Themometer confusion *now with new smaller pics!*

[Alkaurkharim]

I went out and got that exact same thermostat from Petco for only $10 it was the last one too! But the instructions seem to be missing maybe thats why it was only 10$ >_<

It seems pretty self explanatory though so I hope I can figure it out ok ^_^

I plan on going out to get some outdoor carpet today from Lowe's.

I would put the probes in the same places they are but under the layers of newspaper. That is where the cage will be the hottest. And we all know our snakes eventually find their way under the newspaper or whatever other substrate there is. If you leave the probe on top of the substrate then whatever temp you have it at will be good there, but it will be MUCH hotter under the substrate and on the actual surface of the plastic rubbermaid.

But is this the accurate temp for my tub then? If I put my probes under my substrate and it reads 93 or whatever degrees and it only reads like say 88 is that sufficient?

[gen]

Just let us know if you have any questions about the thermostat.

[Alkaurkharim]

Ok well I plugged in my thermostat and plugged my pad into the thermostat. Then put the probe between the tank and the heatpad. At first the temp seemed to drop then it seemed to rise. I assume this for adjusting? The temp now is at 89 and my heating pad is on LOW and the Thermostat on HIGH. I'm going to check it again in an hour and if the temp hasnt changed by more then .3 degrees I'm going to assume that is as hot as it gets on the low setting of the UTH.

[Alkaurkharim]

Ok >_< I'm not quite sure how this thermostat is supposed to be working now. I thought it would shut off once it got to a certain heat and then if it dropped below, the heat would go back on.

It turns out the UTH on LOW and the Thermostat on HIGH only topped out at 88.9*

So I put the UTH on MED and I lowered the Thermostat as low as I could without the thermostat light going off, and now it has soared to 94.7 and I fear it is still rising. The instruction book is not in here so I dunno if I have to do something else with this thing. It doesnt seem like there is anything else to do other then plug it in, set the probe, plug in the UTH and set the knob.

[gen]

Here's how I set mine up. First I plugged in my heating pad on low and waited for it to get to the temperature I wanted (90) (with the probe already in place). Then I plugged in my heating pad to the thermostat, and then plugged in the thermostat into the wall. I believe at this point the light was not on. So I moved the dial clockwise (hotter) until the light just came on, turning the heating pad back on. Then I turned the dial back just a nudge until the light turned off. This way, if it gets any cooler than the current temp (90) the light and heating pad will come back on. Then keep your eye on it for a while. It may need a little bit of tweaking with the dial to get the temp right where you want it. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

[Alkaurkharim]

Thats pretty much what I did, except when I turned it back just a nudge and it turned off, the temp dropped from 92 down to 84 and the pad did not go back on. >_< I just put my new setup together, which is hopefully my final setup, so I'm beginning my final temp tests. Im about to post pics in the Husbandry section.

[gen]

That's really strange. Did you try turning the dial back up again? Where do you have the probe?

[Alkaurkharim]

yes i did and it went back on and started heating up again

And the probe is between the bottom of the tub and the heater.

[gen]

When it started heating up again did it get too hot? Maybe you're moving the dial too much. Once you get it back on, keep an eye on the temperature until it gets to the temperature that you want, and if it doesn't go off on it's own, nudge it back again till the light goes off. Just keep playing with it. Once you get it set up how you want it, it should monitor the temperature pretty well.

At first I had my probe between the heating pad and the tub. But then I decided it would be better to actually have it IN the tub. I thought it would be better to monitor the temperature inside the tub rather than underneath it. I drilled a hole big enough to fit the probe through and taped it down underneath the carpet (on top of the layer of newspaper). Then I put tape over the hole so that my bp wouldn't try to stick his nose through it. My hot side temps pretty much stay around 90. I hope you can get it to work out.

[Alkaurkharim]

I really hope I can get my setup done. I had to empty it out completely so I could clean the carpet and hopefully get rid of the stink in it. Tomorrow hopefully I will set it back up and have another go. I really hope to get this done and stable so I can have my BP by next weekend ^_^