Herpstat, oh herpstat!

I've been searching and searching and while I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do, I wanted everyone's lovely input before I dish out the money on a Herpstat Pro.

My setup:
I have six 20 gallon longs with UTHs. They are on 2 shelves, three on each, right next to eachother.

I am planning on (for now) putting probes into THREE of the six enclosures, one full shelf, with the idea that the temps on either side will be very similar, if not the same. What I was wondering was how exactly to achieve this with the Herpstat Pro.

It was four outputs and probes, and I'll only be using three of them... or maybe just all four and then only doubling two outputs. I didn't know if anyone had any advice or technique for doing multiple enclosures on one output. Do you just use a powerstrip of sorts?

I hope this makes sense, my brain is a little boggled with all this thinking haha! If anyone needs me to clarify I will. :] Thanks for any input at all on this! I just want to make sure I'm making this set up work to the best of my ability and my wallet's!

The herpstat pro has 4 probes, and 4 outputs. One probe per row. The output the corresponds with the first row, use a quality power strip, and so on for each row.

The pro has single outlets so you will need to take 2 plus to a single remember they are non grounded. I'd actually suggest building a Y connector rather than buying a tee. The tee connectors are hard plastic and will likely hang up on each other.

You have read this...
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/suppor...letankuse.html

Make sure that you are not exceeding the wattage per channel on the pro (unlikely) and that each enclosure has the same power and sizes and types otherwise you will end up with differences. Other than that you should be fine.
Alex

The herpstats have standard 2 prong outlets. To use a power strip, you will either need to disable the ground prong, or get some of those 3 into 2 adapters...

Mmkay.. Oh boy, electronics are not my strong point!

So to sum up:
It'll be okay to do the pro with the 4, and "double up" on the outputs, but with a y connector or tee or quality powerstrip?

I'm liking the sound of this y connector. :] I'll have to look into this. Thanks everyone for the fast responses! This forum is brilliant. <3

I'll do the pro, and do one output for the top and bottom row and then set up the two enclosures in the middle row on their own output. Woohoo! I feel much more comfortable about this all now, thanks again.

as long as the enclosures are the same, and subject to the same conditions it should be okay.

A good way around this is to have the thermostat probe directly on the heat tape. so it is the tape getting to the required temperature, not the substrate of one tank. Hold it against the tape with foil tape, covering the whole thing, except for the part touching the the heat tape. That way you would avoid any ambient temperatures cooling your probe, and over heating your tape.

Oh, I forgot that not all of their products are grounded. So most power strips won't work. Whatever you do go with, even a simple Y adapter, check the rating of the cable.

Y cables are easy you can buy good quality cable (2 strand heater cable with a rubber outside) and cut off about 1/2 inch of the insulation and twist them together and either solder them or if that is scary try a marionette it looks like a pen top but has a metal insert inside and it just twists on the wire you will need 2 female ends and one male. I don't like marionettes that much myself but I solder a lot so it isn't a big deal for me. I'd use electrical tape over the marionette and wire leading to it.

These things...
http://www.directindustry.com/prod/h...65-508142.html

Oh a chepo extension cord would work too.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

I'd try to keep it as short as possible. You can lose power over distance. Cheap cord like this the distance is shorter than better cords before you hit an amount that matters. But 5% loss means 5% less power and that would drop your temps. A Y adapter that is only a foot or two would be best but if you are uneasy working with power you might not want to mess with it or find someone who will do it for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

Oh a chepo extension cord would work too.

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Like I said though check the ratings, it's really important. Add up the wattage of your heat tape for each circuit, and tell the guy at the hardware store that you need cable rated for x number of watts plus a little extra. If the guy at the hardware store looks at you funny when you ask for a marionette, they're also called 'wire nuts'.

That is the name around here they are marionettes I knew that was a regional thing but I just couldn't remember what they were down south.

Thanks a ton you guys. :] This is exactly what I needed to know! I'll let everyone know how it works once I've got it all set up. Woohoo!

With six enclosures of the same size and the same type of heat mat, you need a herpstat with one output. You just plug all of the heat mats into the same thermostat output. If the heat mats were different, or the enclosure sizes different, you would need a herpstat with multiple enclosures. Also if you ever do go with a herpstat pro, you can use one output to control your lighting. This is a nice feature if you have an unused output. You can set it to turn off / on the lights completely or moonlight effect.