Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Could someone explain how to set up a back-up thermostat? I have a helix and a ranco... can these be used together? Any info would be great!

I've never done this, but I can take a stab at it.

If I remember correctly, the Helix is a proportional thermostat. If I'm wrong, you might want to disregard everything else.

If I'm right, you want the Helix to do the controlling most of the time. The Ranco is a simple on/off thermostat, so you'd have the Ranco only as a failsafe to the Helix.

I'd plug the Ranco into the wall socket. I'd then set the Ranco at the absolute upper limit temperature that you're willing to tolerate. I'd then plug the Helix into the Ranco's power outlet. I'd set the Helix for the real temperature that you're trying to reach.

With this scheme, the Helix would do most of the controlling most of the time. The Ranco would be on at all times. The Helix would give as much power as necessary to the heat tape to control temperature where you want it. If anything happened to make the Helix not control as it should, the Ranco would cut the power to the Helix when the Ranco sensed that the temperature was past the maximum.

Good luck with it.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.