Posted by:
markg
at Fri Oct 27 13:59:23 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by markg ]
A few comments -
It is a good call for having 2 pieces of Flexwatt independently controlled. However, for the warm side piece, do not use a proportional controller with that and the ceramic emitter on the same controller. Keep them separate. I would use the proportional on the ceramic emitter, and just use a dimmer on the warm side Flexwatt. Or to save electricity, do the opposite.
For the cool side Flexwatt, there are issues with putting a dimmer in-line with an ON/OFF controller. If the dimmer setting is somewhat low, the output will not come on once the thermostat goes OFF and then comes back ON. Kind of a pain when your heater is cold but your thermostat is switching power to the dimmer. Adjusting the dimmer back up fixes it until the next time.
In short, the dimmer in line with ON/OFF controller only works as expected when you barely dimm the heater. Keep that in mind, or just use the dimmer alone, or use another proportional if you have one.
Another thing that helps if the cage is a glass tank - cover much of the top of the cage with something. I use corrugated plastic sign material. You can get it at sign shops or from signs at Lowes, etc. I also tape this material to the outside back of glass enclosures, and the sides too if needed. It makes a big difference in holding in the heat = less power used to heat it if using a proportional controller.
Good luck.
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