So I may be chiming in to late..... I like to use ranco's on my racks.... one thermostat will handle 4 times as much as one herpistat or helix..... On the animal plastics rack I highly recomend....
Rancos are not perpetual though are they? I may be wrong lol but I thought I remember reading that.
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The Johnson Controls and Ranco are relay based thermostats. Every time the power gets applied or turned off you will hear the click of the relay. Not a big deal if you have a snake room but if your rack is open to living space its something to consider. Being relay based they are less expensive also doesn't hurt that they are manufactured by large companies for industrial purposes. Lots of vendors wire the cords to them for you (you do have to trust the vendors wiring job) as they don't come from the manufacturer with cords. They can work fine as a basic control and because a relay produces no heat (its just a mechanical switch) they can control more wattage which makes them great for oil filled heaters used for room incubators. A proportional thermostat is a nice step up. It gives smoother heat control with less temperature swing. That can be important once you come into breeding season or of course with incubation. The Herpstat ND model has a built in clock and night drop option. I know many people I talk to drop the temps at night during breeding season and the ND will allow you to automate that. Plus it will track your high/low temps and has a bunch of features tailored specifically to reptiles. Oh, and a proportional thermostat makes no noise when it applies power. I set up tests with a inexpensive reptitemp 500r and got just as good results as I did with a Ranco with a small enclosure. The Ranco gives you the temp readout advantage over the 500R. Of course the proportional thermostats did much better.
Originally Posted by jjmitchell
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