Thermostat

Hi i was wondering if there is anyway to wire a home thermostat like the kind in ur house butr digital so it would work for my snake rack. if so can some one please give me instructions?

You can wire a home thermostat to work on a snake enclosure, but it would be much better just to purchase a 'reptile' thermostat. A reliable home thermostat will cost you $40, will take time and other costs to wire, and will not be as reliable as other thermostats. IMO....trying to wire a home thermostat to run a reptile enclosure is a waste of money.

Check out www.mgreptiles.com . Matt has all the good thermostats and wires them for you.

i know but i dont have that kind of money right now. i will just stick with my dimmer unless someone else gives more feedback.

i know it can be done if u know anything about electrical hook up. i also have been wondering the same. i dont have the money to fork out what they want for a thermostat ether. i asked the same question on here a month ago and seems as though most people dont wanta be bothered with figuring it out, and for the price at around 40$, i dont see why its not a good idea. i also dont see why a home tstat will be less reliagle than a reptile tstat. its the same princaple.

You have to understand that if it's $40 for the home tstat, and then plus whatever wires or other parts you'll need to fiddle with it. For me it's just easier to get the one where I don't have to be concerned with how I wired it, because that is far, far, far from my realm of expertise. The extra money is worth my time and effort plus my peace of mind. Sorry.

you can get a really nice digital one on sale for 20 bucks.

It can be done I have done stuff like this just tinkering, but I would never use one for the simple reason of homeowners insurance. Its bad enough and hard enough to get coverage with herps, heck mine doenst even know about my herps, I would hate to explain how a fire started in my house with a rigged up thermo. There are some lower end thermos that you can by for around $45 I can even get you the name of it later today if you like. It has a probe and 3 plug outlet.

sure i would like to have a link and name.

Here is a sad story when you take unnecessary risks. Save up and pay for quality, theres no reason to cut corners when you already investing so much.

http://topshelfexotic.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=10

BTW - if you do check out Matt's site he often puts his products on sale. He currently has some thermostats on sale for $65 (I know it's still more than 40...). He puts sales on his "WOW" page but also has some tstats he has on sale under his "Caging for Sale" link at the bottom of the page. Just a thought!

Kraniumz, man that is sad, I use a space heater durring the winter to keep temps in the room up its always a worrie to me even though I have taken all the nessesary steps there still that what if,

didnt want to offend anyone, i guess being someone who doesnt mind friggin with things, its kjind of fun and satisfing knowing u built or made something. everyone to there own i guess. i will be checking matts page out and watching his deals. for another 20$ i would spend the extra on a tstat.

I have recently purchased a cheap temp controller which came in today. I haven't recieved my heat tape yet which I plan on using it with. I only payed around $30 or so and it is similiar to the bah 1000 sold on bigappleherp's website. This unit only works up to a max of 500watts...which will be fine for running a few strips of heat tape in the rack I just built.

It is a cheap controller, but you never know it may be worth it...once I get things setup and in use I'll have to report back.

one thing to keep in mind is that there is a difference between an ordinary house thermostat, and thermostats sold for the use of heating reptile cages.


house thermostats, mercury switch or digital, operate on a pickup and dropout principle. in other words, when the temperature drops below a certain level the thermostat picks up, and like-wise when the temperature rises to a certain level the thermostat drops out.

most all thermostats used for cage heating work on a different principle altogether. it provides a trickle charge to your heating apparatus and maintains a constant temperature. for instance, if you have a 30w heatpad and you only require 7 watts of heat to achieve your preset temperature, the thermostat will automatically adjust itself to provide 7 watts of power. a house thermostat will either give you full voltage (30w), or no voltage... there is no in between.

so, as long as your ambient temperature is always below the preset temp on your reptile thermostat, a constant voltage will always be present on your heat pad. so even if you have a 30w heat pad/panel, the thermostat will provide only enough power to maintain the constant temperature required. theoretically, it actually saves you money.

for only a few dollars more than your average house thermostat you ultimately provide a more efficient means of providing heat for your critters. and, if your reptile thermostat is rated for 500w and you are only using a small portion of it's total rating, you can always supply other heating pads/panels/tape from the same thermostat. that, of course, is given the fact that the other locations have similar ambient environments and heating requirements.

all you have to do is plug it in. plus you get a handy dandy temperature probe.

just thought i'd share.