Wow I love my new Ranco!

[steveboos]

I have spent a long time with the trials and travails of a rheostat and the unfortunate fact that no one around here sells good thermostats. Well i bit the bug and got a Ranco after being told numerous times "if you buy quality at first, you wont have to worry about it when it really matters." Well i bought a Ranco prewired and an IR Temp gun from Reptile Basics and i couldn't be happier. Its scary when you actually see the temperature of a certain surface you "thought" was perfect. Now i never have to worry about my hot spot going from 94 to 86 within a day cause the the rheostat cant do the job well. Now i just have the Ranco at 94 and i get perfect 91-92 degree hot spot and a cooler area thats about 84-85.

I am so glad i made the right investment, you all were right!

[Danounet]

Congratulations!

I wired mine, but Im good at electronics/computer hardware stuff and kinda enjoyed it...

If you get annoyed by the constant "tick" dont worry you'll get used to it and you wont notice it anymore after some time. Well I have my BPs in my room.

[steveboos]

Congratulations!

I wired mine, but Im good at electronics/computer hardware stuff and kinda enjoyed it...

If you get annoyed by the constant "tick" dont worry you'll get used to it and you wont notice it anymore after some time. Well I have my BPs in my room.

Yeah mine are in my closet, so i can cut them off from the rest of the house and the air flow. My other snake is on the other side of the house, so they are as far apart as possible.

How did you mount the temperature probe on your heating element? I used some electrical tape and mount it on top of the ultratherm heating pad, is there a better way?

[rabernet]

How did you mount the temperature probe on your heating element? I used some electrical tape and mount it on top of the ultratherm heating pad, is there a better way?

The heat is going to make that electrical tape very tacky and sticky (and messy). I use aluminum plumbing tape - you can get it at Lowe's, Home Depot, even Walmart (or any hardware store).

[MarkS]

Ranco's are great, I've got a number of them and they work fine but they look kind of like a large brick. I actually like the johnson thermostats a little bit better, they cost about the same as the Rancos but are a bit smaller. They also have an option when programming that if the probe fails, you can select if the thermostat will stay in either the constant on position or the off position, I don't think Ranco has that option.

I like to use duct tape when attaching the probe, real duct tape (as opposed to 'duck tape') is designed to be used under high temperature conditions because it's used for sealing heating ducts. As mentioned electrical tape can slide around and move when the adhesive heats up. The only problem I've found with duct tape is that it maybe sticks too well and you'll leave behind a lot of the adhesive if you need to remove the tape for any reason.

[Danounet]

Yeah mine are in my closet, so i can cut them off from the rest of the house and the air flow. My other snake is on the other side of the house, so they are as far apart as possible.

How did you mount the temperature probe on your heating element? I used some electrical tape and mount it on top of the ultratherm heating pad, is there a better way?

I used aluminum tape like Robin said.

[steveboos]

So you set your tubs on top of the probe? I didn't know if the temperature would be messed up since it would be like a warm cacoo. Currently mines set at 92 and and i get a hot spot of about 94-95, so i guess if i kept it under i would have readings of about 105 when its really only about 95 or so.

Also do you have a problem with the part not on the tub being a whole lot colder than the heated part? Granted the room my snakes are in is 71 degrees and the tubs are a good twenty degrees warmer. But my cold spots are like 76 if i don't have 80-90% of the tub on the heating element.

[Danounet]

Well the probe is in the little open space in between the tubs. What are you using to get your readings? I set my ranco at 95 and inside the tubs hot side under the hide its around 90-92.

Yes the tubs are in my room which has A/C around 78. That is why I replaced the 4" flexwatt for the 11" which helped alot, but still have a little problem with that.

I think as long as you keep the BPs in an A/C enviroment, that will always be a problem. Unless (Which Im thinking for doing) you run a secondary flexwatt for the under the tub cool side around 82. But as of now, I havent had any problems with cold temperatures, If one of the BPs get sick or anything then I'll know I'll definetly gonna have to do that...

[steveboos]

I have a Temperature gun and i constantly shoot every spot i can in the tub to get an idea of what is what. I just found a Target that carries 6, 16, 31, and 41 quart sterilite containers, so i think i might just get 2 6 qt tubs so everything is exactly the same and i can go from there. Right now i just have 2 food rubbermaid containers with a bunch of holes in them. Are those 16 qt in the picture?

[Danounet]

I dont understand your heating question. You get higher readings than what your ranco is set to? that doesnt make sence, It should be the other way around. I dont know if this is the the problem, but remember you CANT use a temp gun in a reflective surface, use it on the substrate in the hot end.

Those are actualy 28qts sterilite from target, the only tubs I use at the moment. When the females get big I will get 41qts, which are the same dimensions as the 28qt but longer.