Got a Flir camera to check for electrical safety - Pictures!

[eprosenx]

I have been helping enough folks with electrical work lately that I figured it was time to up my game and buy a Flir camera in order to identify potentially hazardous situations. (also it is just really cool)

I got it today and of course I had to test.

Here are some Flir pictures of my Wall Connector installation. This was after I got home and plugged in the loaner S I have. It charged at 48 amps for an hour and fifteen minutes and then shut off as it was at 90%. I then turned on all the heaters and seat warmers and set it to 100% charge limit to get it drawing power again and immediately took these pictures so it likely was not fully heat soaked on a steady state operation.

Note that I see nothing oit of the ordinary here. Properly sized wire heats up under load. Nothing here worries me.

Here is the conduit behind the Wall Connector with my sprinkler controller above it.

Here is the panel with the conduit going to the right towards the first picture.

Here is the panel. The upper right breaker is a quad tandem with a metal combined trip handle that reflected my body heat I guess (so a red herring).

You can very clearly see where the 60a breaker for the Wall Connevtor is (48 amps continuous was being drawn).

The Wall Connector and the Model S (I think my daughter is hanging out the drivers window)

And here is my install with a regular camera during the day:

Fun stuff!

 

[compu85]

Using a thermal camera to check for wiring faults is an excellent idea. It let me spot a faulty breaker at my father in laws place:

I also checked when plugging in at a friends, no problems there!

 

[eprosenx]

Using a thermal camera to check for wiring faults is an excellent idea. It let me spot a faulty breaker at my father in laws place:
View attachment 344899

I also checked when plugging in at a friends, no problems there!

View attachment 344900

Is that the bad breaker pictured above? I am curious what the temp was like after swapping the bad breaker? I am not yet calibrated to what is "normal".

Also, on the bottom picture: Is that a sheetrocked wall we are looking through? Or just exposed wiring in an unfinished wall?

Very cool!

 

[compu85]

At my FILs I noticed the breaker was hot to the touch after charging at 40a for a while. Listening closely, I could hear arcing in the breaker too. 135*F is wayyy to hot for the top of a breaker to get when it's not overloaded.

Here's our panel at home. The breaker in the top right is a 60a, passing about 32 amps.

The bottom picture is in a garage with open walls. Here's a view from a bit further back, with the panel cover off.

Really neat, you can see which of the wires at the outlet box has the load on it

 

[BrokerDon]

This is what a failed HPWC connector temperature like. Tesla Ranger came out the next day and replaced our 1st generation HPWC and temperatures returned to normal. Tesla replaced this for free since our HPWC was purchased with our Tesla... which means it's covered under the same 4-year warranty as our 2015 P85D instead of just 1-year for a separately purchased HPWC.