Placement of thermometer

[jglass38]

I use Aspen with all my balls. Should I be aiming for the 90-95 temp at the hot spot on the surface of the aspen or the plastic surface of the rubbermaid? I would have figured Aspen surface but they often move the Aspen aside and end up on the bare plastic (which with an Aspen surface of 90 gets to about 107). Thoughts?

[TheMan]

A surface temp of 107degrees is way to high. I would remove the aspen over the hot spot and decrease it to 90-95. Just my .02

Sam

[jglass38]

Makes sense. I stuck the thermometer probe directly on the surface and cut the temp down to around 93-95. Then if some aspen happens to cover the surface it should still be between 88-90 on the hot spot. Thanks!

[BoidKeeper]

Unless you have a thermostat or rheostat I would lay down newspaper first and then the aspen on top so that even if it buries itself under the aspen it will still have a layer of newspaper bewteen it and the heat pad.
Cheers,
Trevor

[jglass38]

I have a rheostat for the 2 breeders (right now they are separated) and it is still not functioning correctly. I am going to pick up a thermostat right now.

[mykee]

That's the problem with loose substrate. Chances are they'll bury into the substrate, and burn themselves on the bottom surface if the temp your recording is the substrate temp. Tricky scenario. I woudl definitely agree with Trevor and second the newspaper on the bottom and use that as your temp gauge.

[jglass38]

I went out and got a thermostat. Looks like things are holding steady now. I spent all day adjusting it but it now seems to go on when the temp drops to 89-90 and goes off around 92-93. I think things are ok.

[BoidKeeper]

Cool, what kind did you get?
Cheers,
Trevor

[jglass38]

Zoo Med with a probe. Reptitemp 500R I think it is called? Seems to be doing the job so far. The only prob is that after it shuts off the heating pad the temp continues to go up for a bit on the thermometer so I need to keep it set lower. There is definitely some temperature fluctuation between around 88 and 93. I dont know why it cant keep it at a solid temp

[rwg]

because it's not proportional. You need to pay bigger bucks to get a decent one if you want really constant temps.

Roy

[jglass38]

Understood. What is the best deal on a proportional? Helix?

[rwg]

I'll let someone else answer that as I dont have any thermostats. I've had good success with reostats. The thing about reostats is that they will give you a hot spot that is ambient + N at any given setting. If your room temp is constant, your hot spot should be constant once you get it adjusted properly. My ambient is pretty constant, so my hot spot is as well. I get a nice 10 degree C gradient all the time. As soon as I get a space heater with a night-time drop, I'll be completely happy with my heat setup.

Roy

[mykee]

I have 6 Helix's in use and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a quality proportional thermostat. There are others out there, but I'll continue to sing the praises of Helix to anyone that will listen

[honduranfreekk]

I use the Habitat Controll System 4 bank and Just LOVE it.Hey mykee dont you use one also?

Kelvin@Brigitte

[mykee]

Kelvin; nope Helix DBS-1000's all the way for me Boss.