Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need to build a couple racks. I think building my own will be fairly easy, except for istalling the heat tape. For anyone that's done it, are there any hidden tricks they don't tell you about? They make it look so easy in the instructions. I don't want every shelf wired individually so I need 50 extension cords. I don't understand how that's supposed to be efficient at all. I like the "parallel" wiring technique I was reading about. Does anyone know if this can be done easily, safely and effectively by a complete novice when it comes to building things? My patience gets very bad when I have to put things together and I develop ADD. It's not fun. Will I be able to do this myself or is it a huge pain in the ass to make it work right? I'd be very grateful for any tips or comments. Thanks a lot. Ryan.

its ridiculously easy. worry not.

also, google search flexwatt heat tape and there are some great sites with some instructions and pics.

proexotics has a bit on them if i remember as well.

loop it up and across opposite sides, kind of a zigzag if ur looking at ur rack straight on.

also, leave slack when bending the heat tape to conform to whatever ur positioning it for. (heat tape creased or even bent at sharp angles is a recipe for short's and fires)

First time I wired Flexwatt into my rack was a breeze because I just wired them parallel. I routed out an appropriate sized hole in the shelf for the tape to fit into as well. Do you need to turn individual tapes on and off? If so you might need switches for each individual tape. Wiring switches into a rack can become a headache because of the amount of wire required. Any subsequent racks I build I will seriously concider wiring in switches if any of the spaces will be vacant for any length of time. I try and conserve energy when I can.

Brad Ratliff

I am no expert at all in building racks thats why I buy vision racks. But wouldnt it be a great deal easier just to use heat rope?

Is the way to go

I like FlexWatt because you can get a wider heat surface without having to zig-zag the heat rope all over the place.

I guess its personal preference but that 11" wide FlexWatt is real nice.

I have vision racks so it is real easy to use the heat rope because these racks are designed for it, there is know wiring involved you just place it where you want it and plug it in your thermostat and your off to heaven.

You can get these wire blocks (LINK at bottom), then get cheap extension cords from Wally World and use the wires and plug ends from those to wire up.

This way, individule FlexWatt panels can simply be unscrewd at the wiring block to deactiate when that row is not in use..

Good luck.

Link