FlexWatt Heat Tap Question!

So im getting ready to build a rack for some female Ball Pythons. And im trying to figure out how i should do the heat tape. I understand how you wire the heat tape. But im going to end up with 10 Cords to plug in lol. What am i supposed to do so i only have one plug that needs to be plugged in?

Check out this link. This works really well.

http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-ar...heat-tape.html

Thank you so much (:

That's a good way daisy chain them, yes... Though I would make one addendum. Instead of linking them all on the same side, I would go opposite sides. For example, when you face your rack, if the outlet connection comes in on the left side, link to the one above from the right side, then the next one up on the left side, and so on. Bit more of a pain, and you'll need more connectors, but here's why...

Electricity follows the path of least resistance. If you have them all on the same side, with the the thicker power cables twisted together at the connections, it's going to go up to the next level, more than it will go through the heat tape. Only the final one in the chain will get full power. This could result in lower and unstable temperatures in the rest of the strips. If you separate the connections like I suggested, it will follow the circuit and flow in sequence, because it has no other choice. :D

I always thought that wiring in parallel could only be done on one side.

Is it really okay to go back and forth?

In my scenario, no, it wouldn't be in parallel... It would be in series. That is, if a strip in the middle failed, all the ones after it would as well. But that's an easy enough problem to catch, and flex watt is pretty bullet proof so it's a small risk. Worth it in my opinion, to attain even flow. Also lessens the chances of a short.

Oh okay, wiring in series. Thanks, Mike P. I may have to do that. I already have 4 rows in parallel. Should I rewire or can i add on in series?

No problem! If you or anyone ever have electrical / wiring questions, I'm quite good with that stuff. :D

You would have to kill the connections, and rewire from scratch. Adding in redundant connections like that can cause a lot of issues. Never want to have "backflow" in a circuit. You'd have to put in directional diodes (which act as one way gates for current) between all the connections. Which would be even more work than a rewire in this case. Sorry, I'm just rambling now... I love me some wiring. lol

Fortunately this stuff is pretty easy to work with. If I ever get racks, I'll ditch the UTH's and go with flexxwatt for sure. So yeah, just disconnect the old setup, and daisy chain those suckers! :gj:

just make sure when you wire them in series you are not exceeding any watt specs because you will be adding resistance in a series circut...


example if you have five, five foot long sections at 5 ohms per foot that is 25 ohms per shelf total load of 125 ohms of resistance in series

and in parallel you will have 25 ohms total load....

this is assuming 5 foot is 5 ohms i have no idea...but in series you add all the resitance together...just be carefull

Ok , sorry to hijack, but here is what I'm planning.

8 strips of 2 foot long 3" flexwatts. Thats 12 watts each shelf x 8 which is 96 W ... plus I have a couple more strips plugged in so add another 24 W .. My thermostat is a 1000W rating.


Also, when melting the plastic off the flexwatt ... on the strips .... and then soldering the wire to it .... When I did that last time I have had flawless connection but I feel like I made it more work than it should have been. The solder kept rolling off the connection until finally I was able to make it stick to the wire and then hold it in place long enough for it to "catch" onto the strip. I also melted a little bit too much here and there it seemed like, but I covered all my connections really well and have had not a single issue.

Does anyone have a helpful bit of advice for soldering heat tape a little easier than this? Or should I just go ahead and get a bunch of connectors.

There is a lot of misinformation being thrown around, sorry if I seem "mean"

Jessica do not rewire your rack.

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Originally Posted by Mike.P

That's a good way daisy chain them, yes... Though I would make one addendum. Instead of linking them all on the same side, I would go opposite sides. For example, when you face your rack, if the outlet connection comes in on the left side, link to the one above from the right side, then the next one up on the left side, and so on. Bit more of a pain, and you'll need more connectors, but here's why...

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Mike can you please elaborate on what you are talking about so I can explain where you are wrong, either that or I am completely misunderstanding where you are coming from.

I look at the picture in the link posted and all I see is the only way It makes sense to wire flexwatt. I don't understand what your talking about "left side right side" I might need a picture. Sounds like your assuming the "bus bar" on the flexwatt is running left to right of a rack as opposed to front to back. If thats the case I can explain. but the short answer is, it doesn't matter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike.P

Electricity follows the path of least resistance. If you have them all on the same side, with the the thicker power cables twisted together at the connections, it's going to go up to the next level, more than it will go through the heat tape. Only the final one in the chain will get full power. This could result in lower and unstable temperatures in the rest of the strips. If you separate the connections like I suggested, it will follow the circuit and flow in sequence, because it has no other choice. :D

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Electricity flows in ALL paths. They will all get the same power assuming they all have the same resistance. Doesn't matter where the wire connect first. Basic ohms law. I still need clarification on how your hooking them up, but there is hardly any "sequence" in flex watt, you have a bunch of heating elements connected in parallel, connected to common "bus bars" and you feed them with 120v AC some how.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike.P

In my scenario, no, it wouldn't be in parallel... It would be in series. That is, if a strip in the middle failed, all the ones after it would as well. But that's an easy enough problem to catch, and flex watt is pretty bullet proof so it's a small risk. Worth it in my opinion, to attain even flow. Also lessens the chances of a short.

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If you hook up flexwatt correctly it will be in parallel....look at the tape, its in parallel there no other way to do it.

To hook it up in series, you would have to cut out each heating element and wire it that way, which would lead to a high resistance connection and no heating. Also if it was hooked up in series, if you broke a connection, everything in the circuit would stop, not just stuff afterwards. Also what is lessening the chance of a short exactly?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike.P

You would have to kill the connections, and rewire from scratch. Adding in redundant connections like that can cause a lot of issues. Never want to have "backflow" in a circuit. You'd have to put in directional diodes (which act as one way gates for current) between all the connections. Which would be even more work than a rewire in this case. Sorry, I'm just rambling now... I love me some wiring. lol

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first what is "back flow"? and as far as i know redundant connections are called parallel feeders, which I hook up on 13,200 volt gear all the time .... trust me there no issues with it. but I also don't see a situation where someone would do this with flexwatt.

also do you realize we are dealing with AC current (Alternating Current)? It changes direction 60 times every second, what are you talking about diodes for? That would only give you half our sine wave, make it act like DC and screw it all up....again I don't want to be mean, but your electrical theories seemed to be all messed up man.

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Originally Posted by willieshotg3

just make sure when you wire them in series you are not exceeding any watt specs because you will be adding resistance in a series circut...


example if you have five, five foot long sections at 5 ohms per foot that is 25 ohms per shelf total load of 125 ohms of resistance in series

and in parallel you will have 25 ohms total load....

this is assuming 5 foot is 5 ohms i have no idea...but in series you add all the resitance together...just be carefull

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As stated above there is no way to wire flexwatt in series unless you want to cut out each individual heating element. Using your numbers 5 ohms per foot. A 5 foot piece of flexwatt would only be 1 ohm since it is in parallel.

You have the right idea that IF you wired it in series the resistance would add though. however you might want to check out how to calculate parallel loads. heres a nice calculator I googled, formula is up top http://www.1728.org/resistrs.htm

so assuming 5 ohms per foot (I have no idea either), 5 foot piece would be 1 ohm and then wiring 5 shelves together the rack would be .2 ohm total. What I really want to know is what kind of animal your keeping that requires a 5 foot piece of flex :P

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Originally Posted by Jessica Loesch

Ok , sorry to hijack, but here is what I'm planning.

8 strips of 2 foot long 3" flexwatts. Thats 12 watts each shelf x 8 which is 96 W ... plus I have a couple more strips plugged in so add another 24 W .. My thermostat is a 1000W rating.


Also, when melting the plastic off the flexwatt ... on the strips .... and then soldering the wire to it .... When I did that last time I have had flawless connection but I feel like I made it more work than it should have been. The solder kept rolling off the connection until finally I was able to make it stick to the wire and then hold it in place long enough for it to "catch" onto the strip. I also melted a little bit too much here and there it seemed like, but I covered all my connections really well and have had not a single issue.

Does anyone have a helpful bit of advice for soldering heat tape a little easier than this? Or should I just go ahead and get a bunch of connectors.

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two possible issues, not enough heat or dirty connection. Its hard to not have enough heat for flexwatt, so im guessing the connection wasn't cleaned very well. Are you using flux core solder or using some flux to keep things clean? Heres a video for ya on the theory of soldering, might help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4

I don't think you understood my question, im not having heating issues at all. The op however was but you quoted me so I wanted to clear that up. Or maybe I misread what you wrote.

I was just worried I had wired it less efficiently but after your explosion of information, looks like I will be continuing my wiring in parallel unless otherwise specified.

Aa far as my solder, its electrical solder. Im not sure the most efficient way to clean off the melted plastic from the bus bar to make a connection but I eventually was able to get one after working at it. The soldering iron seemed hot enough but maybe not.

Maybe I just need more practice.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jessica Loesch

I don't think you understood my question, im not having heating issues at all. The op however was but you quoted me so I wanted to clear that up. Or maybe I misread what you wrote.

I was just worried I had wired it less efficiently but after your explosion of information, looks like I will be continuing my wiring in parallel unless otherwise specified.

Aa far as my solder, its electrical solder. Im not sure the most efficient way to clean off the melted plastic from the bus bar to make a connection but I eventually was able to get one after working at it. The soldering iron seemed hot enough but maybe not.

Maybe I just need more practice.


Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk

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I was just referring to you having problems with solder sticking. two issues cause that, not enough heat (the parts your trying to solder together) or dirty connection. I guess I should of been more clear since we are talking about flexwatt which also heats up lol. sorry. The video goes through the theory of soldering and how to do it correctly. thats all.

Soldering flux will clean it. Some electrical solder comes with flux in the middle of it, called flux core. if not you can buy a tin of flux and dab it on there.

Electrically there is only one way to wire flexwatt. That is the summery of my explosion. I'm not sure what exactly he wanted you to do, but it wouldn't be any more efficient. Your rack is fine.

Sweet. And im guessing its because my bus bar was not hot enough after your explanation, but trying to make it hot caused more melting .... :(

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so assuming 5 ohms per foot (I have no idea either), 5 foot piece would be 1 ohm and then wiring 5 shelves together the rack would be .2 ohm total. What I really want to know is what kind of animal your keeping that requires a 5 foot piece of flex :P[/QUOTE]

i have 5 ft long shelves and have 3 tubs per shelf so i just run 1 pice for 1 shelf...thats why i use 5 ft long pices...maybe i will check ohms this weekend and report back...

Ahhh this turned into quite the thread! lol. I'm pulling an overnight at work, so ohwataloser I don't have time to address your post in full right now... Not to sound mean, but I think you misunderstood a lot of what I was talking about and made into something a lot more complicated. I'm also well aware of Ohm's law and what it entails. =)

Or better yet, if I have sometime next week, I'll wire up both setups, and take pics at all connections, with a multimeter hooked up. Sounds like a fun project.