Dimmers as T-Stats?

I MIGHT need to use a dimmer as a T-STAT, as out of nowhere, no seller wants to ship the Thermostat to PR, and any other solution would take easily over 1 week, and my bP is getting here on thursday!


How can I do this, what brand do you recommend?



thanks

You can't use a dimmer as a t-stat. :P

You can only use it as a dimmer. :bolt:

T-stats self-regulate - dimmers have to be monitored and adjusted manually.

And any inline lamp dimmer should work fine.


dr del

Dimmers do not adjust temps they control power. If you drop the power then the temps follow but it is separate from the temp. This means they work super super well as long as your room temps are completely stable.

Most hardware stores will carry dimmers they are not a specially item. I think I read that your ambient temps were quite high so a dimmer would have to be watched closely. If your dimmer is set to 1/2 power and at 80ºF and that gives you 90ºF hot spot, if your room temps go to 85ºF your hot spot in theory would be 95ºF in my experience it is often higher like 97 or so.

They often need to be adjusted as the room changes my rooms alter quite a lot during the day so in my case they are a very poor option but still better than nothing!

One option is to set the dimmer (rheostat) to give you 92-3ºF at the hottest part of the day and just allow it to drop the rest of the time until you can arrange something else.

I'd offer to help you out with your T-stat problem but i am in Canada and it is likely to be impractical. Did you look on ebay?

Yea, thats what I meant :P


What would I need to do? Just plug the UTH and dial in X current flow, and monitor closely and regularly?

Is it that simple?

Yea, no seller wants to ship the Hydrofarm to PR :rage:, I'll keep trying tho. All for the snake... Lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Munizfire

What would I need to do? Just plug the UTH and dial in X current flow, and monitor closely and regularly?
Is it that simple?

---

Hope you don't mind me 'piggybacking' on your thread here, Munizfire, but I'm wondering about that ^^^ as well.

Just bought an Accurite thermometer/hygrometer and discovered my hot-spot to be 110 degrees F. Indoor temp. quite stable here, so I think a dimmer is the way to go in my situation as well (hooked up a lamp timer last night to go off and on at as frequent of intervals as the thing will allow---in the hopes I could get the UTH to fall and remain within a suitable range---but it seems to wildly swing between about 88 and 105 degrees, which might even be worse than the constant 110 degrees F I was getting in the first place?!!). :frustrate
Vine

Here is a thread which is on another forum that i am a member of, i made one using this and it has been great for me, as well as cheap to make.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19168

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Munizfire

Yea, thats what I meant :P


What would I need to do? Just plug the UTH and dial in X current flow, and monitor closely and regularly?

Is it that simple?

---

Yep. :gj:

It will probably take some tweaking to get it set right and remember to leave it to stabilise between adjustments.


dr del

One of my friends uses a dimmer to control her heat, it works very well for her but she has very few animals. It would be much more time consuming and frustrating to be dealing with racks of many snakes while having to adjust the temps again and again, but keeping an eye on your pet's temp isn't that big of a deal. The dimmer will work, T-stats are just more worry free!

cool, Thanks a lot, I just got a t-stat from a forumite (in process), so no need to do this, but I was seriously considering this!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShelbyCraig

Here is a thread which is on another forum that i am a member of, i made one using this and it has been great for me, as well as cheap to make.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19168

---

Thanks for the link...very helpful!
Unfortunately my wife won't go for the DIY wiring aspect of it, so I'll have to find another solution---maybe I'll pick up one of the table-top lamp dimmers linked to in that thread (which is already pre-wired).
Vine

ok just bought the components, will be wiring it after I finish eating, although I'll go with the soldering route, I don't trust non soldered connections... Modified some of the 'ingredients' to my liking.


Anyways, this will be temporary, as I'll be 'buying' my T-Stat from a forumite soon

dimmers that I use are the ones that you turn and you can feel the click, meaning it went from off to on, then the more you turn it the more power it will let to your heat source. the dimmers that you push in for off / on can be turned off by accident and not knowing until you recheck your temps. the ones sold at walmart are rated at 600 watts. so read the label. I also use helixs and herpstats which I would recommend you still try to get. the dimmer will work but like everyone else said, it's not automatic and needs to be checked on a regular basis, don't assumed that it's ok, take the 30 seconds and check. good luck don

Later on, I will one of the higher end ones. but this is for now (3-5 days until I get the Hydrofarm). I guess I'll be moving on a few months :D

Done!

Bought the HydroFarm... CHECK
Made my temporary Rheostat... Check!


Obligatory Pics!
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._4836826_n.jpg
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6406144_n.jpg



and the best part? It works!