Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to buy one or the other and from what I've read, can't figure out exactly what the difference is or which one is better. As always, any help or advice would be great!

I say go with a thermostat. A thermostat will allow you to set a desired temp and will turn off and on in order to maintain that temp (therefore, taking into account room temp changes, etc). A rheostat works like a dimmer and just lets raise or lower the temp, but will stay at the temp all the time without adjusting for room temp changes, etc.
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A "Rheostat" allows a manual setting for percent of full power. Say you set the dimmer for about 50% power to the load (heater). This might be fine when the room temp is 72 deg, but what happens when the room temp hits 80 deg? Well, that same 50% output will mean much higher temps.

Dimmers (aka "rheostats" must be adjusted by you every time your room temp changes.

A thermostat has feedback, or a sensor that "tells" it to shut off. The lower-cost thermostats are ON/OFF types, which means that you have full power to the heater or no power, but no inbetween as with a dimmer.

For heat tape and heat pads, a proportional controller is best. It kind of acts like a dimmer and an ON/OFF thermostat mixed together, sort of. It isn't that, but the effect is the same.
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Mark G

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