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Your trusted partner in electrical thermographic imaging inspections. Sunshine Coast to Brisbane & surrounds.
Electrical equipment heats up before it fails. A radiometric switchboard inspection finds the connection that is running hot while the plant keeps operating — and hands your electrician a report that says exactly which terminal to open, how urgent it is, and why.
Electrical asset protection is our focus.
Highpoint Solutions is an independent specialist thermography company providing electrical thermography services throughout all major cities in Australia. With offices on the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, we regularly service rural and remote areas throughout Queensland.
Thermal imaging (infrared thermography) is an extremely effective and very unique inspection method as it's non-destructive and non-intrusive, meaning inspections can be conducted while plant and equipment is fully operational. When you invest in our 100% independent services, you'll receive highly accurate and reliable data which forms the basis of our comprehensive reports.
Thermal imaging helps detect, troubleshoot and fix problems to prevent costly shutdowns and outages.
Electrical equipment tends to heat up before it fails, hiding from sight until a problem becomes "self-evident". Our high-end radiometric cameras make those hot spots clearly visible so you can catch them in time to investigate further, plan repairs, and get components fixed before they turn critical. We scan electrical cabinets, breaker panels, fuses, bolted connections and switchgear to get an instant picture of impending trouble that you would likely miss using traditional inspection methods.
We recommend thermal scanning of electrical switchboards be carried out as part of the annual routine maintenance program, together with a switchboard inspection, giving you an accurate picture of the condition of your switchboard.
What we inspect
- Main switchboards & distribution boards
- Motor control centres & VSDs
- Circuit breakers, fuses & isolators
- Bolted busbar & cable connections
- Contactors, overloads & relays
- Transformers & HV switchgear
- Capacitor banks & power factor correction
- UPS, battery & solar inverter systems
- Cable trays, terminations & joints
- Generators, motors & drives
What a finding looks like
Two real findings from switchboards we inspect every week. Drag the handle — to the eye every component looks identical; the radiometric image shows which one is failing and by how much.
Motor contactor and overload relay: one connection 37.8 °C hotter than the identical phase beside it — a loose or degraded termination on its way to an open circuit or a fire.
300 A moulded-case circuit breaker, load-side lugs: C-phase running 19 °C above A-phase under the same load. A Priority 3 finding — rectify when convenient, then re-inspect to see whether the gap is widening.
How we add value to your business through effective risk management
We use state-of-the-art infrared imaging equipment to identify electrical and mechanical faults fast, allowing you to take corrective actions to minimise damage to plant and equipment and decrease repair costs. We'll find the missing pieces of the puzzle and give them back to you.
Saving time — no down-time required
Our non-destructive, non-intrusive inspection methods allow your daily operations to continue unaffected by our work. Boards must be live and carrying load; nothing is switched off.
Faults highlighted immediately, report within 24 hours
Any existing fault or concern is flagged to your site contact on the day. The comprehensive report — image pairs, measured values, classification and recommended action — is delivered within 24 hours of the inspection.
Trends that predict failure
Periodic monitoring establishes trends used to predict equipment failure. Your preventative maintenance team can carry out upgrades in a planned window, rather than an unplanned outage costing revenue and production.
Evidence for your insurer
Many underwriters now mandate electrical thermographic inspections for policy renewal. Our report is written to be handed straight to them.
How much does an annual thermographic inspection of your electrical switchboards cost?
One of the most frequently asked questions from facility and building managers is "How much does it cost?", so let's look at that first. Most small commercial buildings — a main switchboard and a handful of distribution boards — can be inspected and reported for well under $1,000, which is a very small investment when you consider the potential outcomes. One small electrical fire can easily result in tens of thousands of dollars in repair bills and lost revenue, not to mention the impact on your employees, customers or guests. An unplanned outage in a busy processing facility has enormous flow-on effects; loss of essential services in a luxury holiday apartment block means bitter guests and negative reviews.
We understand that not all businesses operate the same and that maintenance budgets can be tight, so we've established two report options to make this service affordable for all building and asset managers. Both deliver great value, show your commitment to ongoing safety in the workplace, and demonstrate to your insurance company that you have risk-mitigation strategies in place.
Thermographic electrical inspection — full comprehensive report
A complete thermographic inspection of your electrical switchboards, supplied with a full comprehensive report of all switchboards and components inspected — whether thermal anomalies were identified or not. Ideal for facility managers who take a pro-active approach: every asset has a baseline, and data from every inspection can be compared with the next to identify alarming trends.
Thermographic electrical inspection — Lite
For facility managers on a tight maintenance budget, with typical savings of up to 25% compared to the full report. The Lite option still includes a full thermographic inspection of every board; only components that presented abnormal thermal anomalies are documented. If none are identified, a selection of thermal images is included for baseline information.
How often should a switchboard be thermally inspected?
Thermal imaging of all your building's switchboards should be carried out every 12 months, and more frequently where environmental conditions are influential — high load, heat, dust, vibration or coastal exposure. Many insurance underwriters now mandate electrical thermographic inspections for policy renewals, and thermography is a mandatory component of a building's preventative maintenance program. We conduct low-voltage power surveys in production plants, office facilities, hospitals, airports, hotels and domestic residences.
Severity criteria we classify against
Every anomaly is compared against its reference phase and against ambient, then given a priority rating with a defined repair timeframe. These are the four ratings used in every report we issue — the part that turns an image into a decision.
| Priority | ΔT vs reference | Fault temperature | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — Critical | > 30 °C | > 100 °C | Serious abnormality. Immediate repair recommended — failure may be imminent. |
| 2 — Significant | 20 – 30 °C | 75 – 100 °C | Should be corrected — could fail suddenly. Repair within one week. |
| 3 — Caution | 10 – 20 °C | 50 – 75 °C | Minor problem. Rectify when convenient, then re-inspect for the trend. |
| 4 — Checked | < 10 °C | < 50 °C | No abnormality at inspection. Re-inspect at regular intervals. |
Highly accurate & reliable data, packaged into an easy-to-digest report
On completion of the scan we produce a detailed report within 24 hours. Every finding is presented as a visual and thermal image pair with the measured values, the reference it was compared against, its classification, the likely cause and the recommended action — plus the boards found compliant, so your register is complete. Repeat inspections are trended against the last.
- ISO 18436-7 Category 2 certified thermographer
- Radiometric FLIR cameras — per-pixel temperature
- Emissivity, reflected temperature, load and ambient recorded per image
- Findings given a priority rating from 1 to 4
- Asset register with every board, compliant or not
- Nationwide service — on site within 48 hours at most locations
From the knowledge base
What ΔT is considered a critical electrical fault?
A temperature difference greater than 30 °C against an identical reference component, or a fault temperature above 100 °C, is rated Priority 1 — Critical: a serious abnormality where immediate repair is recommended. Below that, 20–30 °C is Priority 2 (repair within a week), 10–20 °C is Priority 3 (rectify when convenient and re-inspect), and under 10 °C is Priority 4 — no abnormality at the time of inspection.
ComplianceAnnual Thermal Imaging Inspections for Electrical Switchboards – Has Your Insurance Company Requested One?
Most Australian commercial insurers now ask for an annual thermographic switchboard inspection at renewal, carried out by a certified thermographer on boards that are live and carrying at least 40% of normal load. The report they want names each board, gives the measured temperature difference against a reference component, assigns a priority rating and states a repair timeframe. A photograph of a warm board with no measurements attached is not an inspection report and underwriters increasingly reject it.
Electrical thermographyDiagnosing Electrical Problems Safely With Thermal Imaging
Thermal imaging diagnoses electrical faults without contact, from outside the arc flash boundary, on equipment that stays live and loaded. The accuracy of what it tells you depends almost entirely on the surface being measured: emissivity, reflection and the size of the target against the camera's measurement spot will each shift a reading, and all three shift it in the same direction — too low. Understanding the surface is what separates a measurement from a picture.
Common questions
Does the power need to be off?
No — the opposite. The board must be live and carrying at least 40% of normal load, because a fault only generates heat when current is flowing through it.
Can you see through the switchboard door?
No. Infrared does not pass through steel or glass. Covers come off under a safe work method, or IR inspection windows can be fitted so future surveys are quicker and safer.
Do I need an electrician on site?
Not something you need to organise. Covers are removed and refitted by a licensed electrician under SWMS while our thermographer images the live components — we arrange that, working with your site’s electrical team where there is one, or bringing our own.
Who is qualified to classify a finding?
A Category 2 thermographer certified to ISO 18436-7 or equivalent. A Category 1 holder can capture images; setting and applying severity criteria is a Category 2 function.
How long does it take?
A typical small commercial site — main switchboard plus three or four distribution boards — takes one to two hours on site. The report follows within 24 hours.
Local service pages
Electrical thermal imaging — Sunshine Coast
Body corporates, resorts, shopping centres and light industrial from Caloundra to Noosa. Local case studies and suburbs served. URL unchanged
Electrical thermal imaging — Brisbane
Commercial towers, hospitals, hotels, data and processing facilities across greater Brisbane. Local case studies and suburbs served. URL unchanged
5 Crucial Things You Must Consider Before Hiring an Electrical Thermographer
Written by Justin Dravsnik for the facility managers, building managers and maintenance planners who have been asked to arrange a thermographic inspection and are not sure what to ask for — or how to tell one quote apart from another.
Tell us where to send it and we will email you a copy.
Prevention & Consequences of Electrical Fires
A single-page summary of where electrical fires start in a building, which equipment is most often involved, and the maintenance that prevents them — written for the people who have to brief a committee or a board, not for electricians.
Print it, pin it in the plant room, or attach it to your next maintenance proposal. Ask and we will send you the PDF.
One inspection finds a fault. A programme finds the pattern.
This site is on a three-monthly thermographic and ultrasound round. The same defect kept turning up across successive visits, in different positions on the board: switched fuses running hot, with ultrasound confirming arcing behind them. Not one bad unit — a population of them, quietly cooking. They have since been replaced.
Drag the handle. Behind the shrouds, four of the fuses in this one cubicle measure 130.7, 118.8, 112.9 and 100.2 °C. This is not one bad unit on an otherwise healthy board — it is most of a row.
And this is what one looked like when it came out.
The client pulled the affected units and kept one for us to photograph. Nothing here was visible with the unit in service and the cover on.
A single inspection would have found one hot fuse and generated one work order. Coming back every quarter turned it into something the client could act on properly: a known defect, repeating across a population, worth replacing as a batch rather than chasing one failure at a time.
Two conductors, the same job, 64 °C apart.
A control panel with the door open. Every contactor looks the same as the one beside it, and nothing here would stop an electrician mid-round.
One conductor is running at 114.0 °C. Its pair, carrying the same duty, is at 50.0 °C. That comparison is the whole method: a single temperature means little on its own, but a 64 °C difference between two components doing identical work is unambiguous. A 64 °C gap puts it in Priority 1 — a serious abnormality where immediate repair is recommended.
The report names the board, the component and the terminal. Your electrician opens one connection instead of the whole panel, and the plant keeps running until they do.
Book a switchboard inspection →Hot cells on a rooftop array.
In the photograph this is an ordinary rooftop array — a little dusty along the frame, nothing that would make anyone book a service call.
Radiometrically, three individual cells stand out sharply against every other cell in the same modules: 73.0 °C at the worst, then 60.0 °C and 46.8 °C, while the cells around them sit far lower.
A cell running hotter than its neighbours is dissipating power rather than delivering it. The cause might be a defect in the cell, shading, soiling or something downstream of it — that is a question for the electrician. The survey's job is to say precisely which modules and which cells, so the work is done on specific panels instead of the whole array.
The array is inspected while it is generating, from the roof or from the ground, with nothing isolated.
Ask about a PV survey →