Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just picked up a Helix thermostat on ebay, My cages are 4' x 2'x 17" melamine. I have flexwatt on the inside of cage on one side, they are the store bought ones for under tank heaters. I keep a rubbermaid filled with cypress mulch on top of the heater this regulate humidity also. other side of cage is just newspaper. These are boa cages. My question is. I was useing light dimmers to regulate temp of heaters but now I got this helix thermostat and wanted to regulate the heaters inside with that. I do not know how to use the helix, and it does not have a set point for what I want the temp to be. It just has a min and max temp. I want to run the heaters at 115 degrees and that sets the bucket temp hot spot at 92, if someone knows how I can do this please let me know. Thanks Andy Federico

With my Helix DBS 1000, I just set the max temp I want the surface of the hot spot to be and then put the probe on top of the hot spot in the cage. That way I know what temp the snake is resting on. With a thermostat, it controls the power to the heat source. It runs till it reaches your set temp and if it goes above the temp you've set, it limits the juice (or shuts it off depending on the type). It sounds like you are used to compensating for the loss of heat through the caging material and set your temps high with the rheostat to get the right temp in the cage.
Here's their website.
http://helixcontrols.com/default.htm

Lora

Depending on which model you have, there should be two small screws on the front. These are used to set the daytime and night time temps. From the factory they are usually set at 80 degrees day and 70 degrees night. I forget which one is which, but you can call Helix at 760-726-4464 and they will be happy to help you. They also have a web site at www.helixcontrols.com. Good luck.

Rob

>>I just picked up a Helix thermostat on ebay, My cages are 4' x 2'x 17" melamine. I have flexwatt on the inside of cage on one side, they are the store bought ones for under tank heaters. I keep a rubbermaid filled with cypress mulch on top of the heater this regulate humidity also. other side of cage is just newspaper. These are boa cages. My question is. I was useing light dimmers to regulate temp of heaters but now I got this helix thermostat and wanted to regulate the heaters inside with that. I do not know how to use the helix, and it does not have a set point for what I want the temp to be. It just has a min and max temp. I want to run the heaters at 115 degrees and that sets the bucket temp hot spot at 92, if someone knows how I can do this please let me know. Thanks Andy Federico