Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If I buy a Ranco thermostat, which I will sometime in October-November, I'm going to need more than 6 outlets that comes with it, because I might breed down the road. Will I have to buy another thermostat just for a couple of more outlets?

First calculate total wattage of heaters needed. Say you think you will need 10 outlets and each outlet is used for a 20 watt piece of Flexwatt, then you are asking for 200 watts. Not a problem for one Ranco. I think Rancos handle up to 900 Watts, but don't quote me on that. Play it safe and don't go over 80% of what the ratings are on the spec sheet that comes with it if using Flexwatt.

A Ranco has a temperature sensor. Since there is only one sensor per Ranco controller, you are sensing one area's temperature.

If you need 10 outlets that all use the same heat system such that the temp in one area will be the temp in all others, then you can simply daisy-chain another outlet strip to get your 10 outlets. However, I am a firm believer in not having all your eggs in one basket. 2 controllers are better than one if one fails. Then you only lose heat on 5 cages instead of all 10, and you can use the 2nd controller to power the other cages until you get a replacement unit.

so, what I will do, is buy a Ranco for my snakes now,and when they are ready to breed, I buy an extra.

Does the length of the flexwatt matter? Or just a 20 watt piece is still the same regardless of length when calculating?

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Louis Kirkland
Cornerstone Reptiles

Your ranco will handle 1500 watts.
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