T8 and dialing in the heat

I've pretty much set up my T8 exactly as The Serpent Merchant has his set up, with the same equipment.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-With-Pictures!

Set it up and turned everything on almost 24 hours ago.

First, given that a lot of people are using the same gear, I am surprised that I have my herpstat set at 99, and the hide probe is showing 94.
Seems like everyone I've seen who has posted there setting is 102+ on the herpstat. Confirmed floor temp with IR gun, so I guess it's just weird.
I've have expected everyone to have almost the same settings with the same cage, heat tape, and herpstat.

My ambient temp is showing 76, which concerns me. I live in chicago, and currently its 70ish in my place, during the winter I let it drop to 65-66 at night, so it looks like not only is my heat not cutting it now, but it certainly won't be doing the job in the winter. Unfortunate, as I was hoping to use nothing but heat tape, and the florescent light.

So what are my options to raise the ambient another 10 degrees? Is a RHP what I should be looking to get? If so, would a 40 watt per side do the trick?

I got a herpstat 2 just in case I ran in to this problem. If I go with a RHP, where is the best place to mount the probe? I saw a suggestion to glue it to the RHP, or hang it off the RHP, or glue it on the floor under the RHP. I'd prefer less wires going around, so I'd probably want to mount it to the RHP. If I do so, is it trial and error to see what I need to set the herpstat at?

Thanks for any suggestions

what is an RHP?

maybe it helps when you make the insulation better, your numbers indicate that you constantly lose a lot of heat into the room. heating the whole room a bit would of course fix the problem, but its expensive.

i found out that RHP means radiant heat panel :) i dont see why you would want that. there is no reason to mix different products. you could just put more of the heat tape you are already using on top of the terrarium, and put a wood panel on top (or the next terrarium). same effect. except that you dont have this thick white thing in the enclosure. you could also increase the suface area of the heat tape, or install some on the sides. just put it on the outside and add some wood, so that the heat goes in. i like wood, but the plastic in the animal plastics stuff seems to be designed to handle just that. insulation around it will make the heating more effective.

basically just add more heat. could be on the top, on the sides, on the back, or more on the bottom. all on the outside. then add insulation, and you should be able to reach your goal and have it working just like it should, even when the room isnt that warm.

its based on the assumption that the bottom and the sides and the top of the animal plastics enclosure are of the same thickness and material. but thats the feeling i get when looking at pictures. if that is true, then you really have a lot of freedom.

im not sure if it can all run over the same thermostat (or t-stat channel), or if you need one for the bottom and one for the top or something like that. i think you need to put the different sections of heat tape on different channels, with their own heat probe.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by davep

Is a RHP what I should be looking to get? If so, would a 40 watt per side do the trick?

I got a herpstat 2 just in case I ran in to this problem. If I go with a RHP, where is the best place to mount the probe? I saw a suggestion to glue it to the RHP, or hang it off the RHP, or glue it on the floor under the RHP. I'd prefer less wires going around, so I'd probably want to mount it to the RHP. If I do so, is it trial and error to see what I need to set the herpstat at?

Thanks for any suggestions

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40 watt on each side is exactly the setup im running. It will help to keep up the ambient heat. I just let the probe hang. I have the herpstat 2 running both RHPs and a Hydrofarm running the heat tape.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/23/ebuqezar.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/23/ahezupe7.jpg

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

what is an RHP?

maybe it helps when you make the insulation better, your numbers indicate that you constantly lose a lot of heat into the room. heating the whole room a bit would of course fix the problem, but its expensive.

i found out that RHP means radiant heat panel :) i dont see why you would want that. there is no reason to mix different products. you could just put more of the heat tape you are already using on top of the terrarium, and put a wood panel on top (or the next terrarium). same effect. except that you dont have this thick white thing in the enclosure. you could also increase the suface area of the heat tape, or install some on the sides. just put it on the outside and add some wood, so that the heat goes in. i like wood, but the plastic in the animal plastics stuff seems to be designed to handle just that. insulation around it will make the heating more effective.

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Not sure if you're if you're kidding or not, but please don't suggest this to people. Heat tape does not create ambient heat. That's why people use RHPs.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

Not sure if you're if you're kidding or not, but please don't suggest this to people. Heat tape does not create ambient heat. That's why people use RHPs.

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if the top of the enclosure is heated and it radiates all through the enclosure from there, how would that not increase the ambient temperatures?

when you heat a side of the enclosure and it radiates all through the enclosure from there, how would that not increase the ambient temperatures?

some heat stays local, some heat gets dispersed via infrared radiation, some of the heat gets dispersed by air movement. all a RHP does is that it tries to minimize localized heat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

if the top of the enclosure is heated and it radiates all through the enclosure from there, how would that not increase the ambient temperatures?

when you heat a side of the enclosure and it radiates all through the enclosure from there, how would that not increase the ambient temperatures?

some heat stays local, some heat gets dispersed via infrared radiation, some of the heat gets dispersed by air movement. all a RHP does is that it tries to minimize localized heat.

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That's still not going to raise ambient heat because the plastic isn't going to be hot enough to radiate any heat. Why ghetto rig the enclosure when a simple RHP on a thermostat works perfectly well?

Before you suggest something to someone else, at least try it yourself and see if it works because if you're unwilling to do what you suggest to others, maybe you shouldn't suggest it at all.

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Thanks, I ended up ordering a RHP, and I'll see how it goes.

Are you using flexwatt and the RHP?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by davep

Thanks, I ended up ordering a RHP, and I'll see how it goes.

Are you using flexwatt and the RHP?

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Just so you know, flexwatt is just a brand of heat tape. Yes, I use the THG heat tape for the hot spot and the RHP for ambient heat. Then both heat emitters are controlled by a thermostat.

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