What thermostat is best for me?

Hey guys,
I'm currently in the early stages of building my own enclosure for my BP and was wondering what thermostat you guys would recommend. I'm going to be using two UTH's (cool/hot) and a radiant heat panel for ambient temp's. I want them all to be connected into one Thermostat, preferably a proportional one, I deal with a decent amount of temperature change.

I was looking at the Helix control ones, but couldn't figure out if they control more than one heat source. My budget would like to keep the price around 150-200$.

Cheers!
-Fatal

Can't go wrong with a Herpstat!
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstat.html

Hope this helps:gj:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LeviBP

Can't go wrong with a Herpstat!
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstat.html

Hope this helps:gj:

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Appreciated mate, I love the herpstats, however, wouldn't I have to purchase three? Or go up to the Herpstat II? I want to be able to control all three units from one thermostat.

Cheers!
Fatal

Since you are planning on using 3 different heat sources, you will need to control them independently since they will need to be set to different temps. If you got 3 Ranco's or Johnson's and wired them yourself, that would keep you under the $200 mark. If you aren't comfortable doing that then getting them pre-wired would put you about $250. If you want anything above that such as the Herpstat or Helix, then your best bet would be a Herpstat Pro. It runs about $320, but has four separate thermostats in one small unit. Each thermostat can be set to run as Proportional or On/Off as needed, as well as, a few other features.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Since you are planning on using 3 different heat sources, you will need to control them independently since they will need to be set to different temps. If you got 3 Ranco's or Johnson's and wired them yourself, that would keep you under the $200 mark. If you aren't comfortable doing that then getting them pre-wired would put you about $250. If you want anything above that such as the Herpstat or Helix, then your best bet would be a Herpstat Pro. It runs about $320, but has four separate thermostats in one small unit. Each thermostat can be set to run as Proportional or On/Off as needed, as well as, a few other features.

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Are ranco's/Johnson's proportional? Also, you're an experienced keeper, am I going over the top with heating for one enclosure? I only have one bp and am building a viv for him to spend his entire life in, as well as look bad ass :). Is this excessive or would it be really nice to have? Keep in mind the viv will be made of melamine/oak and with 40x25x18 as dimensions :).

Cheers!
-Fatal

I don't think it's excessive. It will give you more options and control over the temps, especially if you like to keep your house temps on the cooler side...

*Edit* The Ranco and Johnson thermostats are On/Off type...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

I don't think it's excessive. It will give you more options and control over the temps, especially if you like to keep your house temps on the cooler side...

*Edit* The Ranco and Johnson thermostats are On/Off type...

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Hmmm do you have any experience with the Ranco and Johnson thermostats? The on/off types aren't necessarily terrible, do you think they would do a decent job monitoring my temps? I have a usual 5-10 temp flux from day to night.

If you didn't go with those, what would be your next best bet for monitoring 3 heat sources?

Thanks for all the help,
Fatal

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fataltix

Hmmm do you have any experience with the Ranco and Johnson thermostats? The on/off types aren't necessarily terrible, do you think they would do a decent job monitoring my temps? I have a usual 5-10 temp flux from day to night.

If you didn't go with those, what would be your next best bet for monitoring 3 heat sources?

Thanks for all the help,
Fatal

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The Ranco and Johnson work great. I've used both. Now, since I have a Herpstat Pro, I use the Ranco for regulating my herp room space heater and I keep the Johnson as a spare. They will keep your temps at whatever you set them at. They do have a differential setting, which is the range above and below the set temperature that they will operate at. So if you set the temp at 91F and the differential is set to 1, that means the t-stat will be on until the temp reaches 92F then it will shut off until the temp reaches 90F. They do make a click sound when they turn on/off. Some people don't like this, but it never bothered me. About the only other thermostat that you might be interested in that some people use is the Hydrofarm...

http://www.urbangardensolutions.com/...tm?click=11398

http://www.hydroasis.com/hy/productdetail.aspx?id=375

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...1529683&sr=1-7

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vypyrz

The Ranco and Johnson work great. I've used both. Now, since I have a Herpstat Pro, I use the Ranco for regulating my herp room space heater and I keep the Johnson as a spare. They will keep your temps at whatever you set them at. They do have a differential setting, which is the range above and below the set temperature that they will operate at. So if you set the temp at 91F and the differential is set to 1, that means the t-stat will be on until the temp reaches 92F then it will shut off until the temp reaches 90F. They do make a click sound when they turn on/off. Some people don't like this, but it never bothered me. About the only other thermostat that you might be interested in that some people use is the Hydrofarm...

http://www.urbangardensolutions.com/...tm?click=11398

http://www.hydroasis.com/hy/productdetail.aspx?id=375

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR...1529683&sr=1-7

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Thank you so much for all your help!!! Those Hydrofarms are pretty cheap, is this one of those "you get what you pay for" things? Or do they happen to be of a decent quality and just well prices :3. Sorry for all the questions, just want to do this right.

Cheers,
Fatal

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fataltix

Thank you so much for all your help!!! Those Hydrofarms are pretty cheap, is this one of those "you get what you pay for" things? Or do they happen to be of a decent quality and just well prices :3. Sorry for all the questions, just want to do this right.

Cheers,
Fatal

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Personally, I've never used one. You can use the search function at the top of the page for Hydrofarm and it should give you a list of all of the threads where they are mentioned. There should be posts in some of those threads by members who use them. I don't think I've heard anything bad about them...