Rheostats

[Auskan]

So I printed off the "how-to" guide to building your own rheostat, and went out and bought all the items I needed and made one this afternoon. BUT - at Wal-mart, they have a table top lamp dimmer that is basically a rheostat, just not marketed as such. It is under $10 (US) (like, $9.84 or something). Anyway, I was in the mood to try something new and have never done anything like electrical stuff before, so I went ahead and got what I needed, but realized when I got home that by the time I bought the electrical box, dimmer, extension cord & face plate (not essential maybe, but I agree it looks nicer), I had spent about the same as I would have spent on the ready-made one at Wal-mart. So for anyone without the time or inclination to go the "lamp dimmer" method, just wanted to let you know that Wal-mart has another option available. The only thing that sets it apart from a $30 dollar Rheostat from a petstore is that it only has one outlet, but I would guess you could plug an adapter into it so that it could accept 2 or 3 heat pads.