Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking at using the big apple proportional thermostat. And I was wondering of those that have used them, how many cages or heat pads have you or do you use with this thermostat? I am looking at the Ultratherm heat pads from the bean farm. I am going to use all this on three 8'x 2'x 2'. Any help that you could give me would be great. I am making the cages out of 3/4" MDF which I will laminate to water proof. Will these work ok together? Thanks again.

I use them to control radiant heat panels. However, if you're going to use them to control heat tape or heat mats I would suggest you place the temperature sensing probe right on the hot spot; if the heat mat is under the cage place the probe in the cage on the floor right over the heat.

The reason being that heat tape or mats do little to warm the ambient air in the enclosure. If your cage is in a normal room temperature environment and you place the probe anywhere but on the heat, chances are the thermostat would be running full bore all the time.

If you place the probe on the warm cage floor and set the thermostat for the basking temp you want, it will work fine. Big Apple Proportional Thermostats (Herp Power) are great.

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OTOH, radiant heat panels are mounted on the cage ceiling and they do warm the ambient air in the cage quite well. So I place the probe in the cool end about 2 inches off the floor and set the thermostat for the maximum cool side temp.

Bill

i've used a "herp power" on my incubator for the past 2yrs with sucess if that tells you anything.

Thank you for your input. But I also want to know if the big apple thermostat will work ok with the Ultratherm heats pads from the bean farm? Marty

Absolutely. These thermostats work fine with Ultratherms. You can connect up to 300 watts worth to each one. Follow the advice of BillS on where to place the probe.

-Joan