FlexWatt Heat Tap Question!

[Chris Anderson]

So im getting ready to build a rack for some female Ball Pythons. And im trying to figure out how i should do the heat tape. I understand how you wire the heat tape. But im going to end up with 10 Cords to plug in lol. What am i supposed to do so i only have one plug that needs to be plugged in?

[adamsky27]

Check out this link. This works really well.

http://www.herpcenter.com/reptile-ar...heat-tape.html

[Chris Anderson]

Thank you so much (:

[Mike.P]

That's a good way daisy chain them, yes... Though I would make one addendum. Instead of linking them all on the same side, I would go opposite sides. For example, when you face your rack, if the outlet connection comes in on the left side, link to the one above from the right side, then the next one up on the left side, and so on. Bit more of a pain, and you'll need more connectors, but here's why...

Electricity follows the path of least resistance. If you have them all on the same side, with the the thicker power cables twisted together at the connections, it's going to go up to the next level, more than it will go through the heat tape. Only the final one in the chain will get full power. This could result in lower and unstable temperatures in the rest of the strips. If you separate the connections like I suggested, it will follow the circuit and flow in sequence, because it has no other choice.

[Jessica Loesch]

I always thought that wiring in parallel could only be done on one side.

Is it really okay to go back and forth?

[Mike.P]

In my scenario, no, it wouldn't be in parallel... It would be in series. That is, if a strip in the middle failed, all the ones after it would as well. But that's an easy enough problem to catch, and flex watt is pretty bullet proof so it's a small risk. Worth it in my opinion, to attain even flow. Also lessens the chances of a short.

[Jessica Loesch]

Oh okay, wiring in series. Thanks, Mike P. I may have to do that. I already have 4 rows in parallel. Should I rewire or can i add on in series?

[Mike.P]

No problem! If you or anyone ever have electrical / wiring questions, I'm quite good with that stuff.

You would have to kill the connections, and rewire from scratch. Adding in redundant connections like that can cause a lot of issues. Never want to have "backflow" in a circuit. You'd have to put in directional diodes (which act as one way gates for current) between all the connections. Which would be even more work than a rewire in this case. Sorry, I'm just rambling now... I love me some wiring. lol

Fortunately this stuff is pretty easy to work with. If I ever get racks, I'll ditch the UTH's and go with flexxwatt for sure. So yeah, just disconnect the old setup, and daisy chain those suckers!

[willieshotg3]

just make sure when you wire them in series you are not exceeding any watt specs because you will be adding resistance in a series circut...


example if you have five, five foot long sections at 5 ohms per foot that is 25 ohms per shelf total load of 125 ohms of resistance in series

and in parallel you will have 25 ohms total load....

this is assuming 5 foot is 5 ohms i have no idea...but in series you add all the resitance together...just be carefull

[Jessica Loesch]

Ok , sorry to hijack, but here is what I'm planning.

8 strips of 2 foot long 3" flexwatts. Thats 12 watts each shelf x 8 which is 96 W ... plus I have a couple more strips plugged in so add another 24 W .. My thermostat is a 1000W rating.


Also, when melting the plastic off the flexwatt ... on the strips .... and then soldering the wire to it .... When I did that last time I have had flawless connection but I feel like I made it more work than it should have been. The solder kept rolling off the connection until finally I was able to make it stick to the wire and then hold it in place long enough for it to "catch" onto the strip. I also melted a little bit too much here and there it seemed like, but I covered all my connections really well and have had not a single issue.

Does anyone have a helpful bit of advice for soldering heat tape a little easier than this? Or should I just go ahead and get a bunch of connectors.