BAH-1000SC vs Reptitemp 500r

O.K. so which one is a better thermostat? BAH-1000SC or Reptitemp 500r:confused:

Neither, if you want a reliable and durable thermostat I would recommend Ranco or Johnson on the low end and Herpstat or Helix on the higher end.

Nothing personal, but I don't like when every time someone asks about a thermostat, everyone tells them to get a ranco or a johnson. Those aren't the only two thermostats on the market. I have the BAH-1000SC, Reptitemp 500r, and a herpstat. The herpstat destroys both of them, but it also costs $70 more. But you can certainly house a few snakes on BAH-1000SC or Reptitemp 500r thermostats. The reptitemp does take some time to get dialed in to your temps and it tends to fluctuate.

I agree. I have been using several of the 500r's for a couple years now without issue. If they are all you can afford, get them. It takes a little more work to get them dialed in to the right temperature, but once they are set they are good to go.

That said, on my racks I use Helix or Herpstat because you can just set and forget.

The Repti-temp 500R has a reputation for failure. If the control fuse breaks, it continues the output at full blast. I had one a long time ago that would of fried my whole rack had I not been around at the time.

I use Ranco, Helix, and Herpstat now and wouldn't consider any of the "pet store" thermostats. Its just not worth the risk.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tbowman

Nothing personal, but I don't like when every time someone asks about a thermostat, everyone tells them to get a ranco or a johnson. Those aren't the only two thermostats on the market. I have the BAH-1000SC, Reptitemp 500r, and a herpstat. The herpstat destroys both of them, but it also costs $70 more. But you can certainly house a few snakes on BAH-1000SC or Reptitemp 500r thermostats. The reptitemp does take some time to get dialed in to your temps and it tends to fluctuate.

---

the reason people recommend better quality stats is because the lower end ones in the case of failure tend to run wide open, injuring or killing your reptiles.a good stat is a key element in reptile husbandry and is not the place to cut corners.it's kinda like driving drunk,most of the time you make it home but when you don't there's hell to pay.

I only have one snake so I don't really want to spend over 100 for one snake...Maybe if I had three or four that would be great...but just one I don't think the ends justify the means of buying a 100 dollar thermostat. Thanks for the info though.

You pick any thermostat out there and there will be people who have experienced failures. Sure, it is easy to claim that one kind of thermostat has more failures then another, but without actual stats to back this up, it is nothing more then someones personal opinion based on nothing.

The reason most people pick the more expensive proportional thermostats is because they simply work better in racks. instead of either being all they way off or all the way on all the time, it actually adjusts the power to maintain a set temperature. This is key to getting proper steady temperatures in a rack.

For your case, with one snake not in a rack, the 500r would be an excellent choice if that is what you can afford.

I recently got a BAH-1000SC and was really dissapointed when it arrived... It's only adjustable in 2 degree clicks...so I can set it to 84 or 86 or 88 but nothing in between. Kinda lame... :irkd: In retrospect I shouldn't have gone cheap. Learned my lesson and won't do that again.

Don't know if it changes things but she's in a glass aquarium. Does that make any one better than any other?

edit: guess I should have asked this first....is there a johnson or ranco around 40 or 50 dollars shipped?

http://reptilebasics.com/Thermostats-p-1-c-250.html

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by travy4911

Don't know if it changes things but she's in a glass aquarium. Does that make any one better than any other?

edit: guess I should have asked this first....is there a johnson or ranco around 40 or 50 dollars shipped?

---

.....check out ebay,there's always a bunch on there.have fun!

If you can't afford a Jonson or Ranco, Either of the two thermostats you mentioned would be sufficient until you can.

If you get the (much cheaper) unwired Ranco, it's very easy to buy an inexpensive orange extension cord and wire it yourself. I consider myself to not be very handy at all, and I managed to do it just fine (I also brew beer, and precise temp control is pretty important there, too). Just be sure to use a decent extension cord for the wiring, and not one of the cheap white ones you might use around the house.

Here's a link to the instructions I used, very simple.

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=40898

Where can I pick one of these up?

Reptile basics has them. They aren't a whole lot cheaper considering time and having to buy a powerstrip. If you can't afford the $80 for the t-stat then just buy the reptitemp one, go to lowes/home depot/walmart and buy a $10 light dimmer cord.

Plug the dimmer into the output of the tstat, set the tstat temp all the way up and slowly adjust the dimmer until the temps in the tank are around 95-98 degrees on the hot side. Wait 20-30min between adjustments. When you get a constant temp bring the tstat temp down to where you want it. If the tstat ever fails the light dimmer won't let the temps rise to a really harmful temp.

That aside, I would suggest a herpstat as well because of the ease of use and quality. I even have that on a light dimmer as well, anything can fail no matter how good it is.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DustinB

Reptile basics has them. They aren't a whole lot cheaper considering time and having to buy a powerstrip. If you can't afford the $80 for the t-stat then just buy the reptitemp one, go to lowes/home depot/walmart and buy a $10 light dimmer cord.

Plug the dimmer into the output of the tstat, set the tstat temp all the way up and slowly adjust the dimmer until the temps in the tank are around 95-98 degrees on the hot side. Wait 20-30min between adjustments. When you get a constant temp bring the tstat temp down to where you want it. If the tstat ever fails the light dimmer won't let the temps rise to a really harmful temp.

That aside, I would suggest a herpstat as well because of the ease of use and quality. I even have that on a light dimmer as well, anything can fail no matter how good it is.

---

That seems like a good idea.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DustinB

Reptile basics has them. They aren't a whole lot cheaper considering time and having to buy a powerstrip. If you can't afford the $80 for the t-stat then just buy the reptitemp one, go to lowes/home depot/walmart and buy a $10 light dimmer cord.

Plug the dimmer into the output of the tstat, set the tstat temp all the way up and slowly adjust the dimmer until the temps in the tank are around 95-98 degrees on the hot side. Wait 20-30min between adjustments. When you get a constant temp bring the tstat temp down to where you want it. If the tstat ever fails the light dimmer won't let the temps rise to a really harmful temp.

That aside, I would suggest a herpstat as well because of the ease of use and quality. I even have that on a light dimmer as well, anything can fail no matter how good it is.

---

You know I have wondered for a while how to back up the tstat with a dimmer and I understood how to hook it up but not quite how to set it up after that. Do you do the same with the herpstat? Just put the herpstat to a ridiculously high temp and dial down the dimmer?

Well you can do it two ways really. Either plug it into the tstat and set the tstat really high, or just hook up the light dimmer alone and bring the temp up. Then plug the tstat in and the light dimmer into the tstat.

I think you could get your temps right on the dimmer, and then set your thermostat to that temp also, that way if either one failed, your temps wouldn't be affected.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tbowman

I think you could get your temps right on the dimmer, and then set your thermostat to that temp also, that way if either one failed, your temps wouldn't be affected.

---

This method won't account for any fluctuation. You need to have the failsafe(light dimmer) set higher than the tstat, up around 98 degrees or so. Uncomfortable yes, but not life threatening.

If they were both set to the same temp and it got colder in the room, the tstat would fail to function(shut off) because it would never be able to reach the proper temp due to a reduction in power on the UTH from the light dimmer.

This way just allows you to realize the tstat failed without allowing the UTH to get up to full lethal heat.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DustinB

Reptile basics has them. They aren't a whole lot cheaper considering time and having to buy a powerstrip. If you can't afford the $80 for the t-stat then just buy the reptitemp one, go to lowes/home depot/walmart and buy a $10 light dimmer cord.

Plug the dimmer into the output of the tstat, set the tstat temp all the way up and slowly adjust the dimmer until the temps in the tank are around 95-98 degrees on the hot side. Wait 20-30min between adjustments. When you get a constant temp bring the tstat temp down to where you want it. If the tstat ever fails the light dimmer won't let the temps rise to a really harmful temp.

That aside, I would suggest a herpstat as well because of the ease of use and quality. I even have that on a light dimmer as well, anything can fail no matter how good it is.

---

Thanks for throwing that out there. I got a rheostat(dimmer) before I got my thermostat and the heat tape was still a bit too hot with the rheostat on low. So I got a cheap thermostat (BAH). Didn't know I could use the dimmer to backup the thermostat, I feel a lot better with that now in place.

I've gone over a year with my Reptitemp 500 without failure. It doesn't have a display to know your temps, and there's about a 4-5 degree F temperature swing with it. My single snake is doing fine with it. I have one UTH plugged directly into the thermostat and another plugged into a dimmer, plugged into the thermostat for my cool side. I have no major complaints other than the big temp swings. That said, I have two Ranco's coming to me because when it comes down to it I feel more confident in the more expensive units. Also, it doesn't hurt that the Ranco is quite popular with the experienced herpers on BPnet. For $30 the Reptitemp does the job. For a little over twice that, you get a better unit (e.g., display, smaller temp swing) and peace of mind. JMHO.

as branson said, a reptitemp 500R DOES seem to have a temperature fluctuation of about 5-8 degrees, which is pretty huge. especially if you live in a place where the ambient temperature fluctuates a lot between day and night. i've used reptitemp 500R's, and they do work fine. however, for my own peace of mind, i would MUCH rather use a herpstat or helix. but like you said, if you only have 1 snake, dishing out the $130 or whatever for a herpstat may well cost you twice what you paid for your snake (depending what kind of snake it is) so if the reptitemp works for you, great.

I would go with what you can afford just spend the $10 on a dimmer, it may save your snake's life!

I found a used ranco shipped for 60 yesterday...I think I'll go with that.