How I cycle my Balls, in a word, Helix

[BoidKeeper]

I got the idea from the Sutherlands. They explain how they use their Helix and the photo cell to control the night time drops for their ball racks.

So here is how it works. You place the probe of the Helix into the rack or cage you want to control. Set the daytime temp you want and then plug in the photocell. Once the photocell is plugged in you can set the nighttime temp you want.
Once the sun goes down the photocell registers that and automatically tell the Helix to change the cage temp to the desired nighttime temp. In the morning when the sun comes up the basking spots automatically get bumped back up to the desired daytime temp. With this device your snake always have a hot spot for the same amount of time they have sunlight. So as the days shorten in fall and winter so does the amount of basking time they have. This helps make their cage a little more natural. With the photo cell there is no more having to be there at sun down or sun up to turn the heat pads on or off. Or if you are using a timer there is no more having to readjust it every week or so as the amount of sun light changes. It just makes life a little easier by automating the cycling of your snake racks. I have two helixes and two photo cells now and will probably get more.
Next year when I move my snake room to a bigger room I will be getting a Helix to control the heater for my room which I will also be hooking up to a photo cell so that my ambient room temp will also be in sync with the amount of sun light there is. In the wild when the goes down the temps go down so why should it be any different in captivity?
Cheers,
Trevor

[Jeff_Favelle]

In the wild, when the sun goes down, the temp doesn't really go down, that is, if you're in a BP microhabitat. Let's just say that the Earth is a HUGE heat sink.

How much is a photo-cell compared to a timer? Because to do day-night cycling, I just put all my racks on a timer. Day time, the rack is on with a thermostat controlling the heat, night time, the rack is off, no heat, room ambient is 70F. Seems like an expensive way to do the job of a $5 timer.

But if it works, then that's all that matters!

[Jeff_Favelle]

Plus, what if you have a rack in the middle of your reptile facility that is shaded from all the other stacks and stacks of cages and the photo cell doesn't get the sunlight, not even indirectly?

[BoidKeeper]

How much is a photo-cell compared to a timer? Because to do day-night cycling, I just put all my racks on a timer.

I was using a timer too. All my heat pads where pluged into a power bar and the power bar was plugged into the timer. Then I got a bit more sufisticated with the Timer cord adapter that Helix makes. It plugs into you helix and then into a timer. When the timer clicks off the helix adjust to you desired night time temp.
There is no price comparason as the photo cell is about $100. You can as I said accoplish the same thing with a timer but the photo cell is a timer that adjust it self. It is one less thing to worry about. 365 days a year you rack is controlled automatically by the helix and the cell.

Plus, what if you have a rack in the middle of your reptile facility that is shaded from all the other stacks and stacks of cages and the photo cell doesn't get the sunlight, not even indirectly?

The photo cell is in the window and is attached to the helix with a cord. It all depends where you rack and helix are located in your room. You have a long temp probe on the helix and the cord between the helix and photo cell can be adjusted too but using adapters and more cords. The cell is suposed to be in the window not near the rack.

But if it works, then that's all that matters!

Seems to be working for the Sutherlands. Will it help me put more eggs in the incubator, well that remains to be seen.
Cheers,
Trevor

[mykee]

I also a timer with the Helix night time drop control, but NOT the photo electric night time drop control. One reason and one reason only: what if the day is overcast and cloudy? The heat never comes back on. With the nighttime drop control ($30 @ www.thebeanfarm.com, pretty much the same price for the photo electric one) If I lived in the Mojave Desert as teh Sutherlands do, maybe I would reconsider and use the photo electric drop, but I don't. I can hook my nighttime drop control up to a $5 timer and set the day time temps, and the night time temps, and at 8:00 a.m. rain or shine, cloudy or not, the heat goes up to 94. Conversely at 9:00 p.m. temps drop back down to 72 for the night, no fuss, no muss. From what I've read, it's more about the temps for cooling rather than the light cycle anyways. You could keep your balls in complete darkness 24 hours a day and just use heat to cue their breeding season.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Also, the Sutherlands live in California. I know I get a lot less sunlight in Manitoba than they must at this time of year. I'm not so sure about where you guys live though.

[Canada_Club]

You would use the timer 365 days a year? I'm not a breeder, but I always understood that you only drop the night temps when cycling/hibernating your breeder animals? Am I wrong? Should I be dropping my temps at night, even in the summer?

[BoidKeeper]

what if the day is overcast and cloudy?

It is very sensitive. It works with very little light. When testing it you have to over the whole thing in your hand to get it to work becase if any light gets in from the back it won't switch over.

From what I've read, it's more about the temps for cooling rather than the light cycle anyways.

Temp is the most important factor. Now my temps are in sync with the amount of day light. They are not cooler or hotter.

can hook my nighttime drop control up to a $5 timer and set the day time temps, and the night time temps, and at 8:00 a.m. rain or shine, cloudy or not, the heat goes up to 94.

All this is is a timer you never have to set. It eliminates the timer from the circuit is all. Instead of pluging your rack into you helix and the helix into a timer and the timer into a power source you just plug the helix into the photo cell.
When I was using a timer I setting it so that it controlled my rack with dawn and dusk anyway. Now I just don't have to reset the timer every once in while.

You would use the timer 365 days a year?

Even though it's hooked to the photo cell I can set my night time drop to what ever I want. So this way as the days get shorter I can gradually bring night temps down by a degree a day if I wanted to leading up to my NTL of 75. As the days get longer I can gradually bring them back up to. In the July my night time drop may only be 5 degrees.

I menthioned above that I got the idea from the Sutherlands but those of you who have the video know that I'm not doing it exactly like they are. They also have a photo cell that controls the lights in their room too. Their ambiant rooom temp also changes with the seasons. Which is what they attribute to their breeding sucess, not the basking spots. Their basking spots are set to DTH of 95 and NTL of 85 365 days a year. It's their ambiant that changes from DTH of 85 in summer to DTH of 80 in winter and NTL of 80 in summer and NTL of 75 in winter. Their basking spots never change but their ambiant does.
So when I say I got the idea from the Sutherlands that doesn't mean I'm using their modle exactly because as some of you pointed out we don't live in Cali. All I borrowed was the idea of controling my night drop with a photo cell and have it in sync with the amount of day light there is. This makes sense to me because in the wild as the seasons change the amount of day light changes. When the sun is down the temp drops, maybe not as much in some places but it still drops.
A lot of you seemed to be quite critical of the idea of the photo cell so let's review and talk about the cycling regime again and stop picking on the poor photo cell.lol
So now that we know I'm not in California and I'm not the Sutherlands and the photo cell is just an overpriced timer you don't have to plug in or set here's what I'm doing.

My room.
My room is heated by an electric base board heater which is controled by a mechanical house hold thermostate.
The temps I am for are;
Summer- DTH 85, NTL 80
Winter- DTH 80, NTL 75
In the hottest summer months I don't touch the thermostate at all. As a matter of fact some times I have it turned off for days at a time because the room is just way too hot.
In the fall/winter I go into the room at dusk and turn down the thermostate to allow the room to drope to 75. In the morning at around 7am I go in and turn it back up again so that I get a DTH of 80. Sometimes depending on the rest of the house I may only get 79, other days I come home and the room is 83.

My rack.
Last year my basking spots where controlled by dimmers and the basking spot where set with my reytek to 90-95. All the heat pads where pluged into a power bar and the power bad was plugged into a timer. The timer was set to come on a dawn and go off at dusk. When the timer clicked off at night the rack got no heat and was subject to the ambiant of the room.

This year the dimers are gone and all the heat pads are pluged into a power bar which is pluged into the Helix. The Helix is programed for 95 day and 75 at night. The helix is plugged into the photo cell which is attached to the one of the two windows in my snake room. At sun up the helix automatically turns the basking spots up to 95.

I'll keep this up probally until January/Feburary at which time I'll start keeping the room warmer at night and set the basking spots to 95 day and 90 night.
So there it is.

For those of you using timers or a helix with a timer cord adaptor what are you setting it too, 6am-6pm, 7am-9pm?
Cheers,
Trevor

[Jeff_Favelle]

Cool man! That's a really neat system, and I think you will find it successful!

For those of you using timers or a helix with a timer cord adaptor what are you setting it too, 6am-6pm, 7am-9pm?

Beginning Nov. 1st (later than most), I just set the heat to go off on the rack from 8pm to 8am. The room is controlled by an oil-filled on a thermostat as well, and its set to be 80F during the day, 70F at night. I do this until Feb. 1st. This is the way I've always done it, and it works for all my boas and all my pythons.

Keep us updated though Trev. It seems that once you get it all dialed in, its a very very low maintenance system. And that's what makes it cool.

[BoidKeeper]

Keep us updated though Trev. It seems that once you get it all dialed in, its a very very low maintenance system. And that's what makes it cool.

Low maintenance is what I like most about it. Like I said though, will it help me put more eggs in the incubator? That remains to be seen.
Cheers,
Trevor