Also how many watts of the CHE? I would buy two as you said it's a better controlling.
and any dimmer would work?
Originally Posted by Annarose15
With how close you are in temps, I wouldn't necessarily bother with the UTH. The first thing I would do is grab an infrared temp gun to get your real temperatures. The analogs sticking on the glass won't tell you what your temperature is directly under the light on the substrate. Once you know your temps, I would still replace the light with one (or more) CHEs so you don't have to worry about light. The reason I would wait until you know the temps is that will help you determine what wattage you should get (100W like the lamp, or higher). When choosing wattage, keep in mind that you don't want it running at full power at all times to achieve your temps. You need some room to adjust up or down based on the temp of the room (winter vs. summer). A thermostat is even better than a dimmer for the CHE, if you're willing to spend the $$.
I really can't answer as to what dimmer would work, because I use thermostats, but I know they have lamp dimmers at places like Home Depot. The downside to a dimmer is that you have to adjust it manually if the room temperature changes. The links I provided above go straight to a list of temp guns on Ebay and the website that sells Herpstat thermostats. You could also look at a Hydrofarm thermostat (found on Amazon), which isn't nearly as stable, but is cheaper than a Herpstat.
I really can't answer as to what dimmer would work, because I use thermostats, but I know they have lamp dimmers at places like Home Depot. The downside to a dimmer is that you have to adjust it manually if the room temperature changes. The links I provided above go straight to a list of temp guns on Ebay and the website that sells Herpstat thermostats. You could also look at a Hydrofarm thermostat (found on Amazon), which isn't nearly as stable, but is cheaper than a Herpstat.
I'm determined to make this work! Thank you very much!
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Originally Posted by reptilesbeforemammal
With how close you are in temps, I wouldn't necessarily bother with the UTH. The first thing I would do is grab an infrared temp gun to get your real temperatures. The analogs sticking on the glass won't tell you what your temperature is directly under the light on the substrate. Once you know your temps, I would still replace the light with one (or more) CHEs so you don't have to worry about light. The reason I would wait until you know the temps is that will help you determine what wattage you should get (100W like the lamp, or higher). When choosing wattage, keep in mind that you don't want it running at full power at all times to achieve your temps. You need some room to adjust up or down based on the temp of the room (winter vs. summer). A thermostat is even better than a dimmer for the CHE, if you're willing to spend the $$.
