I think I went overboard on my RHP

OK, so over the summer I upgraded Apollo to his forever tank, an animal plastics t8. He's loved it and I've loved it too, temps have been so easy to maintain and it's just been a dream working with this setup. But when I bought it I also got a RHP and, based on the advice on the website I got an 80w as it was reccommended if your house gets into the 60s or colder in the winter. My house has already started getting decently colder, it was down to ~65 in here a few times already... problem is seemingly even on the lowest setting on my thermostat the RHP gets way too hot and brings his warm side temps up above 94.

Did I go overboard? Should I be ordering the 40watt now before this becomes too much more of a problem? As is I cannot reliably keep it on when I'm not around to monitor it for fear of it getting way too warm in there for my little guy, but if I leave it off too long his temps drop too low. I know I also need to upgrade the size of his UTH at some point, that's an easy one once I get there.

This is what's going on in his current setup if needed. http://imgur.com/a/KhWsL

When I woke up this morning, after running the RHP intermittently yesterday, his temps were reading at 76 hot and 67 cool... far far far too cold. But now after having the RHP run for about 10 minutes his warm side is already reading 92, cool side is up to 70.

He's currently out here with me, hugging juuust a bit too tightly.
So... that's where I am. I'm really feeling like I'm gonna need to buy the 40w RHP and either sell or save this 80w for any larger enclosures I may have in the future. Do any of you live in colder homes? Is the 40w enough? Would the 40w with a bigger UTH make a significant difference? Winter is still a bit off but I want to get this handled right now so my poor baby isn't risking respiratory problems.

You are using a thermostat to run the RHP, correct?


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Yes, I've got two of these https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-RT10-...ile+thermostat

The RHP and UTH area each running on their own because of how hot the RHP gets even on the lowest setting.

**quick edit** and I've already needed to turn the RHP off again as after 20 minutes it had already brought the hot side up to 98. x.x

I think your problem is your thermostat. You would do best having a proportional thermostat that would gradually adjust the power to the RHP rather than just switch it on and off. You've spent so much on a gorgeous cage, RHP and went cheap on the thermostat :)

I have T8 cages and use Pro Heat RHP (88W) but run them using Herpstats. I see some temperature fluctuations when the RHP is heating, but it stays within a small temperature band.


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RHP's are meant to be run with a proportional t-stat. You purchased a rheostat, basically a lamp dimmer. Do you have it set as low as it will go?

Yes, it is set as low as it can go. And alright, I'll look into getting a different thermostat then... is the herpstat the only good option for something like this? If I need to shell out for one I will, but is there a lower price tier one that would work as well? Gonna go poke through options myself right now as well.

https://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Ce...words=herpstat

Would something like this work as well? Sorry for the double post, just trying to consider options. Given the cost of the herpstat I feel I'd rather find a simpler option at first and get one of the herpstats that supports multiple devices once I've expanded my collection a bit more. At any rate got a free trial of amazon prime for the rest of the month so good timing for getting this here as quickly as I can.

The problem with these on an RHP are they are not proportional and have a 2° delta. Let's say you have it set to 88°, it will turn off when it reads 88°. It will then allow it to cool down to 86°. At this point it will crank the RHP full power until it reaches 88° again (although your temp will probably rise above that since the RHP is still hot and emitting heat).

The proportional system are best because they gradually add heat and are capable of keeping a tighter tolerance on your temp.

Will it work? It will work better than what you have now. It's only $30. Doesn't hurt to try it. They make a nice backup in any case. And yes, there are other options besides Herpstat. There's Helix controls, Vivarium electronics, ranco. I've only used Herpstat so can't speak as to the cost/quality of the others.


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Thanks for the advice. I'll grab that up for now and if I'm still finding it lacking I'll go to the herpstat and still have a nicer one for his UTH, so nothing will be wasted except the ones I'm replacing anyway. :P Would be best for me to wait a bit on the more expensive one anyway as my last two paychecks have mostly gone to utilities thanks to the power company... billed us estimates the last few months THEN actually read our meter and slapped us with a huge bill out of nowhere. and here I thought we were just doing a good job conserving energy. ;)

Thank you so much for the advice, he's my only snoot and I never plan on having a huge collection (plans currently for leopord geckos and 2 more BPs down the road) so I might as well spoil the crap out of them.

I think this has been covered but just to be clear, the thing you have is a rheostat, not a thermostat. It simply limits the electrical current it does not read or respond to the actual temperature. As bcr said, it's basically a lamp dimmer. I have a 40W rhp suspended about 14 inches high and I have it plugged into an actual lamp dimmer (arguably a higher quality part than what Zoomed offers) and that is plugged into a simple on/off thermostat for safety redundancy. I generally have the dimmer set to about 80% and that keeps the floor directly below it between 80 and 83. I have a uth to one side to provide the hot spot - it is controlled the exact same way except the the dimmer is usually below 50% and even then I've seen the thermostat kill the power a few times (temp ranges between 87 and 90) Now my boa is in a finished basement so the temps are always a bit cooler, but also very consistent so I can get away with this setup. If the temp of the room your snake is in fluctuates too much over the course of the day and night then a proportional thermostat may be your best option.

Really, do yourself a favor and get a Herpstat. With the money you have spent on cages and RHPs so far, don't cheap out on the most important part. The cheapest Herpstat that can be had is the intro or intro+, which are $100 and $110 respectively. I'd recommend the + as it has a hardware safety relay in case something goes wrong. I got mine from GLK herp which offers free shipping (http://www.glkherp.com/).

Being able to set the temp and know that it will be actively monitored is completely worth it, especially if you have a cold room.

Where is your probe? That info is critical. I have 2 AP cages- 1 with a 40 watt and 1 with an 80- and both are heating perfectly (when hooked up to herpstat) despite being 36 inches long rather than your 48. My probe is under the newspaper on the floor of the enclosure. If my probe was nearer the heat panel, it would read far too high but be perfect for the BP on the ground. You could also use a heat gun or digital thermometer in different areas of the cage to get a feel for what's really going on. I use a jumpstart with ultratherms for my corn cages, and they do go above the temps I set them at but not by much.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by treaux

Really, do yourself a favor and get a Herpstat. With the money you have spent on cages and RHPs so far, don't cheap out on the most important part. The cheapest Herpstat that can be had is the intro or intro+, which are $100 and $110 respectively. I'd recommend the + as it has a hardware safety relay in case something goes wrong. I got mine from GLK herp which offers free shipping (http://www.glkherp.com/).

Being able to set the temp and know that it will be actively monitored is completely worth it, especially if you have a cold room.

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Exactly, and well said!

Here's the deal.

You can have the largest most powerful RHP manufactured and if you have it hooked into a quality Herpstat or VE Electronics stat, it will only use the amount of power necessary to get the cage to the set temp.

With a Herpstat you can even see the amount of power being used. It displays the "Set Temp" and also displays the percentage of power the unit is putting out to power the heating device.

In reality, the smaller the light, RHP or UTH, the harder those smaller items have to work to get the proper heat level depending on cage size. Would you rather have a small heat panel blasting at 100% of it's capability all of the time to keep the temps where you want them, or a larger panel only working at 20% of its capability to heat things most of the time?

If your heat panel is oversized which is possible, it still isn't a problem because the right stat will only allow it to use the power necessary to get to the desired temp.

http://www.spyderrobotics.com

http://www.vivariumelectronics.com/Products.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shade-ilmaendu

https://www.amazon.com/MTPRTC-ETL-Ce...words=herpstat

Would something like this work as well? Sorry for the double post, just trying to consider options. Given the cost of the herpstat I feel I'd rather find a simpler option at first and get one of the herpstats that supports multiple devices once I've expanded my collection a bit more. At any rate got a free trial of amazon prime for the rest of the month so good timing for getting this here as quickly as I can.

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I have 5 of these. They work well. You set the temperature to your desired maximum (I put mine at 90-91 for Ball Python's) and it will shut itself off once it reaches 91 degrees, then vary between 88-91, turning itself on again and off again to keep appropriate temps. Herpstat works differently because it is able to keep the constant temperature. Eventually I will upgrade to herpstat, but for temporary use Jumpstart is great. All of my animals are happy and healthy. Also, I was having issues with my house being cold as well. I have all my reptiles in one room so I opted for a space heater, maybe that would help to up your ambient temps. Or you can always sell your 80w RHP and buy a smaller one.

Edit: I agree with treaux, if you have your set up all decked out you may as well go for the Herpstat. I really wish I had got one to begin with, just because they are more accurate and known to last waaaayyy longer.

I got the jumpstart for now and it's working like a dream. Got it set to 86 right now and his temps have been nice and consistent, shuts off around 88 and back on as needed. I will eventually upgrade to the herpstat but for now this is working beautifully. Yesterday was a good day for him... got his temps nice and stable once more and he got his weaned rats in so he's once again on appropriate sized prey (seriously when will he stop outgrowing them so quickly :P) and will hopefully stop nipping me now. X3 I missed the ship date for last week and had to wait and apparently he was very cross with me/hoped my hand would be tasty...

And for the other questions I do have his probes (both the thermometers and the thermostat now) on the ground, though I'm trying to keep the thermostat purposefully off the UTH so it's reading the ambient temps for better accuracy. With this setup now I am happy to have the 80w, I imagine that's gonna be keeping the overall temp of the RHP lower since it won't have to work as hard, not that he's gotten too investigative of it for me to truly worry it would hurt him. I know when I ran it on it's own it got pretty toasty. It takes up about half the damn enclosure and I was a little worried the gradient would be off but since putting it on the thermostat last night it's been perfect. :)

Now I just need to drill some nicer holes for the probes and I will be a very satisfied snake mom.

Question for the group,

Where do you set up the probe for RHP? I've been following along this post and you've all provided excellent insights. I've been saving to upgrade to the Herpstat 4 up from my vivarium electronics since I need 3 inputs (one for UTH heat tape and one for each RHP) as I have a T8 with a divider for 2 BPs and want to put an RHP on each side. There is a spot for the probe under the T8 so you can set up your UTH easily with a thermostat but where to put the probe to actively control RHP power is what I am trying to figure out.

Thanks for any and all help!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dev_DeCoste

Question for the group,

Where do you set up the probe for RHP? I've been following along this post and you've all provided excellent insights. I've been saving to upgrade to the Herpstat 4 up from my vivarium electronics since I need 3 inputs (one for UTH heat tape and one for each RHP) as I have a T8 with a divider for 2 BPs and want to put an RHP on each side. There is a spot for the probe under the T8 so you can set up your UTH easily with a thermostat but where to put the probe to actively control RHP power is what I am trying to figure out.

Thanks for any and all help!

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You should start a new thread


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Drill a hole in the back- or side-wall just big enough for the probe to come through, and let it hang in the air. Secure on the outside of the enclosure (not over the hole, with a piece of duct tape. In a T8 I'd put it about halfway top bottom, and sticking 2-4 inches in, so it's under the RHP.


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