Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hope y'all can help me out here~

I got a bunch of heat cable in a trade last year. I've held onto it to build incubators with. Well~ now I'm ready to get to work~ and there is a LOT of this stuff!! I've got two rolls that are 60' (300 watts) and another 25 foot of extension stuff!

The instructions I'm following for an incubator:
http://www.kingsnake.com/salceies/Incubator.htm

Sugests 16' of heat cable. So~ I have a couple options~ buy new shorter cables (and do what?? with the cable I already have?)or:

1. Can I cut this stuff to the length I want and just seal the end good with electrical tape (making sure none of the wires touch? What kind of circuit is in there?

2. Can I coil 60' of the stuff around a couple PVC peices like in the instructions for the incubator~ but with the coils so tight they would have to touch each other (I can't see any way to get 60' of this stuff in there without the wires creating almost a complete coverage of the area) and then count on the Helix to keep the cable from heating up enough to actually melt itself or over heat the incubator?

Any clues?
Thanks!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den

I liked the link to the incubator design.

Anyway, that particular heat cable is not the cut-to-length style. You would likely ruin the 60ft piece altogether if you tried.

BTW, there is cut-to-length heat cable available, but it isn't as nicely flexible and it takes some know-how to work with. When it comes down to it for herp-related use, it is easier and less expensive to buy the Easy Heat in the lengths you need.

I like Easy Heat cable better than Flexwatt for incubator designs. The rope heater cable available at many herp outlets (i.e. Big Apple, Creative Aquatics, etc) also works great for incubators. Both Easy Heat and rope heaters are water and humidity resistant. That is a great attribute for a heater in an incubator.

Thanks!

I think I solved the length issue~ with a tape measure.....should have thought of that first~ I checked the two coils I thought were 60'~ one was 60' the other was only 40'. I went ahead and built the incubator with the 40' one and it does have more cable than the instructions suggest~ but I was able to wind it without it touching itself at all. I'm going to save the 60' coil for a refridgerator incubator later.

I agree with you about the humidity and electricity issues~ thats why I didn't use heat tape even though I did find instructions for an easier incubator using it. This stuff I'm using now I'm reasonably sure is de-icing cable meant for use outdoors under ice dams on the roof (I got this stuff in a trade~ several coils of heat cable and one empty box that said it had contained de-icing cable).

I've mostly got the incubatore complete. I've got it calibrating now. I don't have a fan in it as suggested~ having trouble finding a small enough one that is 120V~ but I'm pretty sure I'm at least 2-3 months from eggs so I have plenty of time to play with it and figure it out!

Thanks!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den

For the fan - you can buy a small 12V DC fan, and buy one of those inexpensive plug-in transformers that convert 120V AC to 12 V DC. Just make sure the output of the transformer is rated for more than the current draw of the fan.

Example - the fan says it uses 300mA at 12V DC. Make sure the transformer output says something like 600mA minimum at 12V. Many do 1000mA (1A) so you should be fine.