Heating tape trouble

CDN-Cresties · 07-05-04, 03:36 PM

I have been having a difficult time keeping my temps between 90-95 degrees. My rheostat on the lowest possible setting produces temps around 100. Is it safe to place a piece of cardboard between the heat tape and the rubbermaid to insulate some of the heat? Im open to any suggestions. Thanks

justinO · 07-05-04, 03:53 PM

I would put something inbetween for sure...... don't know if i'd use cardboard, but something along those lines that can have lots of heat on it and never burst into flames!

Experiment with different materials till your temps are just right and everything should be fine

Jessy

smeagel · 07-05-04, 04:44 PM

what i use between my rubermaids and my heat source is a piece of particle board.

snakehunter · 07-05-04, 05:00 PM

Styrofaom?

smeagel · 07-05-04, 05:17 PM

styrofoam will melt eventually.

snakehunter · 07-05-04, 05:34 PM

oh, I use towels, like hand rags and such. You can get them bulk at walmart, 15 for $2 or some thing like that

munchy · 07-05-04, 05:36 PM

lol back in the day i used old magazines. nothing ever happened, but looking back now that might not have been the best idea. i dont know what size heat tape and what type of rheostat you are using, but the one made from a simple light dimmer seems to work quite well.

jfmoore · 07-05-04, 05:57 PM

Hi Steve -

I’ve heard that some dimmers/rheostats don’t work properly if there is not enough load on them. So maybe your heat tape is too low wattage. Just a guess.

Instead of covering up the heat tape with something directly on top of it, you might consider elevating your cage just a bit to provide an air space to dissipate some of the heat. You could use just about anything to shim it up, like strips of wood.

-Joan

mykee · 07-05-04, 06:03 PM

I would buy a new proportional thermostat, one that can regulate lower temps. Helix DBS-1000 works great for me, I have 7 in use right now, and I can keep temps as low as 65 and as high as 120 constant. If you are going to keep what you've got and want to alter it's setup, As Joan mentioned, air is the best buffer; not styrofoam, cardboard, papermache or even wood. Air. Move your tape farther away from the rubbermaid. Simple.

CDN-Cresties · 07-05-04, 06:05 PM

How much is a Helix DBS-1000 ?

munchy · 07-05-04, 06:13 PM

theyre a bit pricey. between 100 and 150 i think...

what id like to know is how many heat sources can you run off of one helix? just one? or can you run multiple enclosures off one?

jfmoore · 07-05-04, 07:35 PM

Munchy – What you need to consider is not the number of heat sources you can run off of any controller, it is the total wattage that any controller is rated to handle. So with a Helix Basic System, you could run 500 watts; with a Big Apple proportional thermostat you can run 300 watts maximum. Each of these has power modules you could add to handle higher wattage, but it usually is more economical to just buy another thermostat. So, you would just add up the wattage of all the heat sources you want to plug into any one controller, and that would be your guide. But bear in mind, you still only get ONE temperature probe per unit, and you really don’t want to run THAT many cages off of one unit, since temperatures can vary from once location to another, different species have different requirements, etc.

-Joan

justinO · 07-05-04, 09:12 PM

that's kinda what i ment, for us before we got our good dimmers ($9.99 at ikea!!!) we built up pieces of flat rock on each side to put airflow between the enclosure & heat tape.

munchy · 07-05-04, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jfmoore
Munchy – What you need to consider is not the number of heat sources you can run off of any controller, it is the total wattage that any controller is rated to handle. So with a Helix Basic System, you could run 500 watts; with a Big Apple proportional thermostat you can run 300 watts maximum. Each of these has power modules you could add to handle higher wattage, but it usually is more economical to just buy another thermostat. So, you would just add up the wattage of all the heat sources you want to plug into any one controller, and that would be your guide. But bear in mind, you still only get ONE temperature probe per unit, and you really don’t want to run THAT many cages off of one unit, since temperatures can vary from once location to another, different species have different requirements, etc.

-Joan

yea thats kinda what i was wondering. i bought an esu reptile rheostat the other day with a probe and three outlets so i figured i could run three enclosures off it. what i didnt realize was that the rheostat works by adjusting the temps according to what the probe says. so you can really only heat one enclosure with it.

so i was just wondering if the helix works the same way.

latazyo · 07-05-04, 10:06 PM

uhhh...huhet