Hi, I've been digging around for a cheap high temperature sensor. I want to stick it on the end of a homemade hot air pencil and use the arduino to regulate the heat. But I can't find anything that goes above 200 and I think to do surface mount I need the hot air pencil up to about 300?
1000c+ would be ideal because my Nichrome wire heating element is theoretically capable of 1400c before it melts and so it would be nice to have a sensor that doesn't die if I screw up the software!
Not many temp sensors go that high. A K thermocouple will if made with the correct insulation material. While the basic K couple will measure to 1350F, you have to find one using insulation rated at or higher then the highest temp you will be subjecting it to.
type K is very common, and very cheap. I mean it's just two wires with a weld bead on the end, they cost literally nothing. However for 300C application you'll need a different probe Type M is 1400, and a way to mount said thermocouple that won't melt. I used a couple recently, around $20usd, steel braid with the thermocouple embedded in a steel washer, for bolting inside a commercial copper enamelling forge.
Sounds like a fun project, post details as you go along
Find some K thermocouple wire and hook it up to a MAX6675 K-to-digital chip. Really simple, you give the chip some clocks and it shifts out its data. No support components needed.
The chip is not exactly cheap though. I guess cheap is relative.
