flexwatt question

[sg1trogdor]

I have decided to just make my own rack. I have one question though can I wire my pieces of flexwatt in parallel like this or does each piece need its own power supply ie, powercord. thanks. Please bare with my crude drawing. lo.l

[ShawnT]

Yep you can wire them parallel.

Scroll down on this page to see
http://arbreptiles.com/cages/iris_rack/iris_rack.shtml

[sg1trogdor]

ok cool I didnt see any problem in doing it but just wanted to make sure.

[sg1trogdor]

lol just found a pdf on wiring in parallel on bean farm heheh

[muddoc]

I have 15 racks that are run in parellel, some have been running for 5 years. I have never had a problem. Just thought I would throw in a little real world experience for comfort.

[Gloryhound]

I have decided to just make my own rack. I have one question though can I wire my pieces of flexwatt in parallel like this or does each piece need its own power supply ie, powercord. thanks. Please bare with my crude drawing. lo.l

Your diagram is a series connection not Parallel! I don't think it is recommended that you run flexwatt in series!

[starmom]

Aren't you supposed to zig-zag on a rack?

[Gloryhound]

Aren't you supposed to zig-zag on a rack?

I don't! I've built a couple racks and found the best thing to do is cut a seperate sheet for each level and wire it to a plug. Then I use a power strip to plug them all in. Pay close attention to make sure the length of Flexwatt is the same. I also try to make sure all the power cords are the same, but I don't think a couple extra feet of power cord would make that big of a difference. Using this method I built a 20 unit 15 qt sterilite tub rack and I can only power the levels I am using instead of powering them all and using all the electricity. Utility bills are bad enough without all the various snake heating elements. Why waste it? We only have 14 snakes and only 4 of the 15 qt tubs are currently in use due to current snake size and the fact my wife loves the 4 unit display also!

[1Mojo]

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

This is how i wire my 17" flex for my 41 qt. rack. I buy the wire connectors and plastic housings that go over the connectors. I then fill each of the housing connectors with 100% silicone.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Gloryhound]

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

This is how i wire my 17" flex for my 41 qt. rack. I buy the wire connectors and plastic housings that go over the connectors. I then fill each of the housing connectors with 100% silicone.

The silicone is an idea I had not thought of. I've been using out of date Resin from work which is probably better, but not very many people have access to it and until it dries it is classified as a hazardous material.

I've tried to use the wiring method in the above diagram, but I found if you have one bad connection you throw off all the heating elements after it. I found buying a seperate light duty 6' extension cord for each sheet of flex watt and then plugging them into a power strip that is plugged into the T-stat is the most versital way of doing it. Each cord only costs around a buck fifty at Lowes, but if you are not using tubs in the rack you can unplug then and save the power. With the current cost of electricity you can save the cost of a couple additional power cords by not having to power extra ones all the time! Also energy conservation is eco friendly!