Moisture Meter and Infrared Thermometer,

[RAFlorida]

that Lowes sold back in June this year. I picked up one of each then and found that the moisture meter to be fairly decent for the price. The infrared thermometer was a good buy too. It shows to be within a tenth or so accurate with a standard thermometer. For 10 bucks not bad at all. BUT....
The other day I was outside doing some work and picked up my hammer; ouch, it's hot. Picked up my I.Thermometer and checked the temp of that hammer, and it showed 155! So just playing around I pointed the meter up to the open sky (straight up) and was surprised to see it read 53 degree. So make a long story short; I started checking the sky at different times of the day and night. The other evening after a light rain we had, the open sky showed 33 degrees. I am no scientist or math professor, but anybody have any ideas/opinions as to the accuracy of this meter in reading the sky temps?
Other than that, BOTH of the meters do very well with their intended duties; the prices were unbeatable.
Here's the thread about those meters:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...moisture+meter

12th post has the thermometer.

[LCHIEN]

you have to remember that the thermometer works by reading the infrared emmissivity of the object that you are pointing to. Also that the angle of inclusion is proportional to the distance (so if you are pointing a mile up then the area its averaging may be 1/2 mile wide).

If you point at the sky there's no clear emitter, but maybe clouds and stuff. Remember once you get above a few thousand feet it gets quite cold - the airplane readouts show temperatures like 10F or so. So probably what you are getting is average readings from clouds and moisture particles over a large area of sky which may indeed average 53F, who really knows.

To make the best use of your infrared thermometer point it at small objects of uniform temperature keeping in mind the sensing spot (your meter should have a instruction or a decal showing what the angle of acceptance is and sensing width at different distances).
Also try not to read shiny objects which will show reflected energy as well as emitted energy. If it has a laser pointer don't get so close as to get parallelax between the pointer and the sensor axis.

unfortunately to get the most out of any measurement device, its important to understand how the device makes its measurement. Many can be fooled by the wrong conditions.

[phrog]

I was in Lowes yesterday and noticed they have these two items back to the regular prices of $29.99 and $39.99. (Unless they ring up differently at the register.)