You know me too well
Dimming Thermostat and why I love it!
- Thread starter Beman
- Start date
Yeah I believe you are speaking about the on/off thermostats. They work best for heat pads and not lighting. This is a dimming thermostat not an on/off thermostat. Quite a bit more expensive but they are designed to work with lighting/heating or humidity. Although I am not sure if halogen would work with these. I use incandescent bulbs. Here is the link for the one I am using. https://www.spyderrobotics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=26I loved using these for under tank heating. Just put the probe on the pad and be done.
I did have 2 problems with these:
1) they do not work with halogens. Well no halogen works with a dimmer, no mater how fancy. They end up running too cool and the halogen cycle doesnt start, and you end up with a black bulb with a short life.
2) they have a HUGE resistor in them that gets very hot. Its only a few watts, but a few watts into a single resistor, that has no cooling, is not good. I ended up having to replace and resolder the resistor after a few years. And i modified it with a few air holes. But then you have splash problems
Kev I am still in love with it. So happy that you posted that thread. It really has been a blessing for me to have this.
SharpShooter
Avid Member
Still not enough people taking up the mantle. I recommended them earlier in a pm re Q's on a new setup.
Yeah I don't think people think about the fact that when the ambient temp rises your basking fixture is still blasting heat... I like that it is great for any time of year. If it is cold in the room it adjusts up. I do run a 100 watt bulb in mine so that it has the max ability to blast the 85 degrees if needed. It was not reaching full temp with a 75 watt. Probably due to the fact that I have my basking fixture raised and hooked into a stand above the screen.
nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
No im talking about the $100 + ones. I even had the old school "white" rev one of the spyders back in the 1990s. They regulate voltage instead of just ON/OFF. But you can not "dim" certain things like leds, halogens, fluorescent etc. But they are great for house bulbs and reptiletape etc.
I feel sorry for the poor chams with the "On/OFF" thermostats LOL
I kinda feel bad for my tegu, its got 4 halogens in a row, and cycle them on and off in hourly intervals. So when he comes up to bask, he may be waiting a few.
I don't know. I find these to be amazing for my needs.. Most use the incandescent bulbs and or the basking bulbs. So these are great for those.No im talking about the $100 + ones. I even had the old school "white" rev one of the spyders back in the 1990s. They regulate voltage instead of just ON/OFF. But you can not "dim" certain things like leds, halogens, fluorescent etc. But they are great for house bulbs and reptiletape etc.
I feel sorry for the poor chams with the "On/OFF" thermostats LOL
I kinda feel bad for my tegu, its got 4 halogens in a row, and cycle them on and off in hourly intervals. So when he comes up to bask, he may be waiting a few.
My only complaint is that the instruction manual was a joke. It was not thorough at all on describing the many settings. They have a replaceable fuse... I have no clue what that is and they don't even talk about it in the instructions..
nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
Ah, that is an easy one. The unit is rated for 1000-1500 watts. So if you plug in say 5 500 watt heaters for cages. This works for summer/fall, because it only sends say 500-1000 watts to the heaters, thats all it takes to keep the cages warm. The say it winter you hit a cold spell, the thing will try to send full power to your heaters, which is 2500 watts, and the fuse will pop.
And here is the good part. The fuse is replaceable. You just open the lid and replace the blown fuse. If the fuse was non replaceable, like in dvd player 1) you would have a hard time finding the fuse 2) you would have to have a soldering iron to replace the fuse.
Ok, so if all I am running on my unit is two basking fixtures that have 100 watt bulbs then I should not blow a fuse right?
nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
Correct. 900 total watt output for the Herpstat 2 (500W max per output)
So you could plug in 4 100 watt bulbs into each "plug" and not blow the fuse. But if you plug in a 500 watt bulb/heater into each plug, you will blow the fuse.
Perfect thank you for that info.
Zeyna04
Member
Sorry I’m a noobie to this but I’m struggling to find a way to put the sensor/temperature probe into the enclosure. I have a Reptibreeze Mesh Enclosure and I can’t find a way to feed the wire through. Do you recommend I make a small hole in the mesh to feed the wire through? Thank you.So recently @SharpShooter posted about these. I had no idea they existed. As a new keeper I was consistently adjusting my dimming heat fixture to keep my guy at the appropriate 85 degrees. This stressed me out to no end and to the point where I cancelled a work trip. You see the ambient temp of my house changes dramatically over the course of a day. So if the ambient temp goes up your chams enclosure level goes up with it and your basking fixture is still producing the same amount of heat output making it even hotter.
I would find temp jumps to 94 degrees on warm sunny days and when we would have to run the heat I would see the same issues. Therefor I was essentially baking Beman. Which is no bueno. So again I was always checking his basking temp and making adjustments.
I just got my dimming thermostat and have been using it for 24 hours. I am pretty much absolutely in love with this product. It give me total peace of mind as a keeper knowing that his heat level is perfect. They are a bit pricey but in my opinion I think they are a must have for any new keeper. I think they are just as important as having a mist king or proper UVB. While we can control the amount of heat that comes from a basking fixture with wattage we can not always control what the ambient air temp is.
So this is how they work... You set the thermostat to the max temp you want it at. With your basking fixture hooked into the thermostat it controls the light and the wattage that it produces. So it dims up and down to keep it at the consistent temp you set it to. Just like a dimming light fixture in your house would work. It has a probe that you put at the basking level that it reads the temperature from.
There are two that I found that are dimming thermostats and had really good reviews and features. You want to read the description of what they offer first. I chose to spend a little extra money and get the Herpstat2 because it will control 2 devices should I need it. Make sure you buy the better ones because the cheaper ones are either on/off thermostats or pulse thermostats. From my reading they are designed to use with things like heat pads for reptile tanks and Ceramic heat emitters. The Dimming ones are specifically designed to use with basking bulbs.
Herpstat
Vivarium Electronics
Ok well yall have a wonderful day! I know I will since I don't have to worry about checking temps all day
Hi there... I took a screw driver and very gently pushed it through the screen. This made the perfect sized hole without causing the screen to rip. I did it through the top panel right on the edge where it would drop down and go out to the branch I wanted it on. But there is no right answer here. Some will go through the side near the branch. I used tiny zip ties to secure the wire to the screen and then I secured the probe on the top side of the branch with another zip tie but not so tight that it would overly squeeze the wire.
Here is a pic. the probe and my secondary temp gauge probe are are circled on the branch. Then you can see where I used the tiny zip ties to secure to the cage. These zip ties are so small that they do not mess up your screen when you push them through.
Zeyna04
Member
Thank you so much, this was extremely useful! I appreciate you went through the effort to show me a picture as well! I’ll probably push mine through the side as I figured I’d position my humidifier in the same place and kill two birds with one stone needing to only make a slightly bigger single hole.
P.S. I’m excited to be a part of this community and hope you’ll look out for pictures of my little one. Should get him next week and again, thank you!
P.S. I’m excited to be a part of this community and hope you’ll look out for pictures of my little one. Should get him next week and again, thank you!
Your welcome. With side positioning... just make sure your humidity levels are good because if you need to cover your sides with anything to help retain humidity going through the side may pose an issue later.
As for your humidifier you can get creative so you do not have to poke a large hole through the cage. You can poke holes through the tube and then hook on to the cage with zip ties so it sits on the outside pointed in. you can also attach the hose to a pvc pipe that you cap on the end then have it running along the back of your cage on the top screen. Drill holes in the pipe on the side that faces the cage so that the fog flows through the holes. lots of ways to do stuff.
DutchChams
Established Member
I just got myself a Habistat dimming thermostat and was wondering how you placed your'e heat sensor. Won't the lights warm up if the cham is blocking heat to the sensor while basking?So recently @SharpShooter posted about these. I had no idea they existed. As a new keeper I was consistently adjusting my dimming heat fixture to keep my guy at the appropriate 85 degrees. This stressed me out to no end and to the point where I cancelled a work trip. You see the ambient temp of my house changes dramatically over the course of a day. So if the ambient temp goes up your chams enclosure level goes up with it and your basking fixture is still producing the same amount of heat output making it even hotter.
I would find temp jumps to 94 degrees on warm sunny days and when we would have to run the heat I would see the same issues. Therefor I was essentially baking Beman. Which is no bueno. So again I was always checking his basking temp and making adjustments.
I just got my dimming thermostat and have been using it for 24 hours. I am pretty much absolutely in love with this product. It give me total peace of mind as a keeper knowing that his heat level is perfect. They are a bit pricey but in my opinion I think they are a must have for any new keeper. I think they are just as important as having a mist king or proper UVB. While we can control the amount of heat that comes from a basking fixture with wattage we can not always control what the ambient air temp is.
So this is how they work... You set the thermostat to the max temp you want it at. With your basking fixture hooked into the thermostat it controls the light and the wattage that it produces. So it dims up and down to keep it at the consistent temp you set it to. Just like a dimming light fixture in your house would work. It has a probe that you put at the basking level that it reads the temperature from.
There are two that I found that are dimming thermostats and had really good reviews and features. You want to read the description of what they offer first. I chose to spend a little extra money and get the Herpstat2 because it will control 2 devices should I need it. Make sure you buy the better ones because the cheaper ones are either on/off thermostats or pulse thermostats. From my reading they are designed to use with things like heat pads for reptile tanks and Ceramic heat emitters. The Dimming ones are specifically designed to use with basking bulbs.
Herpstat
Vivarium Electronics
Ok well yall have a wonderful day! I know I will since I don't have to worry about checking temps all day
Sonny13
Chameleon Enthusiast
Check, a bit higher post #53 there she explained it.
The chameleon wont block the heat (maybe a bit) but the probe should measure the surroundings. The cham could work as a delay on the thermostat, however that´s just minutes work.
Hi there... I took a screw driver and very gently pushed it through the screen. This made the perfect sized hole without causing the screen to rip. I did it through the top panel right on the edge where it would drop down and go out to the branch I wanted it on. But there is no right answer here. Some will go through the side near the branch. I used tiny zip ties to secure the wire to the screen and then I secured the probe on the top side of the branch with another zip tie but not so tight that it would overly squeeze the wire.
Here is a pic. the probe and my secondary temp gauge probe are are circled on the branch. Then you can see where I used the tiny zip ties to secure to the cage. These zip ties are so small that they do not mess up your screen when you push them through.
DutchChams
Established Member
Thanks sonny! Basking spot now sitting at a perfect 85F.
WOW this is one of my older threads that I have not seen in awhile. lol. Here is a closer pic... I have always positioned the probe to the side of the branch. Less likely for the cham to sit right on it. I also set my herpstat to 82... Because it is warmer where they rise up off the branch.
Ghostbirb
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hi! I was curious if this would work for a dimming thermostat? I have also been having basking heat problems
https://www.amazon.com/Pymeter-Temp...+dimming+thermostat+water+froof,aps,85&sr=8-3
https://www.amazon.com/Pymeter-Temp...+dimming+thermostat+water+froof,aps,85&sr=8-3
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