TOPDON TC002 Thermal Imaging Camera for iPhone and iPad
The TC002 has no battery, no screen and no charger, and that is the whole design argument. It is a thermal sensor that plugs into an iPhone or iPad and borrows the phone's power, display and processor, drawing 0.35 W while it runs. A self-contained thermal camera has a battery to keep charged and a small screen to squint at. This one is ready whenever your phone is, and its run time is your phone's run time — TOPDON quotes 4 to 7 hours of use on a device with a 3000 to 5000 mAh battery.
It is aimed at inspectors, HVAC and electrical technicians, automotive diagnosticians and serious DIY users who want a real measuring instrument rather than a novelty attachment.
What the sensor actually resolves
The detector is 256 x 192 pixels on a 12µm pixel pitch, working in the 8 to 14µm long-wave band. Two of those figures do more work than the headline resolution. The pixel pitch tells you how much scene each pixel covers, which is what determines whether you can separate two adjacent warm components — a pair of terminals on a busbar, or two cylinders on a head — rather than seeing one smeared blob. The long-wave band is the one that reads emitted heat from ordinary surfaces, which is why this class of camera works on electronics and building fabric.
Thermal sensitivity is quoted as under 40 mK, meaning the camera can distinguish temperature differences well below a tenth of a degree. That is the specification that matters for finding a damp patch behind plaster or a marginally warm connection, where the whole signal is a fraction of a degree. Frame rate is 25 Hz, so panning across a wall or an engine bay gives you a live image rather than a slideshow.
Two measuring bands, not one
The TC002 covers -20 to 150°C (-4 to 302°F) and 150 to 550°C (302 to 1022°F). It is worth knowing that this is published as two bands rather than one continuous sweep, because the low band is where nearly all inspection work happens and the high band exists for exhaust components, industrial process work and anything glowing.
TOPDON quotes the tolerance as ±3.6°F (2°C), or 2% of the maximum temperature, with readings resolved down to 0.1°C. Read that carefully before you rely on it: at the top of the high band, a 2% tolerance is a much larger absolute number than it is at room temperature. For comparative work — this breaker is hotter than the three beside it, this radiator is cold at the bottom — it is more than adequate, and comparative work is what thermal imaging is genuinely good at.
Small enough to actually carry, rugged enough to keep
The camera body is 71 x 42 x 14 mm, which is 2.8 inches by 1.65 inches by 0.55 inches, and it weighs 30 grams. It lives in a pocket, not a case in the van. The housing is aluminium rather than moulded plastic, which is what stops a dropped attachment ending its life on a shop floor.
A 50 cm (19.69") lead is part of the package, and it is more useful than it sounds. Plugged straight in, the camera points wherever the phone points. On the lead you can put the sensor into a ceiling void, behind a panel or under a vehicle while you read the screen from somewhere comfortable and safe.
The app is where the measurement happens
The sensor produces the image; the companion app turns it into a result. Three reading modes are available: a spot reading at a point, a line with its hottest and coldest values called out, and an area with the same. That progression matters in practice — a spot tells you a number, a line tells you where along a pipe run the heat stops, and an area tells you which corner of a panel is the problem.
Eleven colour palettes are included, and choosing the right one is not decoration. A palette that gives strong contrast across a narrow temperature span will show a marginal fault that a rainbow palette flattens out. Sharpness and contrast are adjustable on top of that.
The DIY temperature range setting lets you fix your own upper and lower limits, and the display recolours anything that steps outside them. Set it to the maximum safe operating temperature for a component and the camera flags a breach on sight instead of asking you to read numbers.
Recording change over time
The app will take continuous readings and store them, then calculate high, low and average values across the period and draw them as a waveform. This is the difference between a snapshot and a diagnosis. A connection that is warm on inspection may be perfectly normal under that load; the same connection climbing steadily over ten minutes of running is a fault. A single still image cannot show you that and a graph can.
Perfect for
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Home and building inspectors tracing missing insulation, air leakage and damp without opening up finishes.
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HVAC technicians checking coil performance, duct losses and refrigerant line behaviour.
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Electricians surveying panels and terminations, where the fault is warm long before it fails.
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Automotive technicians reading cylinder-to-cylinder differences, stuck brake components, heater cores and cooling faults.
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Growers and livestock keepers checking crops and animals at a distance without contact.
What's in the box
The information we hold covers the camera itself and the 50 cm (19.69") lead. It does not itemise the rest of the carton, and we would rather say so than invent a packing list. Ask us before ordering if a specific accessory matters to you.
Specifications
| Detector |
256 x 192 pixels, 12µm pixel pitch |
| Spectral band |
8 to 14µm |
| Thermal sensitivity |
Under 40 mK |
| Frame rate |
25 Hz |
| Measuring bands |
-20 to 150°C (-4 to 302°F); 150 to 550°C (302 to 1022°F) |
| Stated tolerance |
±3.6°F (2°C), or 2% of the maximum temperature; 0.1°C resolution |
| Body size |
2.8 inches x 1.65 inches x 0.55 inches (71 x 42 x 14 mm) |
| Weight |
30 grams |
| Lead |
50 cm (19.69") |
| Power draw |
0.35 W, taken from the host device |
| Compatibility |
iPhone and iPad |
Calibration, stated plainly
TOPDON publishes an accuracy tolerance for the TC002, and that is a manufacturer's specification rather than an independent calibration record. Our product data records no traceable calibration certificate supplied with the camera and no third-party instrument listing, so we will not imply either. If you work to a quality system, an insurance requirement or a code inspection that demands traceable calibration on measuring equipment, verify that requirement before you buy and ask us what documentation is available.
Shipping
The TC002 goes out as a small parcel to the lower 48 states. It is light and well packed, but check the outer carton before the driver leaves and write any damage onto the delivery paperwork at that moment — an unqualified signature is very hard to walk back. Delivery to a residential address may attract an additional fee, which is shown when you check out.
Warranty
The manufacturer's warranty applies and our warranty claims page sets out how to raise one through us. Please do not take the housing apart or modify the connector before a claim is filed — on a sealed sensor assembly, disassembly is the fastest route to a refused claim, and the fault will still be there when the paperwork is done.
