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I just built a rubbermaid tub rack for my snakes and it is my first one I've built. I want to run heat tape along each shelf so the back 1/3 of the tub is heated by the heat tape. I have made a homemade rheostat with a dimmer switch. My question is this: If there are five shelves to heat how can those be wired together to be all on one dimmer switch? This may be a very stupid question by I am not an electrician by any means. It was hard enough for me to figure out the rheostat alone. I appreciate anyones help.

Ryan

>>I just built a rubbermaid tub rack for my snakes and it is my first one I've built. I want to run heat tape along each shelf so the back 1/3 of the tub is heated by the heat tape. I have made a homemade rheostat with a dimmer switch. My question is this: If there are five shelves to heat how can those be wired together to be all on one dimmer switch? This may be a very stupid question by I am not an electrician by any means. It was hard enough for me to figure out the rheostat alone. I appreciate anyones help.
>>
>> Ryan

Ryan: If you wire a dimmer to an extension cord or one of those strip surge protectors, you can plug in as many flex watts as you want.

It would make a very clean set up because you would just plug them in.

Here is what I mean:

1. solder or clip your five flexwatts to wire with a plug at the end.

2. connect a dimmer to an extension cord (most extension cords have multiple ports--either 3 or more) or strip surge protector.

3. plug each of the five flexwatts into the extension cord and now one dimmer can control five.

The good thing about this kind of set up is that you can plug or unplug and move the flex watts around as you wish.

Let me know if any of the explanation is not clear. I will try to be more clear if the above is not clear.

cheers.

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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.

see the picture? The other end of the white wire has a plug (the regular wall plug). You do this for each of the five flexwatts so that you end up with five flexwatts, each with a plug at the end.

Then, you take an extension cord that has multiple plugs (most have three, but you can find cords with more inlets). You connect a dimmer to one of those multi-inlet extension cords. Now one dimmer controls three to five inlets.

Since these inlets are regular inlets, you can plug in what ever you want into it: lamps, fan, heater, flexwatt, etc.

hope this helps.

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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.

Hey thanks. I think I am going to do that. That is pretty simple and I can't believe I didn't even think of that. Right on man thanks. I am getting a new digital camera next week so I'll see if I can post some pics.

Ryan

like if you just wanted one plug coming off your rack.

Bigboi

Home Depot sells a 300 watt dimmer with a receptacle. You can get a 3-to-2 prong adapter and plug in an outlet strip into the dimmer. Plug each heat pad/strip into the outlet strip. BUT WAIT.. you need to find the total wattage of all the strips together.

If you're using the 11-inch wide Flexwatt, it is 20 watts/ft. Lets say you have 5 pieces each 2ft, so 10 feet total. 10 ft x 20 watts/ft = 200 watts. Make sure your dimmer handles 200 watts plus an additional safety factor of say 50%. A 300 watt or higher dimmer will do it.

If using the 4-inch-wide Flexwatt, it is only 8 or 10 watts/ft, so no problem.

Except for negligible resistance (and inductance and capacitance), 5 pieces of Flexwatt is electrically the same as one long piece of the total length of all 5. It is the mechanical issue of getting 5 pairs of wires into one pair.

Oh, Flexwatt is not grounded, so no use in worrying about the unconnected ground in the outlet strip. However, you can get shocked or start a fire if the Flexwatt is mis-wired or has exposed conductors. Please make sure all connections are secure and totally covered.

You should use a crimp tool (about $14 for one) to crimp the wires onto the Flexwatt connectors. If using 18 AWG wire, double it over itself in the crimp barrel. Some people solder. A good crimp will hold though.

Crimping the connectors onto the Flexwatt is an art. You can use pliers but put some metal mending plates between the jaws to make a flat smooth surface to apply even pressure to the entire connector. If done right, it will hold strong onto the Flexwatt.

I am only using 3" flexwatt for a total of about 15ft. I was thinking of using some basic extension cords and cutting off the female end and wiring that way. Would you suggest against this?

Ryan

That is the easiest and most-practiced method for wiring Flexwatt.