dimmers vs thermostat..that different?

[kasmir]

So I finally got my Reptitherm 500 & am pretty satisfied with it but I don't see how dimmers or rheostats are much different though. My temps were all over the place when I was using dimmers..I could understand a few degrees hotter or colder, but I'm talking sometimes 10-15 degree differences. NO ONE touched them, so I'm baffled as to why they seemed to fluctuate so much. The Reptitherm 500 is just basically a dimmer with a thermostat probe that turns it on & off when it reaches a certain temp. Can someone please explain to me why I was having such huge temp differences using the dimmers?

[Kaorte]

If your room temperature fluctuates at all, then you will experience temp swings with dimmers.

The difference between a dimmer and a thermostat is that the thermostat takes the temperature of the heat pad and adjusts accordingly. A dimmer has no way of knowing the temperature of the heat source and can't adjust.

[RichsBallPythons]

thermostat controls the actual heat/temp

Dimmer only controls the power going to the heating device it does not control temps

[Elise.m]

I had to constantly adjust my dimmers when I used them. I have thermostats now and I rarely adjust them. Not to mention, with a dimmer your UTH is on at all times. The repti temp turns the UTH off and on to keep it at the set temp.

[kasmir]

thermostat controls the actual heat/temp

Dimmer only controls the power going to the heating device it does not control temps

My friend & I were debating about this..and I completely understand what you mean but if the same amount of power is consistently going thru the dimmer switch, then why am I getting such major fluctuations in temps? The temp in my room isn't that wacky, I have no heat or air on, no windows open either. My guess is there's some kind of dimmer switch gnome that's effing with me!

[RichsBallPythons]

My friend & I were debating about this..and I completely understand what you mean but if the same amount of power is consistently going thru the dimmer switch, then why am I getting such major fluctuations in temps? The temp in my room isn't that wacky, I have no heat or air on, no windows open either. My guess is there's some kind of dimmer switch gnome that's effing with me!

Nope t hats the joys of dimmers. They will ALWAYS fluctuate temps. I havent had to adjust my Thermostats since i set them the day they arrived.

[BuckeyeBalls]

ok look here

Say ur max temp for ur pad is 120* u dim it down half way thats 60* max for ur heat pad. But say its at 60* and ur room temp is 65.. Then ur room temp goes up to... lets say 80* your heat pad will now be hotter then 60* but being that its a dimmer it dont know any diff so it keeps it at that.

Where if u have a tstat and its sitting at 60* then ur room temp goes up 15* and ur pad gets hotter tstat says woah to hot! and turns it off

Btw these are fake numbers noting accurate just explaining why the temps would go up/down

[SlitherinSisters]

Say you have your dimmer set to 90 degrees and your room is 70 degrees. Your dimmer is set to 20 degrees above the room temp not 90 degrees. If your room bumps up to 80 degrees your dimmer is now heats to 100 degrees (more or less, I've never measured exactly). Dimmers are very unreliable unless you are in a room that has a constant temp.