Hi there,
Im new to this forum and i am trying to work out a way to control the vivariums i have setup at the moment. Im disabled, but was previously a mechanical/design engineer with a bit of sparky experiences to. the problem i am having is the thermostats avaliable to me ( i live in snowdonia national park, in north wales) tat are designed for reptile heating are very inaccurate and do not meet the requirement of my little reptiles.
the main problem is that the thermostats im using( (Habistat 100's a 100w thermostat control avaliable from all reptile stores) for the heat matts in my 3'' viv are controled with a bi-metalic switch i think, and clicks on to full current when heat is needed and then off, The heat mats have a total of 19watts so not a loot really, but the matts are for a background heat idea for night times as there out put is fairly gently, the sensor is also rather inaccurate too, and allows for a massive 6-12 °F diference hen swiching on and off! The house that i live in is a 260 odd yaer old stone house so gets a bit cool at times!! So i have a 60W spot lamp to give the higher temperatures needed during the day, but the heat mats are still used during the day also if the temp is cooled in the house.
Im ideally looking for help designing a cuircuit that would allow me to set a day temp and a lower night temp, that are more constant and to use the heat matts and lamp in the day for heat and only the matts att night with a 40w red bulb ( for veiwing nocturna behaviour). I would really appreciate any hep on this project as the equipment avaliable to me is rather limited and is very experncie and commercially priced to boot too!!
My plan is to breed a miniture species of gecko in the future that are endangered as i am now an enviromental scientist due to illness and im planning on haveing 10 vivs in a stack/ rack formation, with ideally a heat meat controled for each viv seperately, with only heat matts but with the same distinct control over a day temp ( higher ) and night temp ( lower) i know that im asking alot from all of you and thankyou for your help in advance, if you would like any more information, drop me a line and i will try to help!!
(P.s. the heat mats for the mini gecko bredding project will be 11w maximum due to small size of viv - these geckos are only 1 1/2 inchs fully grown so are really delicate ot temp spikes etc.) thanks again
Im new to this forum and i am trying to work out a way to control the vivariums i have setup at the moment. Im disabled, but was previously a mechanical/design engineer with a bit of sparky experiences to. the problem i am having is the thermostats avaliable to me ( i live in snowdonia national park, in north wales) tat are designed for reptile heating are very inaccurate and do not meet the requirement of my little reptiles.
the main problem is that the thermostats im using( (Habistat 100's a 100w thermostat control avaliable from all reptile stores) for the heat matts in my 3'' viv are controled with a bi-metalic switch i think, and clicks on to full current when heat is needed and then off, The heat mats have a total of 19watts so not a loot really, but the matts are for a background heat idea for night times as there out put is fairly gently, the sensor is also rather inaccurate too, and allows for a massive 6-12 °F diference hen swiching on and off! The house that i live in is a 260 odd yaer old stone house so gets a bit cool at times!! So i have a 60W spot lamp to give the higher temperatures needed during the day, but the heat mats are still used during the day also if the temp is cooled in the house.
Im ideally looking for help designing a cuircuit that would allow me to set a day temp and a lower night temp, that are more constant and to use the heat matts and lamp in the day for heat and only the matts att night with a 40w red bulb ( for veiwing nocturna behaviour). I would really appreciate any hep on this project as the equipment avaliable to me is rather limited and is very experncie and commercially priced to boot too!!
My plan is to breed a miniture species of gecko in the future that are endangered as i am now an enviromental scientist due to illness and im planning on haveing 10 vivs in a stack/ rack formation, with ideally a heat meat controled for each viv seperately, with only heat matts but with the same distinct control over a day temp ( higher ) and night temp ( lower) i know that im asking alot from all of you and thankyou for your help in advance, if you would like any more information, drop me a line and i will try to help!!
(P.s. the heat mats for the mini gecko bredding project will be 11w maximum due to small size of viv - these geckos are only 1 1/2 inchs fully grown so are really delicate ot temp spikes etc.) thanks again