Thermostat/Rheostat

[onesweetguy632]

What is the diference between a Thermostat & Rheostat?

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Even thought both devices are used to control heat, they are as different as night and day..

Here is a basic understanding of the products.

1) Rheostat.  

These devices are dimmer type contol devices such as this example, the Repti-temp, work like a dimmer switch in your house that you can dim the lights with.
The trouble with these devices is that they constantly "adjust" the power feed to the device by using an electrical rheostat. So in this environment the amount of power is constantly having to be adjusted down in order to lower the heat output of the device.  These constant voltage adjustments do wear down the devices and they are prone to fail... And can only control 1 or 2 devices.
Of course at 5 to 15 dollars, again you get what you pay for.

1) Thermostat - These are on or off type devices.  These devices such as the one Jeff Ronne sells

work like the central heat and air in you home.   When a certain temperature is reached, the heat goes off, or in this case, full power is "cut-off" to the devices.   When the temperature falls below this preset temperature, the thermostat device turns ON and supplies full power to the device again.  Since these devices only supply power when needed, they last a long time, and rarely fail at all.
At $100.00 or higher, these are high end devices and are more expensive, yet one thermostat device can control many devices.  I use one thermostat device to control my complete stack of boaphile plastic enclosures.

[Doug]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

HI,
A thermostat cuts out the power at a certian temp or if its built a certian way it will fail off. Very important to prevent  an overheating problem if it fails .
 A rheostat is like a dimmer switch it never cuts off you just decrease the amount of power flowing to the that source and
you must be sure to check it frequently ambient temps in the home can change the cage temps seasonally and the  rheostat can fail on hot if they break down..
I ve never owned a rheostat some people  swear by them.
doug
whoops Clay posted whilest I was typing... :P.   hehe

[Blackmarked]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Hey Clay that thermostat you have a pic of, does jeff build them or can you possibly find something like that in stores? I really like that one as it looks like it can control alot at the same time.

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

that thermostat you have a pic of, does jeff build them or can you possibly find something like that in stores?

I was kind of wondering the same thing. Where else can I find a thermostat similar to that one? Are there any thermostats that only control a couple of items? I only have one very large tank to control. Also, can those control more than one tank and how would they. Like, say you had one large tank and then one smaller one next to each other, but not side by side?

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Well you could find thermostats by the dozens at any home improvement store, but the trick would be the capability to wire these properly for use in our field.

Also the ones Jeff has modified are ready to go and can support up to 1500 watts. That is a lot of cages..

http://www.boaphileplastics.com/thermostat.html

I should mention here that in my applications the cages are all similar in size and heat requirements..

So you could use one of these to power a stack of cages.. I would recommend the cages be the same sizes and using the same heat devices...

[XzyluM]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

If memory serves me correctly, the thermostats that Jeff sells are manufactored by Ranco. Like Clay said, you can buy thermostats at varying stores, but unless you know how to wire then correctly, it's a no go.

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Clay, What do you think about this thermostat frombigappleherp.com Do you feel that it would be worth the money?

[XzyluM]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Which brand you talking about? I use the ESU and it works great.

[XzyluM]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Oops...didn't see the picture until I posted. Exact one I use and I would recommend it for the price. Works great.

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Nothing wrong with that product. Much better than the simple rheostat devices.

For manangement of a couple of cages, should work great. I cannot speak to the exact maker/brand and do not know of anyone reporting failure rates, and according to XzyluM they work great. I would take his word for it since he currently has them in place.

XzyluM, I was looking at the pic on bigappleherp and it showed to be an analog dial setting, but the description says it has two digital displays, can you elaborate on that?

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Thats a good question clay, I was wondering about that as well. So yeah, XzyluM, could you please describe that product a bit more for us?

[LucyABCC]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

i can elaborate on this since i'm using 2 zoomeds 500W thermostats i got from big apple. clay is correct, the dial is just an analog dial that you turn to the desired temp (they're in 10 degree increments). i'm guessing they get the "digital" claim from the fact that there are two little lights on the system located just above the dial. one little green light indicates you have power and a red light indicates when your heat source is on (you can almost make out the words in the pic if you hallucinate a little).
so far, both have worked great and i have another one on the way. hope this helps.

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

Yeah, I figured as much. "Digital" has pretty much become a generic term anymore. So these have worked well for all of you? How many products does one work with? Would it work with a strip of Heat tape and a CHE on one tank, or would I have to get one for each product?

[LucyABCC]

Re: Thermostat/Rheostat

each one can hold up to 500W whether it be from one source or two.  just plug an adapter with multiple plugs into the thermostat and you are set.  just do not exceed 500W, especially if you are using heat tape.  but a CHE and some tape would work fine off just one.