Separate thermostats vs. dual-zone thermostat

I got a bit of birthday/graduation money, so I've been looking at investing in a nice thermostat. So far I really like what the herpstats offer in terms of safety features and having a good reputation in general.

I have one rack setup right now and a hovabator incubator I will eventually need a proportional stat for (not breeding any snakes this season though). Should I just get two Herpstat intros or spend the money and get one Herpstat II? Is it better to have an incubator with its own thermostat or do people like using multi-zone stats for that?

I'm kind of leaning towards just buying the Herpstat II because of the safety features... I'm very paranoid about fire risks...comes from working in dry conditions with old books and paper I think :)

We just got the Herpstat 4 (we needed the 4) for our quarantine racks, and it is awesome. So I think you will be very happy with the Herpstat 2.

Just wanted to add, no matter what you end up using for the incubator, buy an on/off thermostat as a back up.

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Originally Posted by FireStorm

Just wanted to add, no matter what you end up using for the incubator, buy an on/off thermostat as a back up.

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I have two of the hydrofarm on/off thermostats that I can use for that purpose probably... I read on this forum awhile back that pulse/dimming stats don't work with a generator? We had no power for 2 weeks after hurricane Sandy but had intermittent generator power so it'd be good to have an on/off backup if that's true...

ETA: I guess I should mention that the generator we used isn't a whole-house generator.

I can't comment on the generator issue since our generator for the snake building powers the whole building, but I bet if you contact Spyder robotics they could help.

What I mean by backup is, Herpstat plugged into Hydrofarm, then Hydrofarm plugged into the wall. Both probes go together into the incubator. So for example, if you were incubating at 88F you might set the Herpstat at 88 and the Hydrofarm at 90. If the Herpstat failed, the Hydrofarm would stop a spike.

They do work with a generator with ONE very important caveat. The genny needs to have PURE seine wave output luckily there are more and more on the market, the modified seine wave ones tend to damage IC boards and more and more appliances have IC boards it means more gennies have 'safe for electronics' output. (computers TV ect.)

Herpstats are fab units. There are two ones that I would not suggest unless budget is that tight. The intro and herpstat one basic neither have a safety relay and the options this addition brings are quite valuable.

That IMO leaves the intro+ and herpstat 1,2,4 The four is not in your options and 2x HS 1 unless the rack and bator were in separate rooms makes little sense (it does offer a bit more flexibility in the future but that is about it) The intro+ is dimming proportional only it may not matter but sometimes racks buzz with dimming systems that can be super annoying. Cost wise two intro+ and a HS2 are about the same but with a rack I'd not suggest the intro+ so if you need two there is only one reasonable option the HS2.

Intro+ lists at 109$
HS1 139$
HS2 195$

This is from spiders web site it addresses UPS units and inverters by the same applies to the power inverter found on a generator.

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

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Originally Posted by Xaila

I have two of the hydrofarm on/off thermostats that I can use for that purpose probably... I read on this forum awhile back that pulse/dimming stats don't work with a generator? We had no power for 2 weeks after hurricane Sandy but had intermittent generator power so it'd be good to have an on/off backup if that's true...

ETA: I guess I should mention that the generator we used isn't a whole-house generator.

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Proportional Thermostats do not work on generator power due to most generators making dirty power (the sine wave they produce isn't good enough) Proportional thermostats rely on the 60 cycle sine wave to work properly. The thermostat will turn on, and level appear to work, but it won't regulate temperatures properly (which is worse in my opinion than not working at all)

Herpstats have enough safety features that a backup on/off thermostat really isn't necessary, and isn't possible with a dual or quad zone thermostats.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FireStorm

I can't comment on the generator issue since our generator for the snake building powers the whole building, but I bet if you contact Spyder robotics they could help.

What I mean by backup is, Herpstat plugged into Hydrofarm, then Hydrofarm plugged into the wall. Both probes go together into the incubator. So for example, if you were incubating at 88F you might set the Herpstat at 88 and the Hydrofarm at 90. If the Herpstat failed, the Hydrofarm would stop a spike.

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Isn't that kind of massive overkill considering the HerpStat's safety feature of failing in the off position? Even if the HerpStat were to fail the Hydrofarm would do no good because the circuit is broken further up the line.

Probably, but I am really, really paranoid about incubators failing (so paranoid that I switched to maternal incubation, unless the female won't coil the eggs). If I have thousands of dollars worth of eggs in the incubator, I want to be super, extra sure that it cannot overheat. It's probably just my distrust of anything electrical....you will have a hard time convincing me that there is no way the Herpstat could allow temps to get higher than they should.