Where do you place your thermostat probe?

[JLC]

Does it have to be foil tape? Or can you use duct or black electric?

I'm in the same area as liam_rokocoko; I'm getting a Johnsons thermostat soon, and using Flexwatt. I can tape the flexwatt to the surface I'm putting my tub on, then tape the probe to the flexwatt (the probe should be on top of the flexwatt, but underneath the tub, right? Because some of the flexwatt will be sticking out from the tub, in the open), put the tub on top of it, then just set the temperature to whatever it takes to get 83-93 in the tub, correct? So basically I can just lift the tub up to clean or whatever without having to drag a thermostat and flexwatt with me.

[JLC]

I like foil tape. It is an excellent adhesive tape. Electrical tape will fall off. You want to make sure that probe isn't dislodged from the heating element.

[JLC]

Alright, I will get foil tape.

So does my description sound okay?

[jason221]

...that was weird.

[West Coast Jungle]

I put the probe directly on the heat tape but what I also do is use a digital thermometer with a probe and tape the probe on the bottom of the enclosue directly over the heat source so i get a reading from my thermostat and an actual reading from my thermometer of what is going on in the snakes hot spot. The digital thermometers also have a high and low reading which i use to monitor adjust the thermostat. some also come with humidity hi-lo too which is helpful. I tape the themometer to the front of my tubs so i can see the temps at a glance.

[spyderrobotics]

My vote is inside the enclosure taped to the back or bottom. Of course my breeder buddy tapes them to his flexwatt and it works for him. So I suppose it depends on the enclosure and room variables. I have had better results with the probes inside the enclosure because that is what I want to monitor the temp on. It doesn't make sense to me to monitor the temp of the heating device when that completely changes after you count in airflow around the enclosure, thickness and type of material the enclosure is made out of and the constantly changing ambient temperature. If your flex watt is set at 95 and it reaches 95 degrees the heat inside the enclosure will definately still change in reaction to the ambient temperature changes. If it goes up 5 degrees in the room it could very well go up 5 in the enclosure. The thermostat won't adjust for that because it is keeping the flexwatt at its set temperature. If the probe is inside the enclosure (on the side closest to the heat source) I have found that the stat can do what its meant to do and that is keep the environment at the temperature necessary. Also if taped to the flexwatt sometimes you will see some wild swings (overshoots and undershoots by a degree or two) as it is stabilizing temps for the first couple of hours. With all that being said my buddy and I still happily disagree and apparently both ways can be implemented with success as his business thrives. Thats my story and I am stickin' to it.

Dion Brewington
Owner, Spyder Robotics

[jotay]

I was speaking to Jeff from Boaphile plastics today concerning the rack I ordered and the T-stat probe placement and he came up with something I never really thought about but was a legit concern.
Everyone seems to use foil tape to tape their probes to the flex or heat cable.
Foil tape conducts electricity. If you would ever have a small hole or opening in the flex or heat cable it could cause a problem w/ foil tape. He suggested and uses clear packing tape to hold probes in place.
Just a thought.

[Rapture]

Mine is taped directly to the flexwatt, and then I use a separate thermometer to measure the temps in the tubs.

[clemson8791]

what if i use a che and uth to heat my tank, where should the probe go then? I want to control both of those heat sources. It seems like I want the stat to keep a constant temp where the snake will be laying. So i should place the stat probe near or in the hot side hide. Does this make any sense? I have a johnson control stat with a 6 plug power strip.

[tmlowe5704]

I was speaking to Jeff from Boaphile plastics today concerning the rack I ordered and the T-stat probe placement and he came up with something I never really thought about but was a legit concern.
Everyone seems to use foil tape to tape their probes to the flex or heat cable.
Foil tape conducts electricity. If you would ever have a small hole or opening in the flex or heat cable it could cause a problem w/ foil tape. He suggested and uses clear packing tape to hold probes in place.
Just a thought.

That is what I use to tape my FW down to the rack. The main reason I used it was because it is thin.