Thermostat

[kira1123]

I have a little bit of money, after paying for tuition and books , and I'm planning on getting a thermostat for my two snakes. I've had them on rheostats until I could finally afford a thermostat, but with my class load this semester and hopefully finding a part-time job I can't sit there and monitor the temp fluctuations.

My question is this, would you recommend the Johnson Controls Thermostat-Pre Wired or the Ranco ETC-111000 Pre Wired?

Both are affordable with my budget. Which is prefered, better quality and stuff of that nature.

[Enve]

From what i've seen/heard they are both pretty much the exact same.

[dalvers63]

Both of those are analog (on/off) thermostats. Go with the one you like best as they're the same in the way they operate. I have a Ranco on my Reptile Basics rack and it works perfectly. I've never used the Johnson controls one though I am sure it will work fine, too.

[Westcoast]

I have three Johnson controlls and have not had any problems with them. I used one on my incubator and it kept the temps close enough to hatch eggs. They have a few nice features.........Cooling Or heating mode,Can be used to operate fans to lower temps during the hot summer months. You can set it up so if there is a temp probe problem it will shut off or full on. It has memory for temp settings so if the power goes off it retains the settings. Has a 1500 watt capability..........I have never used the ranco so I cant compare.

[Argentra]

I use both, and I would recommend Johnson over the Ranco for aesthetic reasons. Johnson is smaller, quieter(they click when they turn on and off), has a slightly more simple setup, and a nice indicator light on the front to tell you when it's on.

Both are great and get the job done well, however.

[kira1123]

I just ordered the Johnson thanks for all the input I appreciate it.

[kira1123]

Well... I got my thermostat in yesterday, but I've run into a couple problems.
First, the thermostat reads about a 2-3 degree temperature difference from my thermometer. (I'm using accu-rite thermometers)
2nd, My cut off is at 93, but it continues to heat until 95. (Both reading on thermostat and thermometer) Not really a problem
3rd, When the thermostat kicks in the thermometer reads around 88, but 91 on the thermostat...

Really I guess which temperature reading should I trust?

[Argentra]

Go with the reading on your thermometer always. A difference between stat and meter of anywhere from 3 to 12 degrees is not uncommon, and you want the temp of the floor of the enclosure under the hide to be the right one. During winter especially, differences in readings are often seen.

As for the other stuff, make sure your differential is set at 1 and just keep adjusting the stat setting until your in-cage reading is where you want it.

[Westcoast]

If Im understanding you you set the cut out to 93 but the temp on the thermostat shows that it is on until 95. the lowest differential is 2 degrees which means ther will be a 2 degree difference between set point and cut out. There is also a setting that you can decide cut in or cut out. Sounds like you have set point set to cut in,,,,,,,,,,So it is coming on at 93 the set point cut in and you add the 2 degrees for differental and it goes off at 95. So if you just adjust your set point to 91 it will shut down at 93. Hope that helps.........Also read your info because there is a safety feature that lets you decide incase of a probe failure to turn the load full on or full off. Because this can be used with a heat source or cooling source. In your situation I would set this to turn off in the event of a probe failure. I would rather have a cold snake than a overheated snake. Someone that used this for a freezer would want it to fail to full on and keep everything frozen . Bryan