Controlling heat

[maximum]

Hey all,

What do you use to control the heat from your UTH? A dimmer switch? A rheostat? A thermostat?

Help!

 

[Marc118]

Any of those will work. But with a dimmer/rheostat you will need to keep an eye on the temp and adjust when needed.

 

[maximum]

any brands of thermostats that any of you have found? did you get it from a pet store, or something more along the lines of a hardware store?

 

[Marc118]

I personally use a Ranco. But here area few others I would use.

Ranco
Helix
Johnson
Herpstat ( spider robotics )
Habitat Control Systems

These are all digital.

Then there is an ESU as well as ZooMed one I believe.

 

[koenigsegg]

I do not reccomend anything zoomed, their products are pretty much crap

 

[Marc118]

I have had 0 problems with zoomed. An exceptional product IMO.

 

[koenigsegg]

I haven't used their thermostats, but UTH's and thermometers and hygrometers I have bought from them were garbage. The heatpad heated up to over 120F and then totally stopped working, and the thermometer and hygrometer were totally innaccurate. Luckily this was in the week I keep my vivs setup and perfect gradients and such before putting the animals in.

 

[Marc118]

ANY dial therm/hygro is inaccurate. If you had the proper heat control the mat would not have over heated.

 

[koenigsegg]

They were digital, and I did have it properly set up control-wise.

 

[Marc118]

Then how did it heat to 120? I see that very improbable, and in that case it was your temp control that was malfunctioning. Also ZooMed does not make a digital thermometer.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Keep in mind that there are two types of heat controllers... on/off and proportional. The on/off ones turn off when the temperature goes above it's setpoint, and then turns back on when it drops below. This can give some temperature fluctuation... which is not all that bad for controlling enclosures.

But, for incubators it is important to use a proportional controller. The way it works is when it gets close to the desired temperature, it cuts power proportionally, but never turns off completely. It does the same thing when the temps start to drop by increasing the power a little at a time to maintain steady temps.

 

[maximum]

just for reference, i will likely be housing 1 leo in a 20-gallon long glass aquarium, probably on ceramic tile.

I personally use a Ranco. But here area few others I would use.

Ranco
Helix
Johnson
Herpstat ( spider robotics )
Habitat Control Systems

These are all digital.

Then there is an ESU as well as ZooMed one I believe.

what does ESU stand for?
i checked out some of these brands (the ones i could find info on) and they seem very expensive and designed for breeders. i was looking for something a little less expensive (i.e. <$50 ?).

the zoomed product here...is it digital? does this seem like a solid product?

also, what do you think of this product?

any other suggestions? i'm new to herps, so this will be my 1st time setting up a reptile tank.

THANKS!

 

[Marc118]

I believe the zoomed has a dial that you adjust with.

That one you linked to is just like the ESU.

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=819

 

[maximum]

oo gotcha. thanks marc!

 

[GeckoAZ]

I have the ESU Electronic Temperature Controller and the Helix DBS1000 Proportional Thermostat definitely not the same control but also not the same price. The ESU is about $25 and the Helix is about $130. I do like the set a forget of the Helix it appears to be quite accurate.

 

[LeoMerlin]

Man this is the info I've been looking for, I have looked at some of the thermostats but just not sure which is the best and not as expensive. The ESU looks to be a good choice, if it gets set to the right temp then is it like a regular thermostat for a home that after a cycle it either goes up or down depending on the season? The thermostat at our house goes for a period cycle then during the day it increases a lot (settings were changed so hopefully it will be better), then at night it drops a little just below the set temperature.