Splurged on a $400 cloud chamber floor model and it burned me

I thought a cloud chamber would let me demo wet tests perfectly, but the glass fogged up so bad after three uses I couldn't see the sparks. The guy who sold it to me said to put it in a warmer room, but my shop stays at 50 degrees. Anyone else run into gear that just didn't hold up in colder conditions?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseys3019d ago

Man I feel your pain. I picked up a $500 thermal imaging camera last winter for checking insulation in my garage and the screen literally went black after twenty minutes of use in my unheated workshop. The manual said operating temp was 32 to 104 but the battery just gave up when it hit 40 in there. I called the company and they basically said tough luck, it's not designed for cold environments even though they advertise it as a contractor grade tool. Now I keep a space heater running for an hour before I even turn it on and it adds so much time to every job. Your cloud chamber situation sounds like the same kind of bait and switch where they don't tell you about the real limitations until after you've spent the money.

alice24219d ago

Yeah but thermal imagers actually do have rated operating temps, your battery just couldn't keep up because lithium cells lose voltage when they get cold. The cloud chamber thing is different though, the fogging is from condensation forming on the glass when the room is way colder than the alcohol vapor inside. 50 degrees is pretty low for most cloud chambers to work right since they need a temp gradient to actually show particle tracks. The guy should have told you that upfront though, not just say "warmer room" like it's no big deal.