Ummm help? Flexwatt "buzzing"?? new install. . .

[spyderrobotics]

You are getting harmonics. This happens with proportional thermostats and some setups. The pulsing of the electricity at certain frequencies next to metal cause the hum. Occasionally metal rack systems experience this as well if they have a metal plate underneath the flexwatt. You can change the mode of the Herpstat to NON-Proportional and it will regulate within a half degree and no longer cause the hum otherwise you are looking at removing the foil. I would recommend not to have foil around flexwatt anyway. When flexwatt fails it often melts through the plastic layer. The foil can conduct and carry the current which could be a possible fire hazard. On a rack if it touches the metal the rack is grounded so it should flip the house breaker.

Dion Brewington
Owner, Spyder Robotics

[Steve-J]

Well that settles it, right now I'm running it in non proportional mode, later tonite I'm just going to remove the foil tape, apparently I'm one of the unlucky ones with a setup that is not conducive (pun intended) with foil tape. At least there is a good answer. Thanks go out to all who helped, big thanks to Dion, best customer service and great products!

[RichsBallPythons]

Have you tried using just Clear Packing Tape to tape down the flexwatt. And put the thermostat back on proportional. If buzzing is gone then could explain your problem. As I use Foil tape on my racks and packing tape and NEVER had buzzing unless thermostat was taking a crap

[Steve-J]

Have you tried using just Clear Packing Tape to tape down the flexwatt. And put the thermostat back on proportional. If buzzing is gone then could explain your problem. As I use Foil tape on my racks and packing tape and NEVER had buzzing unless thermostat was taking a crap

It's worth a try! When I get home later I'll experiment to see if there is some arrangement that works better than the current setup. In the long run, if I have to run it without foil tape underneath I'm probably just going to go that route. The more I think about it tho, I'm kind of doubtful that it will make a difference. One if my experiments last nite included holding a strip over the foil, even without being taped down there was an effect. From what Dion was saying, this can happen to SOME setups sometimes, so it's not too surprising that some folks have the same arrangement and it works just fine. Something about the line voltage or frequency at my place makes this problem happen. I could try a line conditioner but rather than spend more money I'll probably just skip the foil underlayer. . .

[Dave Green]

You are getting harmonics. This happens with proportional thermostats and some setups. The pulsing of the electricity at certain frequencies next to metal cause the hum. Occasionally metal rack systems experience this as well if they have a metal plate underneath the flexwatt. You can change the mode of the Herpstat to NON-Proportional and it will regulate within a half degree and no longer cause the hum otherwise you are looking at removing the foil. I would recommend not to have foil around flexwatt anyway. When flexwatt fails it often melts through the plastic layer. The foil can conduct and carry the current which could be a possible fire hazard. On a rack if it touches the metal the rack is grounded so it should flip the house breaker.

Dion Brewington
Owner, Spyder Robotics

What he said. I had the same issue a few years ago and switching to non-proportional fixed it!

[spyderrobotics]

If its what I think it is then its not the thermostat that is buzzing. I believe the noise is coming from the tape itself. The metal in the tape is hitting a harmonic frequency inline with the frequency of the electrical pulses used in dimming.

-Dion

[Steve-J]

If its what I think it is then its not the thermostat that is buzzing. I believe the noise is coming from the tape itself. The metal in the tape is hitting a harmonic frequency inline with the frequency of the electrical pulses used in dimming.

-Dion

Yes, the sound is definitely coming from the tape itself not the physical thermostat device