Rheostat - A How to. Warning Lots of Pics

[asphyxia]

Hi Lisa,

Just finished my Rheostat, using your. I needed it to adjust the heating in my BP new cage...It was a snap once I had all the parts it only took about 15 minutes

Thanks Again
Brian

[Lisa]

Originally posted by asphyxia
Hi Lisa,

Just finished my Rheostat, using your. I needed it to adjust the heating in my BP new cage...It was a snap once I had all the parts it only took about 15 minutes

Thanks Again
Brian

Glad you were able to use it. I find you save about $10 off a store bought design.

[Clubkidcarlos]

Great idea and write up !!!
Loved it !! very detailed and informative !
I bought all components except for the cord and payed $8 bucks at home depot ! --- One of my questions though was what about the other terminal screws on the jack,.. would there be power to both outlets ?
Found out that the other set ,.. does'nt matter top or bottom,.. is when running more jacks in series ,.. like in a house. The metal box itself does not need grounding as the GREEN wire you connected from the CORD runs into the GROUND of the outlet you plug into.

[Anole Guy]

What is a rheostats?What is it used for?Thanks.

[Clubkidcarlos]

A Rheostat is a cool little contraption that will allow the user to vary the amount of heat given of by a HEAT DEVICE such as a heat lamp, heat pad, or heat tape. They are available in many pet shops. A usefull tool when it comes to attempting to get any heat source to the right temp for your reptile or amphibian.
A device like this is a NECESSITY with HEAT TAPE since this product continues to heat up with nothing to stop it's temperature assent.



There are some pics floating around here of HEAT TAPE that has burned through , and forshadowed the coming of burned cage material and most likely house fire and lose of repltiles.
SEEN HERE--->
www.arbreptiles.com/cages/flexburn.html

Lisa's way uses a dimmer knob as the means of adjusting the amount of "juice" given to the heat source plugged into it.

[Anole Guy]

So more less i can ajust the tempiture of my Uv light and how much heat it will give off?It is a red light bulb.Thanks.

[Clubkidcarlos]

Here is a pic showing a typical rheostat available at many pet stores :



( cost $15.00 - $19.00 u.s.)

To fine tune your home-made rheostat I would first test it by monitoring the temp when the dial is turned all the way up,. .mid point, and turned down. Make note of the difference in temps, and even make small marks on the dial so you can remember preferred settings,...................... Pre-testing is the best route to make sure you have the temps you want.

[eclypse_boy]

Lisa and Katey I'm going to the hardware store today and I'm making a few. I've bought a rheostat for like $25 and I need a few more. When I say I love this site man do I mean it. Thanx you two. The more money you two save me the more snakes I can get.

[Lisa]

Glad it could help more people. Just a side note, it won't work with florescent lights.

[Big Mike]

I just made one too. Thanks for the great instructions.

[Alicewave]

You can also buy a "Rheostat" like the ones in pet store at home depot for about half the price. They look almost the same except they are white with no reptile graphics on em.

[jadegrasse]

A diode in series at $0.20 will also work well for some applications. They reduce the current flowing to the heating element by half and are tiny. One thing to remeber about the reostat is that they don't control the heat but only control the amount of electricity going to the element. Sounds like the same but if the tank gets external heat from the sun or the heater gets turned up in the room then the element will give off the same amount of power to the element.

Alain

[Lisa]

Originally posted by Anole Guy
So more less i can ajust the tempiture of my Uv light and how much heat it will give off?It is a red light bulb.Thanks.

It all depends on if you're using a flurecent bulb or not. flurecents can NOT be used with a rheostat.

[Burmies]

That is very impressive, I might have to try it sometime.

Burmies

[jwsporty]

Hey Lisa,

Great article but I would like to point out two matters for concern.

1. You should never knot a cord going into a utility box. The mechanical clamp down is there for a reason and if secured properly will do the intended job.

2. The use of electrical tape only to secure connections.

You make mention of using plastic caps but electrical tape will do.

This is a dangerous practice. Even though in this circuit the only exposed wire is the ground wire, it should still be capped using a marrette of the proper size (normally yellow or orange). The Marrette provides a mechanical clamp-down on the connnection.

Electrical tape wrapped around a twisted set of wires can and does loosen in time which in turn can create problems with grounding and shorting. A twisted pair of wires and some electrical tape discovered in household wiring (which is essentially what you are doing) would fail an electrical inspection.

It is better to twist wires together, install a marrette and then wrap the marrette with the electrical tape. You may never run into a problem, but 110 volts running through your body is not pleasant.

I would also screw the ground wire to the utility box first, then with the remaining pigtail attach to your other ground wire and then push the ground wire to the back of the utility box. This simply adds a little extra protection.

It is better to be safe than sorry..