Up until today I was using Ranco's as my primary t-stats, but I felt it was time for an upgrade. Today when I got home there were 2 boxes at my door. 1 from Spyder Robotics and 1 from Reptile Basics. So now I'm looking at my new Herpstat Pro and wondering what I'm doing on the internet and not hooking it up...Originally Posted by Sarin
The Johnson and Ranco are basically ON/OFF thermostats. You program in the desired temp, then set what they call the differential. This is basically setting the range you want the thermostat to come on at and shut off at. So if you set your temp at 91F with a 2 degree differential, the t-stat will heat the UTH up to 93F and shut-off. Then, when the UTH cools down to 89F it will come on and heat it back up again. You can order these pre-wired with a power strip installed for about $80.00 a piece. If you are good with electrical wiring, you can get the basic model for a little cheaper and wire a power strip in yourself. The pre-wired models come with a 6 outlet strip attached so you can technically run 6 different heat sources from 1 t-stat, however, it only has one probe, so it will only measure the temp of one heat source. This means that all of the UTH's would have to be rated at the same wattage or else some will end up too hot and some may not get hot enough. I have found it best to just run 1 enclosure on one thermostat.
The Helix and Herpstat are called proportional thermostats. This means that they always stay on but they automatically adjust the amount of current going to the heat source to maintain a constant temp. The approximate prices of these are: Herpstat Basic...$109.00, Helix DBS 1000... $130.00, Herpstat II... $220.00, Herpstat Pro...$325.00.
These are all good thermostats and it's going to basically come down to what do you need? How many do you need? and how much money do you have or want to spend that will help you choose the brand, model, or combination of those that will meet your needs... Hope this helps.
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