Finally bought a Ranco

I've had my BP on a 500R thermostat until now and it has been fine, but lately for some reason it hasn't been getting the temp above 88-89f, even with the dial cranked all the way. It's not the mat, because if I plug it in by itself, it reaches well over 100f.

I finally got pissed off this morning after spending an hour screwing around with thermostat probe placement, and ordered a prewired Ranco and an UltraTherm UTH from RBI. I guess I will relegate the old thermostat to a new snake with lower temp requirements (corn) or use it to control a UTH on the cool side of the tub. I'm not sure yet.

Anyway, are there any tips I need to know about setting the Ranco up?

Thanks!

Congrats on the Ranco. Make sure you read the instructions on setting it up. During the set-up, there will be a point where you set the T-stat so it knows whether it is running a heating or cooling device. The setting should be "H1"...


Rob

imoved my probes to an empty tank (tub) and use it as a dummy tub to control the setting as this tub won't get use. this is done sonot got to worry about tub moving the probe and stuff. i am also going to re set everything to run off that tub for the temp control and display for the othersince most my snakes will be on the same setup

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Congrats on the Ranco. Make sure you read the instructions on setting it up. During the set-up, there will be a point where you set the T-stat so it knows whether it is running a heating or cooling device. The setting should be "H1"...


Rob

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Rich at RBI does all the settings for you. All you need to do is plug it in and set the temps you need.

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Originally Posted by flameethrower

Rich at RBI does all the settings for you. All you need to do is plug it in and set the temps you need.

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Fantastic, I did not know that. How quick is their turnaround time? I placed the order this afternoon.


mechnut450, that is a great idea.

Depends on how busy he is. Should have it before Thursday

Hi,

Also, if you want to go over the process a few times in your head, Rich has the manuals for the thermostats on his site.

A very good resource if you ask me. :)


dr del

I hate to bump an old thread, but everything showed up today. I'm impressed at the shipping speed! The Ranco is SOLID, much more so than I thought, and the quality on this setup is leagues above the 500R + ZooMed mat I had been using.

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Originally Posted by Crawdad

I hate to bump an old thread, but everything showed up today. I'm impressed at the shipping speed! The Ranco is SOLID, much more so than I thought, and the quality on this setup is leagues above the 500R + ZooMed mat I had been using.

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I completely agree, once i upgraded to the Ranco over my Zoo med Rheostat, now i know exactly what the temperature is and i can change it by degree, which is awesome. The only thing i noticed is that you HAVE to use foil tape to hold the probe down. Not only does no other tape come off as easy, but in order to get accurate readings of what your heating pad is at, you have to use foil tape. With electrical tape, my setting on my Ranco was 93 and inside the tup is way around 95, very weird. Now i am using foil tape and my thermostat is set to 104 and inside the tub is no more than 95. Thats really the main thing you have to worry about.

Oh yeah Ultratherm heat pads are AWESOME and never get too hot when on a thermostat and they are made really well.