Flexxwatt Wiring / Thermostat Question

[Herp Hugger]

I have a question for those of you who have built your own BP racks. If you build a multi-shelf unit does it make sense to wire the Flexwatt in parallel using a single probe and thermostat? I seems logical that if the strips are cut to the same length they should draw the same wattage and hence be more or less the same temperature. Therefore if you put a probe on one of the strips, the thermostat should keep all strips at the same temperature (right?). But does this work in reality? I want to build my own rack but don't really want to have a ton of thermostats.

Right now I'm using two flexwatt strips on separate shelves, each hooked to a separate rheostat/dimmer with a separate probe for each. I really want to get to using a thermostat though so I don't constantly have to adjust.

Thanks for your help.

[rexrem]

That's what I did with my old set up. 4 1-foot long flexwatts in parallel to 1 thermostat. Just make sure the thermostat can handle the wattage of the flexwatts. Here's a link on how to wire it in parallel

http://www.reptilebasics.com/images/...t_parallel.pdf

[OhhWatALoser]

doesn't matter how you wire it, just take a look at your flexwatt, its got 2 sides (your hot and neutral) and then the things in the middle are heating elements that are in parallel with each other. flexwatt will always be parallel. even if you had them different lengths, they should be the same temp, atleast as far as rack building goes.

[willieshotg3]

"flexwatt will always be parallel"

this would not be true...say you have 2 4ft sections if you connect them from the same end meaning you connect the power and ground from the left side and the wire to the second pice from the same side as your main power it is a parallel circut...however if you run the power to your second strip from the oposite end of you first strip as the power you would make a series parallel circut...if you need pics i can pride them