Radiant heat panel question

[DCR]

Hi. So I recently decided to start upgrading all of our snakes to pvc enclosures with rhps and built in led light straps for day and night cycles and for lighting for the plants(going to be bioactive)
I went with the ve 40 watt rhp for my 48 x 18 x 12 pvc enclosure build, I have it hooked up to the inkbird 106-vh PID controller with a 100mm k type probe hooked up to it. And all of that appears to be detecting and working properly and I have 2 govee thermometer inside as well. My temperatures all appear to be dialing in very nicely, humidity is coming together as well however when I measure the actual surface temperature of the rhp it's reading 160 degrees at the moment, I've only had it running for about an hour or so, and I've never used the rhps before so I'm curious if this is going to drop down at some point or should I be concerned, I don't plan on putting any animal in there with it reading that high but I'm posting pictures here as well for all to see
https://ibb.co/4M2ftTP
https://ibb.co/DK0sQmr
https://ibb.co/zfV2KDq
https://ibb.co/Bw0cBbJ

Edit: I have snake shed in there to feed the isopods BTW, it's also shed from the snake I plan on putting in here

[KMG]

I would guess that it should but it will take some time to level out and show what it is going to be hoovering at.

[Jamiekerk]

You can get guards for them if you are worried about the snakes touching it, I have che in my vivs and all guarded. It’s usualy best practice to put guards around any heat source inside the viv. The temperatures will settle down. I usualy give them a week that allows to fine tune probe positions etc and check temps are stable


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[KMG]

You can get guards for them if you are worried about the snakes touching it, I have che in my vivs and all guarded. It’s usualy best practice to put guards around any heat source inside the viv. The temperatures will settle down. I usualy give them a week that allows to fine tune probe positions etc and check temps are stable


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The main reason for using a RHP is you should not need any protection from the snake touching it. I have several and my snakes can touch them all without issue. If the RHP is working so hard trying to create the temps you need for a snake you probably need a larger RHP, or maybe a shorter cage. As in my GTP and ETB cages. They both have a RHP but there is no way they can heat a hotspot 2ft below them at their wattage. That is not what they are intended for though. They are there to create a hotspot on the top perch which is only 6-8 inches away. If anyone needs helping to figure these things out ProProducts are the ones to get you squared away. This is why they ask so many questions when you place an order. They make sure you are getting what you need.

[Hugsplox]

The main reason for using a RHP is you should not need any protection from the snake touching it. I have several and my snakes can touch them all without issue. If the RHP is working so hard trying to create the temps you need for a snake you probably need a larger RHP, or maybe a shorter cage. As in my GTP and ETB cages. They both have a RHP but there is no way they can heat a hotspot 2ft below them at their wattage. That is not what they are intended for though. They are there to create a hotspot on the top perch which is only 6-8 inches away. If anyone needs helping to figure these things out ProProducts are the ones to get you squared away. This is why they ask so many questions when you place an order. They make sure you are getting what you need.

I was going to suggest the same, maybe the 40watt isn't what you needed? When I purchased my T10 which is 4x2x15 I think, ProProducts recommended a 75 watt which I've never had an issue with and maintains my temps without having to run non-stop. The other thing I was going to ask about was are you sure this isn't an issue with your chosen thermostat? I'm unfamiliar with the model inkbird and with the brand ingeneral to be honest so pulled the one you mentioned up on Amazon. I didn't dig too far into the reviews, but I didn't see anyone mentioning these being used in reptile enclosures, and there were some mention of it not being UL listed. There's also some mention of these needing to be calibrated, and I'm just wondering if maybe that's where your issue is rather than with the RHP itself.

[DCR]

I was going to suggest the same, maybe the 40watt isn't what you needed? When I purchased my T10 which is 4x2x15 I think, ProProducts recommended a 75 watt which I've never had an issue with and maintains my temps without having to run non-stop. The other thing I was going to ask about was are you sure this isn't an issue with your chosen thermostat? I'm unfamiliar with the model inkbird and with the brand ingeneral to be honest so pulled the one you mentioned up on Amazon. I didn't dig too far into the reviews, but I didn't see anyone mentioning these being used in reptile enclosures, and there were some mention of it not being UL listed. There's also some mention of these needing to be calibrated, and I'm just wondering if maybe that's where your issue is rather than with the RHP itself.

Yes I didn't see alot of reptile related uses for the thermostat, however the incubator that we have has an inkbird thermostat like the one I described in the op and it works amazingly, I really liked the sleek look of it and so I wanted to incorporate that in our new snake enclosure builds, and as far as wiring and calibration of the thermostat, it seems to me that it is very dialed in, it is a proportional thermostat, I believe you could be correct tho about it being the thermostat because there are settings for the thermostats proportional controller, which by default it is set to .4 seconds, so every .4 seconds it's supposed to control the heat source, which I can change to make it basically whatever I want but at .4 seconds the hot sides reading 88-89 and cool side is 79-80 with a pretty decent overall ambient humidity of 60-80
I went with the faqs on reptile basics, on their website it said a 40watt had good results in a 4x2x2 enclosure but I can see why I may need a bigger one for sure