need help with my thermostat

I just bought Ranco thermostat at reptile basic. I been working late and have not been able to call them and ask how to set it up. I have a normal ball in a 15 gal. glass tank, with a cobra heat mat. I wanted to know were to place the probe, were i should set the temp, and what i should set my differential temp. i would greatly appretiate the help.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by henrythepython

I just bought Ranco thermostat at reptile basic. I been working late and have not been able to call them and ask how to set it up. I have a normal ball in a 15 gal. glass tank, with a cobra heat mat. I wanted to know were to place the probe, were i should set the temp, and what i should set my differential temp. i would greatly appretiate the help.

---

Place the probe between the heat pad and glass. If you set the temp at 91F and the differential at "1", that will give you a warm side range of 90-92...

My setup is aluminum foil on uth with temp probe taped to uth with foil tape. Under The aquarium. I use a herpstat . Would highy recommend that brand. Ranco is a on-off thermostat and I don't trust those types,just my opinion. Proportional t stats are safer.

Oh yea and use some type of shim or the rubber feet to give the space between the aquarium a space for heat to escape .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gman8585

My setup is aluminum foil on uth with temp probe taped to uth with foil tape. Under The aquarium. I use a herpstat . Would highy recommend that brand. Ranco is a on-off thermostat and I don't trust those types,just my opinion. Proportional t stats are safer.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gman8585

Oh yea and use some type of shim or the rubber feet to give the space between the aquarium a space for heat to escape .

---

I would agree. Use the 4 rubber feet so there's space. Also, putting the probe between the UTH and tank make's a big difference. I had mine inside the tank at first and it was very erratic. Moving the prob to between the UTH and the tank made a huge difference. Also, I have a cheap t-stat if it's of any consolation.

Is this Ranco prewired? If not, what model # is it?

I have several ETC-111000 models and have had to wire all of them up myself - I usually use this site http://www.rcreptiles.com/blog/index...1000_thermosta and add a ground wire in there for safety.

The other thing you could consider doing with the heat mat itself is getting a ceramic tile from Lowes, Home Depot, etc. and sticking the heat mat to that instead so you can transfer it from one setup to another when you move the snake. I've always been a little squeamish about re-using a heat mat after peeling it off of an aquarium since it usually doesn't come off without a fight