Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok so with the 3" flex watt am i correct on it can be cut at any length? also is there any other way of hooking it up without those metal connectors and those big plastic insulators? just wonderin cause the rack i am about to make i have 2 4' pieces that i want to make into 4 2' pieces lol. and dont have any of the connector pieces and i have seen a few pics dave is one of them where there was no big bulky connector thingy and on my boaphiles heat tape it looks like the cord is just taped to it i havent took tape of to look so i dont know how it is. thanks any pis and tips how to do everythign would be great im not the electrical type well besides electricuting myself gotta remember to turn power OFF before messing with things lol

You can solder the wires directly to the heat tape. A little tricky but doable. Do you have soldering experience? Or know someone who does you can buy a beer for? I can walk you through the process when you're ready. Key thing you need is a really cheap soldering iron. And by cheap I mean cheap low power low heat soldering iron. This is one instance where a nicer tool can ruin the job, the heat tape can only take so much soldering heat before it starts to come apart.

The tape goes on after to cover the exposed electrical wires, prevents getting shocked.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

yeah solder not a problem my buddy is a R/C freak lots of lil wires etc. he just has a run of the mill el cheapo soldering pen type deal ill be doing this hopefully 2marrow but not a garuntee for sure by this weekend i have a extra small unused 1' 3" heat tape that will be the test dummy. and you know what i just thought of low level shocks kinda feel like snake bites lol speaking of wich i think i am up to about 1000 thanks to the bredli jag and baby carpet lol and everytime i still flinch lol i dont think ill ever be used to baby bite and not flinch i never did when i was getting nailed by my old 4' normal red tail or same sized argentine. something about the little guys that scares me odd

Tim, I have wired up a couple of home made racks with the 3" heat tape. It's disgustingly easy to put together, and no need for those bulky protector things. It can be very time consuming depending on how many you are linking together, but not hard. Oh, and the 3" tape can be cut to any size.

I just melt off the plastic on the heat tape where the connectors go and solder the wire directly to the metal piece. Like Dave said, it can be tricky not to damage the metal piece, but once you get the hang of it it isn't that bad. Just be sure to wrap some electrical tape around it so no one gets a nasty suprise!
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Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

geesh shocks are fun the best one is when i was hooking up and splicing some wires i forgot to turn off main power just turned off power to object 110 volts that was fun lol my tounge ring started to get zapped on that one lol