Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Tars » Wed Nov 19, 2014 8:36 am

Hi guys,

I need some advise please, what Thermostat/Dimmerstats do you use, do you use them for one enclosure only or for multiple units? I will need something that can control the heat of the heat pad as well as a timer for lights, do you get a unit that can do both at the same time? What would be the best unit to use for multiple enclosures, it would be 5 enclosures that needs to be run of this unit.

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thank you.
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby moe » Wed Nov 19, 2014 9:27 am

Hi goodday

If the temperature and lighting requirements are the same for all the enclosures and you have checked all 5 enclosures have the same consistent temps then i dont see why one can not be used for all 5.

I recently bought one from Rolf a member on the forum @ ultimate exotics which does control both heat and light works perfectly here is the link check it out

http://lizardssnakestarantulas.co.za/da ... ontroller/

Or ask Eyelesh a member on the forum aswell check out his website

Clickapet.co.za

Cheers hope you come right
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Mitton » Wed Nov 19, 2014 9:32 am

I use a few different thermostats, all of them have heating function and also timers for lights on\off.

You can use one thermostat on multiple cages, as long as the cages are the same size, same substrate, same size water bowl and same watt heat pads. Try and use the thermostat on the middle cage.

I use the ATC 300 thermostats, they switch the heat on and off. They are nice and small and look nice. I have had a few that stopped working this year but think they were about 4 or 5 years old.
I recently bought a few of the thermostats that Bjorn sells. They are dimmer thermostats. They are a bit bigger than the ATC 300's but work great and not expensive.
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby BRB » Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:19 am

I agree with Mitton, the Dimmerstats from Bjorn work really well, I think they are going for R650
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Tars » Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:30 pm

Thanks for all the replies guys, much appreciated.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, if I have a heat light as well as a heat pad, I would assume I cannot connect them together for heat regulation on one dimmerstat? So I would need a seperate unit for heat pads and a seperate one for lights?

The reason why I would want to have the dimmerstat on lights is because it is for arboreal snakes, so a heatpad by itself will not heat up the enclosure enough, and a light on full blast the whole time would heat it up to much.
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Mitton » Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:53 pm

Is this for Green Tree Pythons, just looking at your avatar.

These thermostats have one plug for heating and one plug for lights.

Rather use a heat emitter then instead of a heat light, this way you can still heat the cage at night when you don't necessarily want light. You connect the heat emitter to the heat plug of the thermostat or dimmer stat and put the probe under the emitter where you want the temp.
The thermostat will then keep the temp constant.

To save some money and not use a thermostat for the heat pad, put it on a timer, only about R40. Set the timer to be on and off during the day but play with it a bit to get the best results.

You then connect a light to the light plug and set the timer to be on for however long you want light in the cage.
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Tars » Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:05 pm

Great advice, thanks Mitton.

Unfortunately not, I am yet to add one to the collection, for now it is ATB and soon a White lip.

I have always wondered about the heat emitters, do they work as well as a light, give as much heat as a light and how big is the range that they would emit heat to, the same as a light? If I use an infrared light it should not bother them at night?

Thanks for the great info, it helps a lot, sorry for all the questions.
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Mitton » Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:32 pm

I use heat emitters in 2 of my Green Tree Python Exo-Terra cages and it works very well.
I put it on the wire mesh on top and the probe is about 10 to 15cm from the emitter on the perch. That gives a nice hot spot right under the emitter and the rest of the cage have different temps.
After eating, the GTP's will go sit under the emitter or just to the side of it and after a few days will move away, lower and more to the other side of the cage.
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Tars » Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:41 pm

Thanks a lot Mitton, I will definitely give them a try.

I love GTP, will get one soon!!

Would you mind posting some pics of your setups? Its always cool to see what other people do in their setups, do you not lose alot of humidity with the mesh top of the Exo Terra cage?

My ATB is still small, so in a plastic tub at the moment, need to get him an enclosure, but still not sure whether I should get one built out of wood or get a Exo Tera?
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Mitton » Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:56 pm

This is one of the Exo-Terras. The mesh at the top is split in 2 sections, so I had glass cut to fit nicely in one of the sections and another piece to only cover half of the other section. The emitter went on the open space where the glass does not cover.

Image
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Re: Thermostat/ Dimmerstat

Postby Tars » Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:50 am

Thanks for all the advice Mitton, I got in contact with Bjorn for the dimmerstat, now to get the transport organised from there to here. Looking forward to setting up everything.
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