Day/night heating!

[cyber_crimes]

In the past I have changed the day and night temps manually (for a short time as I found this very time consuming and a real P' off).

I have also tryed running 2 seperate thermostats to 2 different heat sources and have them alternate by way of 24hr timers.

But recently I have been wanting to convert to radient heat panels and a single thermostat (to save costs,power,and wiring).

I have been looking at a product called "habistat night eye".You set your desired temp (say 32 degrees during the day for summer) then set another dial for how many degrees you would like it to dim by at night.When the eye dosn't notice lighting it reduces by however much you set it from the day temp to the night temp (the accuracy at which the eye can notice light is also adjustable).I would be lighting the entire snake room with a 24hr timer so all cages should get the desired and set decrease in temps.In theory this is looking like an excellent idea to me,but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these devices?

 

[NCHERPS]

CC,
The night eyes have been in use for some time now in the UK and have proved very useful.
Habistats are by far the most used and reliable stats I have come across in the UK.
NCHERPS

 

[NoOne]

CC, the night eyes are just photo cells.
I've seen thermostats used(not sure of the name) that have day/night temp adjustment and around 6-10 cages can be run from the same thermostat.
When used with a photo cell it takes alot of the work out of temp control.
I've been looking at doing this for a while just haven't had the$$$$$.
The thermostats i saw were imported from the US and cost about $300 AUS each

 

[NoOne]

Photo cells are similar to whats used in sercurity lights. You should be able to get one from an electrical or hardware shop.

 

[cyber_crimes]

Im still not completely sure on how it is wired exactly,(I will be sussing it out tomorrow at the reptile barn) but im sure it plugs seperately to thermostat.If so I may be be able to run the night eye from the main power supply and have an electrical board for the thermostats so i get a nightly decrease in temps from every cage off the 1 board. But im not too sure if I can or not yet lol.

 

[Fangs]

Ive been looking for something along the lines of what NoOne mentioned.
Could you give some more info about the ones that can control up to ten cages?

cheers M.........

 

[cyber_crimes]

This is the type of design I am after.I have contacted the supplier to see if they will ship to Aus etc.

www.microclimate.co.uk/dldata.doc

 

[Magpie]

From reptile barn web site
Night Eye $125.00
Attach to any Day/Night Habistat to lower temperature at night automatically.

Note that it requires a day / night thermostat (which no longer seem to be on their site) This means that the sensor switches for you instead of doing it manually or with a timer. A timer is a lot cheaper.
CC, you can run two thermostats to a single heat source with both stats on timer. Have one set to come on when the other goes off. It won't matter if the heat source gets power from both at the same time for a short period (correct me if I'm wrong sparkies.)
If you are looking at elaborate set ups, may I suggest you look at getting digital thermometers that can send the info to a computer. The computer then can be used as a thermostat by cutting a solenoid in / out foe the heat source. Day / night temps are then a peice of cake. Set up would not be easy, but I reckon it wouldn't be all that expensive in the long run. I'm no guru though, maybe it would require extra cards in the 'puter or something that would make it too pricey. I'm sure in this manner though, you could run 100's of cages and only need to buy thermometers, not thermostats.

 

[cyber_crimes]

Mags,
I went to reptile barn this morning to have a quick look at the habistst products.As you mentioned the "night eye" needs a day/night thermostat (which works out close to $300 per unit for thermostat & night eye).So I've decided against that idea.I did see a twin setting thermostat that controls 2 heat sources which can be run through timers,but again that requires 2 heat sources and I'm trying to convert to the 1.The microclimate seems the best option for me at the moment,so I will wait to hear a reply from them.Im sure there would have to be an electrical supplier such as "J.R Turk" or the like that can order these (no idea of costs though).

 

[africancichlidau]

Personally I like Maggies idea of slapping a couple of i/o boards in ya puter and using that to do all your controlling. Shouldn.t work out to expensive either as I think you can pick up the boards for about 50 bucks each now and if you use extra low voltage relays to control ya 240v main circuits it should be a piece of cake. I might just have to look into this, Thanks Maggie

 

[cyber_crimes]

I dont understand that concept

Would that control a day temp and a night temp?
(keep in mind I change temp settings every month)

How do you get a thermometer to relay back to a computer?

How does the computer determin between the day hrs and the night hrs?
(changed every 3 months)

The computer would act as a thermostat?
(turning on/off as required)

The computer would need to be left on 24/7?
(no doubt lol, but would it need larger fan etc to stop from over heating?)

Is there anyone I can contact that may be able to inform me or set this method up?

 

[africancichlidau]

Just to whet your appetite mr cubic centimetre

http://www.quasarelectronics.com/3108.htm

 

[cyber_crimes]

Hmmm interesting...
I looked everywhere through that site (still am looking).
I cant really find the answers I need but I have emailed the company and hopefully they will help.I am pretty interested in this concept myself now as It looks like I can use 8 banks (8 relays) of 4 tiered enclosures and set personal info per bank.So I should be able to run 32 enclosures all up.I already have a spare computer that hardly gets much use (it is only for my MSA herp,Snakemeasurer and a few other reptile records etc) so I think that would make a perfect choice to run all herp related info etc.
I will speak to my electrician friend over the weekend and let you guys know what I find out...Cheers!

 

[NoOne]

Fangs i'll try and find out the name of the thermostats. I'm not sure if they run off multiple probes or some other method but i saw one thermostat running a bank of at least eight cages. They are fully digital.
You only need one photo cell (night eye) to switch all the thermostats from day to night. Hang the photo cell in a window to get the right amount of hours.

It all sound so simple :?

 

[cyber_crimes]

I just recieved an email from the company microclimate.
Heres what they had to say.

Hello John
thanks for your interest in our products.
The cost of a DL2ME is ?52 this includes carriage.
We do not have Australian plugs and sockets to fit on the mains cables.

I can get it wooohooo! Roughly $120 each for the pulse model.

 

[Morelia_man]

congrats CC, i am sure some of our other members would be interested in purchacing some of them.
BTW $120!! sounds cheap

cheers
charles

 

[Hawkeye]

just be a little bit careful with systems like this as you have to rely on you Windoze computer from not crapping out and killing all heat (bad but snakes will probably tolerate it) or even worse start to have abnormal settings and/or altered inputs (this could be really bad if the computer thinks that 70 degrees is a good idea).

Add to the cost either a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) or an auto restart facility if your computer decides to crash or the powersupply cuts out.

There are big commercial computer controlled system for things like poultry barns and are essentially a climate control system. But they are dedicated with back-up built in (and cost zillions).

Better system is a bank of dedicated thermostats that stop if the power cuts and turn straight back on when the power is restored and have no other job that doing that. (ie spare computer should be dedicated to this only with a very stable version of the OS - Unix or linux would be better than Windoze for a start).

Cheers Hawkeye

 

[Fangs]

NoOne,maybe it was multiple units running through one high wattage thermostat.The only thing I have ever been able to find is a dual channel thermostat.Ive been searching to try and find something that can sense and control temps in mulitple zones.

Hawkmeister, I think you have misunderstood,oh wait a minute maybe I did.
Im pretty sure that you only use a PC to input data into the unit (PLC -programmable logic controller),once done you then uplug the PC from it.

cheers M...........

 

[NoOne]

I think they were sold through Big Apple Herp in New York. Am trying to find out about them.

 

[africancichlidau]

Yup I think its a plc too