Baby steps..help?

[Entropy]

Okay, my first rack I did myself however an experienced herper did the whole flexwatt thing for me in trade for some dog obedience.
Now, I'm wanting to build another and have no herpers that I know in the area. It's going to be awhile before I get started but I figured why not get an idea early.
I'll be starting with flexwatt most likely from the beanfarm, it won't come prewired and that's what I'm really really lost with.
Also, must you have the flexwatt crimping tool or is a regular crimper good enough?
So, does anyone have any picture tutorials for idots like myself?

[xdeus]

Flexwatt is pretty easy to wire. If you've never used a soldering iron before, you may want to use the connectors. You don't need the special crimper... a regular flat-faced set of pliers would work fine. Here's a PDF file that Bean farm posts on how to crimp: http://www.beanfarm.com/heating/Flexwatt_connectors.

You can either get their wires, or buy an extension cord from Walmart and cut what you need from it.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

And if you don't feel like wiring it yourself you can ask Rich at http://www.reptilebasics.com/store/home.php to wire it for you at no extra cost.

[slartibartfast]

I just did this over the last week or so, and I'm wishing I'd either sprung for the ofeeshal crimpers, or else soldered the dang things. Using regular pliers, I was too wimpy to get good connections and wound up beating on them with a hammer, which mostly worked but I still have two shelves that are not heating up.

Bean farm sends a little flier that made things clear for me.

Things I learned the hard way:
Wire in paralell, not serial. Serial made sense in my head when I planned it out for the first time. Parellel is less work, less materials, and much easier.

Do as much as you can outside the rack. For purely cosmetic reasons, I kept my sidewalls solid, and ran the wiring down inside the rack through notches cut in each shelf. Big huge mistake. I spent far too much time bent over reaching to the back of the shelves fumbling blindly to make connections. Never again. Next one I do, I'm going to drill holes in the side walls and run all the wires outside, with connector clips so I can assemble everything at a work station and then put it in place.

Also...those little bitty plastic insulating covers are much bigger than they look; allow for 1/2" of extra shelf length for each one. If they come apart again once snapped together, I've yet to find the trick. When some of my connections turned out dodgy, I wound up hammering at them with pliers (blindly, at the back of the shelf, on my knees at an awkward angle) until they smashed enough that I could pry them apart and get at the connection. They are sturdier than they look as well.

Had I run the wiring externally, I could have just unplugged that section of flexwatt, moved it to a work area, and corrected the problem...as it was, it was a huge PITA to fix, and I still haven't gone back to tinker with the bottom two shelves.

And with the bulkiness of the plastic insulators, I'm wishing I'd soldered the connections instead. I saw a FAQ on it, but was too intimidated by inexperience to feel comfortable trying it. In retrospect, it would have made a much tider and more secure connection.

[Entropy]

LOL Sounds like an adventure Jess. I'll keep all that in mind. And thank you GA and Lawrence for your posts as well.
I admit it, I'm intimidated by the thought of doing this flexwatt thing all by myself.

[Flagg]

I'm cheap so I went with a 7.99 soldering iron kit from Radio Shack rather than the clips. Came with the solder and a heat sink which helped keep me from melting all my flexwatt trying to get it soldered properly.

There's a definite learning curve if you haven't done much ( or any) cable soldering. I had to re-solder one piece a couple times because my original soldering attempts came loose, but I have the process down pretty well now.

For cheap cables I went to Dollar Tree, they have beautiful dark green Sunbeam brand extension cords for $1. For insulation and solder covering I used electrical tape.

I currently use the flexwatt 4" cut to basically UTH sized pieces and foil taped to the bottom of my tubs. So I ended up spending maybe $3.00 per "uth" rather than $22 at Petco or PetSmart or $12 plus shipping online.
I have a new AP rack coming in a couple weeks, I can't wait.