Rheostat issue

So we have had a under the tank heating pad for months now to heat the warm side of her tank and it has worked out well. It's not the "sticky" kind because we didn't want that.

It looks like this:

http://www.bigappleherp.com/core/med...b4ebdb69ee9489

It has worked out perfectly fine but the problem is we were using a infrared bulb on a rheostat to heat her cool side of the tank to about 80 degrees and it was making it very difficult to keep the humidity at proper levels because the the infrared bulb was just sucking the humidity out of the entire enclosure. So we ordered another heating pad to use on her cool side with the rheostat but even at the lowest setting on the rheostat it is at 82.8(that seems a bit high considering the house temp is at 68 degrees and the rheostat dial is at the lowest position right before turning it off.

The warm side identical heating pad is not on a rheostat or anything to control it's temp and it's currently 88.5 degrees on the warm side.

The cool side identical heating pad is on a rheostat set at the lowest possible position and it's currently 83.3 degrees on the cool side.

That is only 5.1 degrees difference that the rheostat can control!

It's a zoo med rheostat:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/tc-photos/11...ard/512827.jpg

It is pissing me off that it can barely even control 5 measly degrees!

We don't have the money to buy a thermostat right now but is there better rheostats out there than this?

A cheap plug-in lamp dimmer will work fine.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

Hello,

I can understand your frustration with the Zoo Med devise you show in your post. Its unfortunately a P.O.S. I figured it out the hard way too so no sweat.

Heres what you do. My recommendation is that you go to the local pet store and pick up one of these Zilla Temperature Controllers. This devise ran about $35 at the local pet store here.

However you could go to a near by hardware store and ask to pick up a lamp dimmer, such as this one found here Lamp Dimmer Switch. There are literally hundred of different dimmer switches for lamps so its simply a matter of picking the one you want. The one linked has a nice little night light, which I thought was cool :cool:!

In the end please save up to get the actual temperature control devise (thermostat) as it will save you a lot of trouble in the long haul.

Hope this helps! I'm sure others will be along shortly to throw in their opinions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MissDizzyBee

A cheap plug-in lamp dimmer will work fine.

Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

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Can you elaborate more and give further details?

I am not sure what you are referring to exactly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigByrd47119

Hello,

I can understand your frustration with the Zoo Med devise you show in your post. Its unfortunately a P.O.S. I figured it out the hard way too so no sweat.

Heres what you do. My recommendation is that you go to the local pet store and pick up one of these Zilla Temperature Controllers. This devise ran about $35 at the local pet store here.

However you could go to a near by hardware store and ask to pick up a lamp dimmer, such as this one found here Lamp Dimmer Switch. There are literally hundred of different dimmer switches for lamps so its simply a matter of picking the one you want. The one linked has a nice little night light, which I thought was cool :cool:!

In the end please save up to get the actual temperature control devise (thermostat) as it will save you a lot of trouble in the long haul.

Hope this helps! I'm sure others will be along shortly to throw in their opinions.

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We plan on getting a thermostat eventually but money is VERY TIGHT right now as we are currently in the middle of the process of putting a sump-pump in the basement as well as finishing the basement itself.

In the meantime would a "lamp dimmer" like the one you linked me to have a broader temperature control range than the stupid zoo med rheostat's 5 degrees???


BTW...I am basically going to do my best to force zoo med to take back their lame rheostat! I am going to send them an email informing them that if they don't offer me a full refund for their CRAP that I will not only trash their company on every reptile forum I can find but any product review sites as well.
If they don't take this crappy rheostat back I at least know I will be able to cause much more lost sales to them than the rheostat is worth!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigByrd47119

My recommendation is that you go to the local pet store and pick up one of these Zilla Temperature Controllers. This devise ran about $35 at the local pet store here.

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What is that exactly? I can't even discern if it is a rheostat or a thermostat!

If it is actually a thermostat I would consider buying it(online of course ....because I have NEVER seen it at any of the petcos, petsmarts or petlands around here)

If it's a thermostat I am totally interested in it(I thought reptile thermostats cost $150+!)

If it's just a fancy rheostat I would sooner use a cheap "lamp dimmer".

If you go with a lamp dimmer make sure its one with a dial or a slide. some dimmers only have a few settings kind of like those touch lamps. It will tank a little while to get your temps where you want them but when you do take a marker and mark where you have the dimmer set. You will also need to keep an eye on the temps. They will fluctuate with the ambient temperature of the room your enclosure is in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Superpop

What is that exactly? I can't even discern if it is a rheostat or a thermostat!

If it is actually a thermostat I would consider buying it(online of course ....because I have NEVER seen it at any of the petcos, petsmarts or petlands around here)

If it's a thermostat I am totally interested in it(I thought reptile thermostats cost $150+!)

If it's just a fancy rheostat I would sooner use a cheap "lamp dimmer".

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Thermostat.

Its actually very nice. Not fancy mind you, but very effective.

Its an analogue rather than a digital like many people use. I have two at the moment and both seem to require being set at 2 degrees above the temperature you want.

Petland is where I bought mine! If they don't have one, tell them to get one shipped to the store for you!

All is not perfect mind you. I personally would prefer a digital but for the price I cant say no. The temp probe is rather large and bulky, like a "probe" that might be brought up in the discussion of aliens abducting humans...It clicks on and off which is audible from across a quiet room but in a living room would probably be almost unnoticeable.

As for the Zoo Med devise, a quick internet search would have returned hundreds or bad reviews. I also figured this out too late :rolleyes:!

Quote:

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In the meantime would a "lamp dimmer" like the one you linked me to have a broader temperature control range than the stupid zoo med rheostat's 5 degrees???

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Most will give you the complete spectrum of power to the devise. The issue with the Zoo Med is that the juice getting to your UTH is predetermined based on the Low, Medium, and High settings.

Found it on Petco's website. Petco Zilla Temperature Controller

There are two different ones. The one that is 500w (which is what I bought) only has a spot for one devise to plug into it. The other which is 1000w has spots for 3 devices. I was surprised at their price, $41 is about what I paid out the door at Petland. However I couldn't locate the item in question on Petlands website.

Yeah, all of our Petcos here in SA carry the Zilla 1K but they are $10 higher in the store.
You might be able to take that POS rheostat to a petsmart or petco for in-store credit:confused: I know petsmart carries it.................I have 2 that wont drop below 98 degrees! Though with that rheostat and a lamp dimmer together I have VERY touchy temp settings and can adjust by .01 degree with ease:D:D:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Yeah, all of our Petcos here in SA carry the Zilla 1K but they are $10 higher in the store.
You might be able to take that POS rheostat to a petsmart or petco for in-store credit:confused: I know petsmart carries it.................I have 2 that wont drop below 98 degrees! Though with that rheostat and a lamp dimmer together I have VERY touchy temp settings and can adjust by .01 degree with ease:D:D:D

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Never considered that. Pretty brilliant!

After seeing several folks on here have good luck with these I decided to try one. Only been using it a month or so but so far it maintains temps like a champ. $26 shipped on amazon and very easy to use. It's on/off type but as I said it works and does not break the bank.

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=3372

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigByrd47119

Hello,

I can understand your frustration with the Zoo Med devise you show in your post. Its unfortunately a P.O.S. I figured it out the hard way too so no sweat.

Heres what you do. My recommendation is that you go to the local pet store and pick up one of these Zilla Temperature Controllers. This devise ran about $35 at the local pet store here.

However you could go to a near by hardware store and ask to pick up a lamp dimmer, such as this one found here Lamp Dimmer Switch. There are literally hundred of different dimmer switches for lamps so its simply a matter of picking the one you want. The one linked has a nice little night light, which I thought was cool :cool:!

In the end please save up to get the actual temperature control devise (thermostat) as it will save you a lot of trouble in the long haul.

Hope this helps! I'm sure others will be along shortly to throw in their opinions.

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Thank you very much. We got a $10 lamp dimmer at lowes today and it does indeed have a much broader range of control than the $30 dollar rip-off zoo med rheostat!

Just not sure with what to do with the old rheostat now....I could either go through a lot of trouble trying to make zoo med give us a full refund or I could take it back to petland and claim I don't have the receipt anymore(which I do but it's past the return date) and get an in store credit.(and use the money to buy F/T mice....even though we can get them cheaper elsewhere)


EDIT: I just noticed that that lamp dimmer we purchased at lowes happens to be the EXACT same one you gave me a link to....just thought that was funny. =)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigByrd47119

Hello,

I can understand your frustration with the Zoo Med devise you show in your post. Its unfortunately a P.O.S. I figured it out the hard way too so no sweat.

Heres what you do. My recommendation is that you go to the local pet store and pick up one of these Zilla Temperature Controllers. This devise ran about $35 at the local pet store here.

However you could go to a near by hardware store and ask to pick up a lamp dimmer, such as this one found here Lamp Dimmer Switch. There are literally hundred of different dimmer switches for lamps so its simply a matter of picking the one you want. The one linked has a nice little night light, which I thought was cool :cool:!

In the end please save up to get the actual temperature control devise (thermostat) as it will save you a lot of trouble in the long haul.

Hope this helps! I'm sure others will be along shortly to throw in their opinions.

---

Thanks for the link to the Zilla thermostat. I ordered one from Amazon and it was $32 with the shipping. This is the first thermostat I've seen that isn't more expensive.

I too have learned the hard way that the rheostats sold in pet stores are crap. I lucked out because my heat lamp has a dimmer on it, but it will nice to have the thermostat for when I'm gone for the day.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BigByrd47119

Hello,

I can understand your frustration with the Zoo Med devise you show in your post. Its unfortunately a P.O.S. I figured it out the hard way too so no sweat.

Heres what you do. My recommendation is that you go to the local pet store and pick up one of these Zilla Temperature Controllers. This devise ran about $35 at the local pet store here.

However you could go to a near by hardware store and ask to pick up a lamp dimmer, such as this one found here Lamp Dimmer Switch. There are literally hundred of different dimmer switches for lamps so its simply a matter of picking the one you want. The one linked has a nice little night light, which I thought was cool :cool:!

In the end please save up to get the actual temperature control devise (thermostat) as it will save you a lot of trouble in the long haul.

Hope this helps! I'm sure others will be along shortly to throw in their opinions.

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So...

The cheap lamp dimmer has worked out fine and it does what I expected it would do and I have to lightly adjust it once a day...which I expected.

We have not yet returned the $30 Piece Of S*** rheostat for a in-store credit yet. We were considering using the in-store credit for frozen/thawed mice at first but now we are considering using it for the thermostat you linked to.

Later on you wrote:

Quote:

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Its an analogue rather than a digital like many people use. I have two at the moment and both seem to require being set at 2 degrees above the temperature you want.

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Does that mean that the lowest setting on the thermostat is 82 degrees? I would like to know the lowest setting on the device before I try to purchase it.

Is 82 degrees too warm for the "cool" side of the tank? I only have 1 snake and I am basing wanting 80 degrees for the cool side on the care sheet.


Also we are going to have a $30 petsmart in-store credit when we return the crappy rheostat but that particular petsmart doesn't carry the "Zilla Temperature Controller". If I contact that store will they have one shipped to their location so I can buy it and use the in-store credit to buy it?