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Thermostats....

C

Cp3_Pythons

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Im in the market for new Thermostats for cage's racks and an incubator I was looking at BoaMaster.com ( Mark Venhorst ) and I noticed he's offering a few new thermostats on his webstite The price's are decent and they look nice...

My question is has anyone used these thermostats and if so How have the workes out for you??

Here's a link to the page the Thermostats Im speaking of are the Ve100 Ve200 and the Ve300:

http://boamaster.com/catalog/Heating_and_Accessories-1-1.html

Im looking to pick up 4 to 6 new Thermostats and want them all to match each other they will be going on 2 cages ( a third cage may be on the way shortly so maybe 3 thermostats for cages ) 2 new racks are on the way so 2 thermostats for the racks and 1 for an incubator...
 
Ranco's are on/off thermostats so matching them won't happen if you want a proportional on the incubator which is the only way to go IMO.
Herpstats are my favorite at this point until something comes along as good at a better price.
 
I use a Ranco on my incubator and temps stay consistently between 88 and 90 and it cycles very little. Very easy to wire up too, so I would refain from spending twice the money on a wired one.

I use Herpstat for my enclosures and love it!!

I've never heard of the ones in the link.
 
Clarence, I bought one of the VE200's and I am totally impressed with it. It has alot of features the others don't have. You can even change it from proportional or On/Off mode. Another good thing is it lays flat so you don't have to have any mounts for it and you can stack them on top of each other to make a more appealing display. The probe is attached like a phone jack, so if you need to replace the probes you just unplug the old one and plug in the new. Too many cool things to list about it but I highly recommend it. I bought mine from Reptilebasics.com.
 
Personally, I prefer the Herpstat ND. I've got both the single probe models, and a few of the multi-probe units. The multi-probe unit would be great for running a couple (or up to 4) enclosures with the same therm, and still never worry about varying temps. With the 4 probe model, you could run 3 different enclosures and a big rack, all with their own individual temps, and all from a single thermostat!
 
Thanks to everyone for there input I haven't heard of the brand I was asking on hence the reason im asking about it...

Danny you said you have one and it works good? in your opinion how do you think it would stand up against the Herpastat or Ranco?

I want when I get the thermostats I want them all to match...
 
I just purchased the VE-100 from reptile basics for a new hatchling rack I built and it seems to be pretty good so far? I run the herpstat pro for my adult racks and it is superior with the alarm, seperate settings and probes but for the money I really like the VE!
 
Thanks Joseph for the input... I belive Im going to get the Ve 300 ( I belive it come's with an alarm feature ) And I have to agree with you for the price if it works as well as some of the feedback Im sure I'll be more than pleased with it's performance. I just want everything to match... Plus thefd stackable which really would work nicely with my cages for the price I can get 5 for under 600 shipped so it's not as much as some but they seem to have alot of the same feature's...
 
Never used one of those but I have a Herpstat on my incubator and I love it, it's perfect. Before I used an Alife on/off for my first clutch and they hatched fine but the incubation temps did fluctuate a few degrees. The herpstat stays the same throughout. I use a Alife on some of my racks and a Ranco on the rest - I think on/off is perfectly fine for racks but I would recommend going proportional on incubators. You can get away with on/off but like I said they fluctuate more.
 
Abby said:
Never used one of those but I have a Herpstat on my incubator and I love it, it's perfect. Before I used an Alife on/off for my first clutch and they hatched fine but the incubation temps did fluctuate a few degrees. The herpstat stays the same throughout. I use a Alife on some of my racks and a Ranco on the rest - I think on/off is perfectly fine for racks but I would recommend going proportional on incubators. You can get away with on/off but like I said they fluctuate more.
Click to expand...

With an on/off, the most I have seen is a 2 degree change which is more than acceptable in the wild IMO. Some people even swear a little fluctuation is better and give the little fellas a little more time to absorb yolk. I don't think on/off should be considered a bad or wrong alternative, but not what you should get if you want your eggs to stay at an exact temperature (not saying you were implying so though).

Mine (Ranco) kicks on right when hit's 87 so I am asuuming appx 87.9 and then goes off at 89, assuming 88.9 since it hasn't had time to sit 89 very long. So, even though it doesn't read tenths of degrees, I have probed and it's very close to the high end of the temp (i.e 88.9) when it hits 90. So even though mine fluctuates between 87 and 89 with a two degree differential, it actually stays within 87.9 and 88.9 which is a pretty darn close fluctuation than that of my herpstat on pro.

I was real worried about calibrating my incubator a while back with an on/off and most of what I gathered, made me pretty confident it wasn't going to be an issue but once I get my second incubator filled and in use I will challenge the whole proportional vs. on/off thing and hopefully build some data.
 
Focal X said:
With an on/off, the most I have seen is a 2 degree change which is more than acceptable in the wild IMO. Some people even swear a little fluctuation is better and give the little fellas a little more time to absorb yolk. I don't think on/off should be considered a bad or wrong alternative, but not what you should get if you want your eggs to stay at an exact temperature (not saying you were implying so though).

Mine (Ranco) kicks on right when hit's 87 so I am asuuming appx 87.9 and then goes off at 89, assuming 88.9 since it hasn't had time to sit 89 very long. So, even though it doesn't read tenths of degrees, I have probed and it's very close to the high end of the temp (i.e 88.9) when it hits 90. So even though mine fluctuates between 87 and 89 with a two degree differential, it actually stays within 87.9 and 88.9 which is a pretty darn close fluctuation than that of my herpstat on pro.

I was real worried about calibrating my incubator a while back with an on/off and most of what I gathered, made me pretty confident it wasn't going to be an issue but once I get my second incubator filled and in use I will challenge the whole proportional vs. on/off thing and hopefully build some data.
Click to expand...
The Alife fluctuated from 87-91.5F throughout the day every day for my first clutch - all came out big and healthy on their own about 60 days later. I wasn't saying on/off is bad - just that they aren't as accurate ;) People can make their own decisions on which method is better for them. There is evidence out there that some regular fluctuation is actually good for the eggs as it makes the embryo stronger - atleast in sea turtle incubation. This makes sense to me, but I don't blame people for wanting to incubate at a proven constant safe temperature, either :eek: IMO the only danger of fluctuation is if the eggs are at a constant temp for 20 days then all of a sudden the temp changes - that would be worse than having fluctuation every 10 mins consistently since the beginning of incubation. Consistency is the key I think :)
 
Abby said:
The Alife fluctuated from 87-91.5F throughout the day every day for my first clutch - all came out big and healthy on their own about 60 days later. I wasn't saying on/off is bad - just that they aren't as accurate ;) People can make their own decisions on which method is better for them. There is evidence out there that some regular fluctuation is actually good for the eggs as it makes the embryo stronger - atleast in sea turtle incubation. This makes sense to me, but I don't blame people for wanting to incubate at a proven constant safe temperature, either :eek: IMO the only danger of fluctuation is if the eggs are at a constant temp for 20 days then all of a sudden the temp changes - that would be worse than having fluctuation every 10 mins consistently since the beginning of incubation. Consistency is the key I think :)
Click to expand...

:iagree: They definitely aren't as accurate as some proportionals that are out there!! I think the biggest mistake I would be making is not backing it up with a second thermostat. Definitely something I'll wanna do when I have big values in the oven :thumbsup:

I'm excited to hear more about this new thermostat, Clarence!! Let me know if you get it, I would love to check it out.
 
I was worried about the fluctuation when building my incubator. I only had enough money for the Ranco but I saw pics of other peoples incubators with water bottles, so every time I finished a propel I just kept adding them to the incubator. Must be 30 bottles in there now but I think it helps? I have the Ranco set at 89 and inside the tubs range from 87.5 to 88.0 so I'm pretty happy with that. I think Nick's idea of the back up stat is a good idea? And some day when I can afford it I would love to invest in a whole house generator. My parents have one and it's awesome! I'm always worried about the power going out when I'm not home.
 
JoeVerC said:
I was worried about the fluctuation when building my incubator. I only had enough money for the Ranco but I saw pics of other peoples incubators with water bottles, so every time I finished a propel I just kept adding them to the incubator. Must be 30 bottles in there now but I think it helps? I have the Ranco set at 89 and inside the tubs range from 87.5 to 88.0 so I'm pretty happy with that. I think Nick's idea of the back up stat is a good idea? And some day when I can afford it I would love to invest in a whole house generator. My parents have one and it's awesome! I'm always worried about the power going out when I'm not home.
Click to expand...

:iagree: The water bottles GREATLY reduced fluctuations!
 
Yep, I used the good ol' water bottle trick too. It works great. I have a temperature difference of less than one degree from top to bottom after adding the water bottles. Before it was about 2-5 depending on the temperature in my house.
 
Ok can someone break down the water bottle thing for me?? The fridge I picked up has a tub in the bottom to keep water in ( Nick you seen it ) will this work the same way as water bottle's??
 
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