50W heat cord, how hot?

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RSPcrazy

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I'm almost finished building my new fully adjustable hatchling rack, but my 80W (9m long) heat cord is to short by 1m.

So I need to use two 50W (6m long) heat cords instead.
But I've only used 25W and 80W cords before.

How hot do 50W cords get? I need a hot spot of 32c and preferably hotter for those cold days when the cords are working overtime.
 
i use a 50 watt heat cord for my BHP. It makes it to 40 degrees with ease. Then my thermostat cuts out, so i assume it can get hotter than that?
 
all heat cords per meter Emmit the same amount of heat if you place the same amount of the 50w under the tub as you do the 80w the temps should come up the same. you will just have less heat cord to play with= less wattage being used
i actuality prefer to run two heat cords on hatchy racks as when you have sold half you can switch off 1 cord saving quite a bit of power.
its a bit hard to explain so i hope you understood it.
cheers
 
all heat cords per meter Emmit the same amount of heat if you place the same amount of the 50w under the tub as you do the 80w the temps should come up the same. you will just have less heat cord to play with= less wattage being used
i actuality prefer to run two heat cords on hatchy racks as when you have sold half you can switch off 1 cord saving quite a bit of power.
its a bit hard to explain so i hope you understood it.
cheers

Understood, very helpfully, thank you.

That switching off half the rack idea is pretty good, I can't beleave I never thought of that after all these years of trying to lower my electricity usage.
 
can i dissagree with that, ericrs? :)
I have a 15 watt heat cord and i can't get the temps any higher than 32. So i use that for my stimi hatchie. Yet my 50 watt heat cord smashes the heat out. I also have a 25 watt cord that gets better results than the 15 watt cord, but not as good as the 50 watt.

Thats just what i have observed, anyway :)
 
thats ok stimilove.
i have had similar things with my heat cords to. some i have ordered from china and some were purchased locally so maybe a different manufacturer is to blame with the inconsistency of temps . also were they on thermostats? maybe that could of had something to do with it? not sure myself. ive also had heat cord where only the last 2m of a 4m cord heated up. dont know what that would mean heat per meter?
 
can i dissagree with that, ericrs? :)
I have a 15 watt heat cord and i can't get the temps any higher than 32. So i use that for my stimi hatchie. Yet my 50 watt heat cord smashes the heat out. I also have a 25 watt cord that gets better results than the 15 watt cord, but not as good as the 50 watt.

Thats just what i have observed, anyway :)

that makes more sense,a higher power cord has to create more heat and thus use more power
 
I find the bigger cords get hotter. You have to remember that the longer the cord the more resistance. Which means means more current is being drawn through the cord. The idea of a shorter cord heating up the same as a larger one isnt possible due to the increased current and resistance of the larger cords. So in short... larger cords get hotter...
 
i ran mine without thermostats (not while the reptile was in there) just to see how high i could get them. Just for something to do, really :)
But all are on thermostats now.
 
I find the bigger cords get hotter. You have to remember that the longer the cord the more resistance. Which means means more current is being drawn through the cord. The idea of a shorter cord heating up the same as a larger one isnt possible due to the increased current and resistance of the larger cords. So in short... larger cords get hotter...

Longer cords actually have less resistance in order to get more current (and therefore more power). Remember Ohm's Law from the school days :p.
Your point is an interesting one though. Higher power cords have more current passing through them so, theoretically, you should get more heat from an equivalent length. I'd like to see someone do some testing on this
 
Longer cords actually have less resistance in order to get more current (and therefore more power). Remember Ohm's Law from the school days :p.
Your point is an interesting one though. Higher power cords have more current passing through them so, theoretically, you should get more heat from an equivalent length. I'd like to see someone do some testing on this

Yeah you're right. I thought more length was more resistance. But really more current means more wattage. So P=VxI A 15w cord would be 15w=240Vx.0625A. A 50w cord would be 50w=240x.2083A
 
I had a few 15, 25 watt cords I hadn't used for a few months and they where identical lengths. So to differentiate between the two different wattage cords my theory was to plug the two into power point and see which one got hottest then I would kno which one was the higher wattage. Cant remember exact figures from memory 15 watt went up to high 20s, 25watt high 30s and also tested a 50 watt which went to 50ish.
 
I picked up two 50W heat cords today and I tested them without a thermostat.
After being on for roughly 10 minutes, it was reaching 50+ degrees. Perfect.

Thanks for the info guys.
 
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