3" heat tape question

If your planning to use 3 different strips of the 3" already I'd almost say go for the 11" rather than having to mess with wiring several different strips for one enclosure...BUT I am NOT an expert with flexwatt at all having only setup one rack with it so far.

As for your question about multiple strips...I have a strip for each level and each has its own power connectors soldered fast to it. I found 3 to 1 (3 female to 1 male) plugs at walmart and used that to consolidate and its working fine.

The reason I'd go for multiple 3" strips is that I would only have to buy one thermostat for each of my two herp rooms. You can't have both 3" and 11" on the same thermostat, so, to save money (I'm broke after the show..) I want to use only 3" in the warmer room.

The 3 to 1 plugs.. is that three power cords plugged into it and that would only take one slot on the t-stat's power strip?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shelby

Hey Matt is there a simple way to connect 2 strips of 3" tape so they're on one t'stat and only use one power cord?

Do you think that two 3" strips would be enough for my big 7' boa, or should I go for 3 or more?

---

Sure you can use flexwatt wired in parellel.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/parallel.jpg

I realy think that the 11" is going to be your best bet. If you have 3 one foot strips than thats 30 watts of power. That shoudl be enough to heat several tubs.. The 11" flexwatt is 20 watts per foot.. Larger surface area as well.. Thats the way I woudl go. The 3" wired in parellel in 3+ stips is way to much juice....:)

Then I have to buy at least 3 thermostats.. can't afford it..

Thanks for the diagram btw.

Hey no problem.. Me likie draw:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shelby

The 3 to 1 plugs.. is that three power cords plugged into it and that would only take one slot on the t-stat's power strip?

---

PRECISELY...this is how I am getting around using multiple tstats as well. All 3 strips go into the 3-1 adapter and use 1 plug in outlet to my tstat. I'm using seperate temp sensor for accuaracy.

Actually you can just add a power strip to the thermostat.. That will give you 6-8 more plug ins.. If you r using a different size/wattage/type heating element you will still need a seperate tstat...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by justcage

Actually you can just add a power strip to the thermostat.. That will give you 6-8 more plug ins.. If you r using a different size/wattage/type heating element you will still need a seperate tstat...

---

exactly! I went with the 3 to 1 adapter just because I didn't want anything to over bearing on the low end tstat I'm using. And as Matt said each strip I have connected is approxomately the same length and all the same 3" width.

Does it matter if I have a 5' section of 3" and several 1' sections connected to the same t-stat?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shelby

Does it matter if I have a 5' section of 3" and several 1' sections connected to the same t-stat?

---

As long as you are shooting for the same temps on each strip its not a problem.