Heat light sensor

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Kai92

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Hi guys.
I've been playing around lately with my sensor probes and see what temps I'm getting in my enclosure. I useto have it placed at the basking spot until one day my hand hit the light cage and I got burnt. So then I set a prob on the cage to find the cage temp was reaching 45+. But my basking would be 35. I left the probe on the cage and let the thermostat cut out until it dropped to 35. But then my reading on the basking which is close to the cage was only reaching 28-30 which isn't high enough. I hope you can seethe dilemma I'm having and maybe give me a better idea on where the probe should be. If it is in the basking spot how can I be certain my snakes aren't going to burn themselves on the cages?


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You need the basking spot to be the correct temperature or the snake will wrap around the cage to get warm. How far away if your basking spot from the heat source? Is your light cage large enough to allow enough room between to light and cage? Pictures may help.
 
Keeps saying invalid image file... I have the largest round cage you can buy from what I've seen which is 22cm. The basking spot is roughly 10 cm below the bottom of that.


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I can easily get the basking spot to temp. But will a snake move onto a surface that is to hot (45 degree light cage) ?


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Usually if you have a hot spot at the right temperature a snake will not seek a warmer place (around the cage) but there is a chance that it will contact the area and burn itself. Also I have never had any problems with my cage getting too hot if I have the appropriate sized cage and globe with the basking site within reason. If your cage is at 45 degrees it should not burn your skin but I am unsure about a snakes skin. If you have the largest cage available then possibly your globe is too big (too close to cage) or it will be fine. I have never measured the temperature of my light cages.
 
Ok awesome thanks andy. I've got some smaller globes in the post for some smaller enclosures I've built so I'll put one of them in and see if there is a difference. Otherwise I'll just see how it goes.


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This is a 50watt light in 12 cm cage that I use and it is fine. I use reflector globes or spot lights (pictured) because they direct the light/heat downward and not so much sideways. I get these from bunnings for between $3-$7 each.


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Considered a low profile ceramic fitting and CHE instead of the globe setup?

I use a 200w CHE wrapped in a cage and the thermostat probe is buried in the substrate directly underneath the CHE.
At a guess it would be 20 odd cm below the CHE and is set to 32c. I check it periodically with a laser thermometer and it's pretty spot on. The cold end of the 6ft viv is 22-26c

I am using an EcoTech dimming thermostat so the CHE is very rarely running at full power.
I've only seen Bob sitting under the cage on top of his hide twice, both times at night where the temperature is set to 24c between 7pm and 7am.

The thermostat is a dimming one, therefore in theory, the CHE's are less likely to fail as there isn't the constant switching on/off of the element.
Sure it's priced at ~$150 but buy once, buy well is my theory :)
 
I've got the next size up cage to that one andy with a 200w CHE. Enclosure is a 4x2x2 I've got a few 100w in the post should arrive this week. So I'll change it over. If it doesn't reach temp which it should I'll just wire in a second.


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I actually only use a 50 watt , 60 watt or 75 watt lights depending on what snake and what time of year it is and don't run any thermostats with these. I only use my thermostats for young snakes when they are on 24 hour heat or in my rack system (heat cord) and in my GTP enclosure where I set the CHE (70watt) on thermostat to the ambient temperature and that runs 24hour at 26 degrees and a light which comes on in daylight hours for the hotspot. I find the CHE radiates heat in all directions and heats more of the enclosure than a spot light will.
 
I've got the next size up cage to that one andy with a 200w CHE. Enclosure is a 4x2x2 I've got a few 100w in the post should arrive this week. So I'll change it over. If it doesn't reach temp which it should I'll just wire in a second.


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I had 2 60w CHE's and my 6 x 1 x 1.5 glass viv (insulated) wouldn't get hotter than 24c. The 200w is overkill but again, it gets to temperature quickly and then dims the power to the CHE achieving a constant 32c.
Again, the theory is that it never needs to run at full power so I'm hoping that it lasts a long time.
It's only been going 4 months solid. Will report back the longevity if I am still active on here :D
 
I had 2 60w CHE's and my 6 x 1 x 1.5 glass viv (insulated) wouldn't get hotter than 24c. The 200w is overkill but again, it gets to temperature quickly and then dims the power to the CHE achieving a constant 32c.
Again, the theory is that it never needs to run at full power so I'm hoping that it lasts a long time.
It's only been going 4 months solid. Will report back the longevity if I am still active on here :D
Yeah mate my enclosures are wooden and a bit smaller than 6 foot plus you are in Victoria whereas I am in Queensland and so is the OP. That is the thing to watch when advising on heating an enclosure, I have done the same thing.
 
I had 2 60w CHE's and my 6 x 1 x 1.5 glass viv (insulated) wouldn't get hotter than 24c. The 200w is overkill but again, it gets to temperature quickly and then dims the power to the CHE achieving a constant 32c.
Again, the theory is that it never needs to run at full power so I'm hoping that it lasts a long time.
It's only been going 4 months solid. Will report back the longevity if I am still active on here :D


Also stop and think about what will happen if the thermostat fails and the heat source is allowed to run at full power. I run thermostats but with the lowest wattage globes I can get away with to ensure if the stats fail I won't be having roast python for dinner
 
Also stop and think about what will happen if the thermostat fails and the heat source is allowed to run at full power. I run thermostats but with the lowest wattage globes I can get away with to ensure if the stats fail I won't be having roast python for dinner

+1

Not to mention with junk like the ecotech brand this will happen.
The sheer number of ecotech returns I have received is astounding. You're better of spending a little more to get a better quality thermostat.
 
+1

Not to mention with junk like the ecotech brand this will happen.
The sheer number of ecotech returns I have received is astounding. You're better of spending a little more to get a better quality thermostat.
Saying that I have personally had two habistat dimming thermostats fail and have heard of a few others having the same problem and they fail in the same way with full power on to the heat source and it seems that it is a $3 part called a triac.
 
I had 2 microclimate and 1 habistat fail, and they just turned the device off, i assumed that was an inbuilt safety measure, but i guess i was just lucky!!
 
I thought that you said your basking spot was 100 mm below the light cage. As I suspected early on in the post your basking spot is too far away from the heat source. I think that if you correct that you will be able to use 100w or less heat source to get your required temperature.


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