it comes with either a USB-C, micro USB or a Lightning connector.

So what does this infrared thermal imaging system have that makes it suitable? It is a combination of a high 320 x 240 infrared resolution and the ability to use your smartphone’s or tablet’s visual camera in the app.

The two images are superimposed in the app so you can have the thermal reading and you can read the exact details on the chips and components like part numbers and symbols when you are diagnosing, something which you can’t do if you only have a thermal camera.

This can be a very powerful camera thermal camera for PCB inspection and PCB diagnosis, once you have it set up properly.

Now the problem with this is that you have to have the two cameras close to each other, so the best thing to do would be to connect it to your smartphone and then output the image via screen mirroring or USB cable to a larger screen, or if you are using a tablet you should buy an extender cable and mount the thermal camera as close as you can to the visual camera for electronic testing, so they have pretty much the same angle on the motherboard or electronic circuit board which you are trying to diagnose.

This is one aspect in which the Flir One Pro thermal camera does great because the two sensors are perfectly aligned. Another reason the Flir thermal camera is a great choice is because of the MSX technology which helps you identify the writing on some of the parts from the printed circuit boards, which is otherwise indistinguishable given the infrared thermography resolution which is still low.

The app lets you align the two images with your finger and it is really simple to do. Once you’ve done this properly, the result will be even better than on the Hti.

The temperature range of the Compact Pro is lower than on the Hti with it ranging from -40F° to 626°F (-40°C to 330°C), however it is still well inside the thermal scope of electronic chips.

The manual focus function is helpful in this non-contact temperature measurement device as well to finely adjust the image so that you can see exactly how much heat each component is emitting and which are the coldest and the warmest parts of the board. This is the cheapest thermal imaging camera for PCB inspections in our article.

FLIR E6 XT

The Flir E6-XT is a handheld thermal camera that you can use for electrical circuit boards and PCB manufacturing and the only one in this list which looks like an infrared thermometer. It has all the components inside one device, the IR sensor, digital camera, screen and software.

The reason we chose the Flir E6-XT is because of its unique characteristics: It has an image resolution of 240 x 180 from its thermal vision sensor, it has a high-resolution visible light camera that is perfectly aligned with the sensor and the powerful MSX image enhancement feature, all in one package. It is part of the E-series line-up which alson includes the Flir E4, E5 and E8 and the main differences between those is the resolution. Plus, it has live video streaming via its USB-C port so I think you can see where this is going. Using the MSX feature, you can see exactly how much heat the electronic devices are emitting while still being able to accurately identify them by their shape and part number.

This is a compact thermal imaging camera for professionals which can work on its own, no phones attached. You can use it to accurately measure heat from the transistors, chips and other electronic components with a +/-2°C accuracy, making it one of the most accurate consumer infrared cameras for temperature screening and monitoring. The temperature measurement range spans between -4° to 1022° Fahrenheit (-20° to 550° Celsius) and it is also a very reactive camera for PCB inspection because it can detect a 0.06°C temperature difference. All of the E and EX-series cameras are very quick to react to temperature changes because their thermal measurement system has a very high sensitivity.

But the handheld thermal imaging camera doesn’t limit itself to just this application, it is versatile because you can use it in HVAC inspections, plumbing, roofing, automotive diagnostics and more. It is waterproof and dustproof with an IP54 rating, it has a large 3″ LCD screen and a 4-hour battery life.

It captures the thermal images in radiometric image format with 14-bit temperature data embedded into the thermal images, so that you can flip between color palettes afterwards as you wish and also adjust the color scale in its thermography software. While you do get radiometric photos, you do not get radiometric videos because that is a feature that has not yet been implemented on consumer handheld thermal imagers.

If this camera is out of your budget, you can opt for the lower-priced Flir TG165 spot thermal camera.

FLIR C5

The Flir C5 is the last camera for inspecting PCB boards and electronic circuit boards which we’ll be reviewing. It is the latest iteration in a line of thermal vision cameras which includes the Flir C2 and Flir C3.

It may not have the resolution of the others, but it is a complete infrared camera. It has a thermal sensor and a visual camera together with Flir’s MSX image enhancement technology. Not only that, but it can connect via USB, Wifi and Bluetooth to your PC, smartphone or tablet.

Plus, it makes great use of that wireless connection by being the first ever thermal imaging camera to sync its captured images and videos directly to the Cloud because you get 1GB of free storage on the Flir Ignite cloud with every Flir C5. It also updates itself automatically via OTA updates.

You operate it using the 3.5″ touchscreen, it has a waterproof enclosure which is IP54 rated and the battery lasts for a full 4 hours. It is exactly how a 2020 IR camera should be.