Testing my flexwatt.. got some questions?

I wired up one piece of 11" flex watt. It is sitting on the table as I type. I have a prob taped to the center to find the highest temp. I have it plugged into a reostat for now. ( saving up for a good thermostat) My question is what is the highest temp the felxwatt will go? The temp keeps goin up to 103F then drops to 100F the dimmer is set wide open so I can mark for the different ranges.. Also what should I set the temp to for the BP's ( never used flexwatt before) Thank you in advance


Cheers:gj:

Well you are not supouse to let flexwatt go over 105 I believe, or it will start to get ruined. I have flexwatt, but someone with more experiece would explain better.

As per temp range, I usualy set 4 degrees higher than the desired temp. At the moment I have mine set to 97.

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Originally Posted by Danounet

Well you are not supouse to let flexwatt go over 105 I believe, or it will start to get ruined. I have flexwatt, but someone with more experiece would explain better.

As per temp range, I usualy set 4 degrees higher than the desired temp. At the moment I have mine set to 97.

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Oh ok, I turned it down and it's sittin at 92 right now.. Are you housing your BP's in tubs or tanks? Right now I will be using the flex watt on glass tanks. I still have to build my cage setup. I should place the flexwatt under the tank right?... thank you again


Cheers:gj:

I have only used flexwatt with tubs and now I have a RBI rack with 4x 32qt tubs.

When I got my first BP I had a 10g tank with UTH and a lamp. I never combined flexwatt with the tank so Im not sure, but it seems logical to use it under. I would set it up around 94-96.

If I were to use a tank again I would probably cover the whole under side with flexwatt split in half, with each half controlled at different temps so I wouldnt have to use a lamp again. I would probably do the same thing with a cage.

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Originally Posted by zeke

Oh ok, I turned it down and it's sittin at 92 right now.. Are you housing your BP's in tubs or tanks? Right now I will be using the flex watt on glass tanks. I still have to build my cage setup. I should place the flexwatt under the tank right?... thank you again


Cheers:gj:

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Glass tanks work ok but you may need to add another heat source along with the UTH.
I would invest in a thermostat as soon as you can. You can regulate the temps in the tank better with it and you can plug in an extra heat source like a ceramic emitter.

From my experience dimmers suck. I had temp fluctuations like no ones business. I had my tank all ready with a uth and a dimmer. It would go from 92 to 100 dgrees. I say buy a tsat before putting the snake in there.

I know t stats are expensive but they are worth the piece of mind they give you.

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Originally Posted by Dave763

Glass tanks work ok but you may need to add another heat source along with the UTH.
I would invest in a thermostat as soon as you can. You can regulate the temps in the tank better with it and you can plug in an extra heat source like a ceramic emitter.

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What else can I add with the UTH? Once I build my cage set up should I have 2 pieces of flexwatt per rack one on the hot and one on the cold side? Thank you again guys

Cheers

I would say it depends on how cold your cold side gets. Usualy your cold side will stay near your room temps if your cool side is not being heated.

You probably have to be the judge in that one, but If you do add heat to your cool side then you would never have to worry about your cool side being too cold, or the winter.

Thanks guys this helps alot:D Cheers for all the good info.:gj:

Btw Im confused, you keep using rack and cage in the same sentence. Which one are you building a rack or a cage?

sorry bout that, a cage it will be about 4ft long 18inches deep and 12 inches high. vents on the end. for the entry point it will be a flip down door.. I'm not a fan of the tub setups. Also I wired a 2nd flexwatt and plugged it in and the temp is reading 89, but the thing is i have the reostat set at the same spot as the last flex I wired. which was at 97F thanks for the info and help


Cheers

So the hot side is set up to 97 and the cool to 89? Thats a bit too hot for the "cool" side if so. But either way, you have to measure the temps inside the cage when you are done and adjust the t-stats untill you reach your desire temps.

The flexwatt is not under the tanks yet.. I'm still workin on them and as I finish each one I'm testing it.. the first one I finished I used to set the reostat at 97F and then I hooked up a 2nd one I finish and it was only readin 89F and I left the reostat set to what the 1st one was.. Soldering is a pain in my arse, not sure if I messed up the flexwatt. Thanks for the help


Cheers

Oh sorry I didnt understand that part. I got my pre-wired so I havent had that "experience" yet lol. But Im sure if you got one working already, you'll figure out the 2nd. They need to be of the same size for the temps to be the same I think, and ofcourse they dont need to be of the same size if you are gonna controll them at different temps. I dont know if that helps any.

Anyways there are many people here that have wired their own, Im sure someone will help you out.

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Originally Posted by Danounet

Oh sorry I didnt understand that part. I got my pre-wired so I havent had that "experience" yet lol. But Im sure if you got one working already, you'll figure out the 2nd. They need to be of the same size for the temps to be the same I think, and ofcourse they dont need to be of the same size if you are gonna controll them at different temps. I dont know if that helps any.

Anyways there are many people here that have wired their own, Im sure someone will help you out.

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Oh yes solder is SO much fun... hahaha.. thanks for the help boss. that be cool b/c i'm kinda in the dark with it.. thanks again


Cheers