Zoo Med ReptiTemp 500R Thermostat Question

Hey guys I am gonna get this thermostat soon and I was wondering if the 500 watts it can handle is okay for 2 medium sized UTHs because I do not know what the wattage of the UTHs are, thanks!

If you can afford a better tstat get one. Those are not digital and can be hard to dial in and have a reputation of breaking. Your tstat is the most important thing you can buy so buy the best you can.

I live these.
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

I have s Herpstat 1 & 4 and they are awesome. I have had the one your looking at and a hydrofarm, both broke in a few months.

While you can run two uth on one tstat I would NEVER do it with the one your looking at. When it breaks the second will mean you spent the same as doing it right the first time with a good tstat.

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Originally Posted by Eazyyyb

Hey guys I am gonna get this thermostat soon and I was wondering if the 500 watts it can handle is okay for 2 medium sized UTHs because I do not know what the wattage of the UTHs are, thanks!

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I completely agree with what KMG said in his post above.

For your question though, yes 2 UTH's at most is going to be 50ish watts, and likely to be much less. Most UTH's have their wattage printed on them somewhere, and the packaging should say so as well. Just add each UTH's wattage and subtract the number you get from the thermostats capacity (in this case 500 watts) I advice to keep 10% of the thermostats capacity unused to be safe (so a 50 watts safety zone for a 500 watt thermostat)

In a similar price range you can get a hydrofarm thermostat. While thee aren't great either they are better than the zoomed unit.

http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPR.../dp/B000NZZG3S

This is a nice mid-range thermostat:

http://www.reptilebasics.com/thermos...stat-prewired/

And as KMG posted the herpstat line, these are the best you can get right now. I would recommend the herpstat intro +, Herpstat 1, Herpstat 2, or Herpstat 4 depending on how many cages you want to heat:

http://spyderrobotics.com/home/products.html

I don't think the zoo med one is very good, I have one it is a bit of trouble to dial in, you will want temp gun if you decide to buy it, the little dial it comes with is basically useless to gauge the temp with. I'm just buying my time until I get a better one it's lasted 3 months so far but I feel so poorly about it I'm checking my temps 2-3 times a day with my temp gun to make sure it's working. Aside from my paranoia it's worked alright so far

Okay thanks guys I might have to get this just to hold me over for a few weeks and then Ill get a better one. I have a temp gun also so ill be sure to check the temps a few times every day

I have one and hate it.
The worst thermostat I have. In all honesty I would rely on Hydrofarms over those. But to answer your question yes it will easily run 2 standard UHT's.
Once you see either a Herpstat of a Vivarium Electronics thermostat I will almost bet that like me, your 500 will be relegated to a box as a last ditch back up.

To save money, at least around here reptile expo's seem to be a great place to pick up thermostats at a steal. I snagged a Ve-200D for a bit over half of retail.

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Originally Posted by Eazyyyb

Okay thanks guys I might have to get this just to hold me over for a few weeks and then Ill get a better one. I have a temp gun also so ill be sure to check the temps a few times every day

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You might want to consider an A-Life instead. It's an easy to use, relatively reliable thermostat that doesn't cost much. I use one in my reptile room in the summer to cut power to everything if it gets too hot.

I would doublecheck any thermostat with a temp gun just in case, but to control 2 heat pads on a budget, the 500R works. It's better than nothing :)

-Jen