AP Heat rope question

Originally Posted by DragonCharm

Now THAT is customer service.

Agreed! That is why they are the best out there...

Originally Posted by Animal Plastics

Jamie,

In my post you will see I said about an inch, a few inches might be to far. I also said that the hot spot would be warmer than the thermostat reading, that is why you have to check the temperature in the tub and adjust the thermostat accordingly. We recommend and have had great success when people place the probe at the desired location, whether in an empty control box or an inch from the cable, let the rack heat for a few hours, maybe even overnight. Our plastic is very thick and takes time for the heat to disperse. Once it does disperse the benefit is that it takes a long time to lose heat as well.

11" flex watt WILL give a wider controlled heat area, but 11" is far to much heat for most rack systems. I can understand the 11" flex watt in cages and maybe 36" deep racks.

Our cable S curves in the belly heat with about 4" in between the cable loops. Yes, your raytech will read different readings between the loops in the belly heat area, our cable is designed to produce an "overall" warm area or hot spot for you reptile. Believe it or not, once you have your bedding or newspaper down your reptiles will not recognize the variations between the loops, they will be absorbing the average temperatures.

There are many healthy twenty foot retics that are warmed with 11" or smaller flex watt, these animals are designed to absorb and spread energy efficiently.

Jamie, thanks again for your input we always appreciate it.

Mark Mertens

Mark,

I read this over again and I realized I am not sure what you mean about 4" in between cable loops? There is no loop on the Iris rack but rather a straight across line on each shelf. Is that not what I should be seeing? On the T3 there is a loop up and down the left side. Thanks!

Jamie

mmmmmm AP caging and flexwatt.. makes me wanna wire something..lol

Matt, you must be wiring stuff in your sleep dude..

I was just concidering this myself, trying to choose between the rope, and the flex watt tape for my new cage I am building.

My idea was to use the rope, route out the path it will follow, but I wanted to recess the whole area, so I could cover it with ceramic tile (or melamine or something similar) to absorb, and evenly distribute the heat, and protect against the rope itself, with the probe in between the gap of the ceramic tiles for control.

Those with more experience using this rope would know if this idea would work out effectively. I never used it before, and really dont know how well it works. Have read that the rope can get "HOT" at times. (My main concern)

Sounds like the flex watt tape is easier to use, and I planned on that for my upcoming rack system, but I really wanted to try the rope for the cage.

Any oppinions would be welcome.

Ciao,
Rick

Mark,

FYI for you. I took the empty rack, let the heat rope heat for about 7 hours with no thermostat on it just as a test. Temperature of the rope itself, 177 degrees. The temperature HALF an inch from the rope, 87-91 degrees. Temperature 1 inch from the rope, about 79-80 degrees. To me this says that the rope does not properly heat the shelf. Its disappointing because I would much rather have used the heat rope. By the way, I use the heat rope in the T3 and it works pretty well because of the looping. I think I have taken the experimenting as far as itll go. Let me know if I missed something on this. Thanks!

Jamie