Heat Tape Wireing

[Purrrfect9]

Ok, so I'm thinking about building my first rack over the summer to make room for some snakes that I plan on buying. I understand how you make the basic frame of the rack, and the shelves, but the FW wireing just confuses the heck out of me. First off, how many feet should i buy for ten 41 qt tubs? And then how exactly do you go about wireing it? I'm so confused, lol. I've built things before, but I've never had to mess with anything electronic. I've read the DIY from Bailey's website (correct me if im wrong here, srry) but i'm still not 100% clear on how to do it. thanks for the advice/help!

[lord jackel]

41qt tubs are about 17 3/4" across so you will need about 18" for each shelf (but you should measure exactly what your shelves come out to). If you order from Rich at Reptile Basics he will wire them each piece for you so all you have to do is plug them into your thermostat.


You can use Aluminum tape to mount the flexwatt to the shelf.

[Krazy99CL]

its hard at first but its sooo simple....let me draw you up a diagram...brb

[Krazy99CL]

alright this is how I wired mines. hope this helps. sort of a mess but hopefully you get the idea.

[lord jackel]

alright this is how I wired mines. hope this helps. sort of a mess but hopefully you get the idea.

Nice Diagram...Just one point of clarification you are only wiring one end of the flexwatt. The image above makes it look like you are wiring end to end, but you are only wiring the same end of each piece (the other end you will put a piece of tape over the terminals). Here is a link to the Calorique flexwatt wiring guide (the company that makes Flexwatt)...just so it is clear

http://www.beanfarm.com/heating/Flexwatt_parallel.pdf

[Ginevive]

I have never wired it myself. I bought some for my incubator from Reptile Basics and asked Rich to wire it, which he did. I would take advantage of their free wiring service.

[Tony25]

I buy the $1 cords from the dollar store and use a solder gun to melt the plastic where i will connect the wires and just solder them on. Then cover with electrical tape to insulate it.