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BPnet Veteran
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Re: My rack is almost done! thermostat+probe questions and general feedback requested
Originally Posted by Billy305
Lastly my biggest question is where should I attach the probe? I can do it directly to the heat tape but im not sure thats the exact temperature that will translate to the inside of the tub where the pythons will lay. Do i need to measure the actual inside of the tub and adjust from there or do I just set the prob and assume the inside will be the same?
First, nice DIY rack.
As far as probe placement you want to attach it directly to the heat tape. You will then have to adjust your thermostat setting to get the correct temps in the tubs. The thermostat temp setting will usually be higher then what the actual hot spot in the tub will be.
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Registered User
nice rack, looks good !!! u could pry get away with two rows of the 11in heat tape on the back and do back heat.. that way u only have two lines of heat tape two sets of connectors and two wires... and by looks of it ur rack is only maybe 4ft high so only 8ft of heattape... just a suggestion
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Re: My rack is almost done! thermostat+probe questions and general feedback requested
1/3 of the tub is fine. Break off a piece of plastic from another tub. Tape the probe to one side of the plastic, and the other side of the plastic to the flexwatt. This will give you a better idea of the actual temps inside of the tubs. Use a temp gun to dial it in perfectly. With balls, I like to keep temps around 92 on the hot side and 82 on the cool side.
Also, belly heat is much better than back heat, IMO. I have back heat on one of my 28 quart racks, and it runs at 100% constantly. My belly heat racks, on the other hand, usually only run at around 30%.
Last edited by Wh00h0069; 10-07-2011 at 07:29 AM.
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Wh00h0069 For This Useful Post:
kitedemon (10-07-2011),PitOnTheProwl (10-07-2011)
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BPnet Veteran
Thanks for the responses. I should have no problem chaining 5 pieces of 11 inch flex watt cut in to 8 inch long strips on 1 cord right? I was planning on using 2 power cords, one for the left and one for the right.
Wh00h00 thanks for the tip about the broken plastic piece. That's a really good idea.
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The bit of tub for the probe is a great method I have used a bit of the lid in the past as my rack is lidless design...
The back heat does need more power to do the same job it does add a bit to ambient air temps but not enough to over come a cool room anyway so it really is a small gain.
no you should not have too many problems doing that assuming you ca cut the flexwatt at 8" sections some versions you can some you can't.
Nice looking job BTW!
Last edited by kitedemon; 10-07-2011 at 04:59 PM.
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BPnet Veteran
wait how would the dimmer be used as a back up? can you explain
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Registered User
you could also do the heat up and down the sides like Animal Plastics does on some of their racks.
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Using a dimmer IMO is a not very useful it bypasses the reason why you would use a t-stat. Personally I'd use a second on off t-stat as a back up.
it is easy and requires no wiring.
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BPnet Veteran
Re: My rack is almost done! thermostat+probe questions and general feedback requested
Originally Posted by kitedemon
no you should not have too many problems doing that assuming you ca cut the flexwatt at 8" sections some versions you can some you can't.
http://www.reptilebasics.com/flexwat...att-heat-tape/
I bought this 11 inch flex watt because it specifically said it could be cut to any size and not just 1 foot panels.
Originally Posted by Maddumpling
wait how would the dimmer be used as a back up? can you explain
From what I have read and understand it works like this (Which should work). You buy a dimmer/rheostat from somewhere like home depot and plug all your flexwatt in and get it to your 91 degrees or whatever you need by adjusting the dimmer. You set it just a few degrees higher. You realize that the when the dimmer is given 100% power from the wall side, you need the dimmer at 80% to get to the given temperature you want and leave it there.
You now unplug the dimmer and plug it into the on/off thermostat. So its:
Wall Outlet>Thermostat>Dimmer>Heat Tape
The thermostat works by turning on when its too low and off when its too high. The point of having a dimmer is that lets say the thermostat fails and get stuck in the on position, not turning off when it needs to. This means the Dimmer is getting 100% power all the time now. But you have the dimmer set to your 80% that you found out would yield that right temperature before which means that the temps are going to cap out there, preventing it from getting too hot and hurting your snakes.
I would assume a nice thermostat like a herpstat wouldn't fail but just in case the dimmer should still regulate the power to keep it from going all out.
Again I havnt done any testing and am not going to purposely break a thermostat to try it out, but in theory it should work.
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