Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

Which do you think is better and why:

1) Running one continuous line of heat tape through multiple rows of a rack. (With one controller, one set of connectors, etc.)

or...

2) Cutting a strip of heat tape for each row in the rack, connecting each strip to the same controller separately. (Helix prob is only showing temp for one strip.) (Obviously, the strips would all be the same length).

np

I like using method number two, and running each strip in parallel. You can buy european strips from radio shack and wire the individual heat pads into that then one cord coming out that plugs into your thermostat. By running the individual strips in parallel you don't have to worry about a voltage drop at the end of a long run.

Here is a picture of how I have it wired up.

George Knaack

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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

The rack i am using for breeding has its own cord&plug on each level(belly heat),and an extra foot of depth(so i can pull the tub towards a front,away from the heat above).
All are plugged into a surge protector which is plugged into a thermostat(probe placed on top rack.)The other t-stat probe is placed on the lowest tub(and has its own surge protector).So when i want to start night drops,i simply swap each plug level from surge protector(tstat-1) to surge protector(tstat-2)
This way i can begin cooling as they go off feed,etc.

A bit elaborate,but its nice for starting cooling certain individual animals,without the need to move them around much.
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

...each method has advantages...I use the 2nd method in a larger baby rack...as babies sell I can unplug shelves...the 1st method works well for racks that I want to night-cool entirely...Scott

I use the second method. I cut them all to the same length as well. Then I wanted to run two different length racks off the same controler. I figured I would get less heat on the longer strips of tape. Nope, they were exactly the same. I have not fully tested this finding, but i am relatively confident that the length doesn't matter that much.

#2 is a little more expensive, but well worth it in the long run. Flexability, etc. Extension cords are cheap at walmart. It is the flexwatt connectors that get ya.

Cheers,
Al