Rheostat. What does it do?!?

[erica anne]

I invested in a Kane heating mat for my tortoise and not a moment too soon! It got quite cold here in Arizona last night. I have it hooked up to a thermometer and set it at 90°. Is this a good setting? I don't want to cook him but I want him to stay nice and toasty. Also, I bought a rheostat with the mat because it was recommended. What exactly does this do? I don't want to use it incorrectly!!! Thank you!

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

How much was that together and where did you purchase? I'm picking up another rescue Sulcata tomorrow, and being 50 lbs I will most likely have to house him in the garage, and Oregon is COLD!!




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Sandy
Oregon-Washington Tortoise Rescue

Mo the Sulcata (4.8 lbs)
Oliver the Sulcata (50 lbs)
Larry the Jordanian Greek
Curly the Eastern Hermanni
....baby Sulcata Franklin on the way!
Lola the Basenji
Dexter the Basenji
John the boyfriend stuck in Kansas...so I get more tortoises!

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm not familiar with the Kane brand, but with my pig blanket, I set the rheostat to a number I want, usually about halfway (my numbers on the dial go from 0 to 9) and then after a couple hours I measure the temp of the pad. If it's not warm enough, I'll turn the dial on the rheostat up a number. If it's too hot I'll turn it down a number. You have to keep checking and adjusting throughout the winter because if it gets colder, the pad heats up more, etc. The rheostat tries to keep your pad at a steady temperature, making the electricity for the pad go on and off accordingly. Without the rheostat, the pad just gets hot and stays hot.

 

[erica anne]

I found it was the cheapest at valley pet supply so I ordered both the mat (18"x28") and rheostat from them. The total was $109 plus shipping. This did not include a thermostat....

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I'm not familiar with the Kane brand, but with my pig blanket, I set the rheostat to a number I want, usually about halfway (my numbers on the dial go from 0 to 9) and then after a couple hours I measure the temp of the pad. If it's not warm enough, I'll turn the dial on the rheostat up a number. If it's too hot I'll turn it down a number. You have to keep checking and adjusting throughout the winter because if it gets colder, the pad heats up more, etc. The rheostat tries to keep your pad at a steady temperature, making the electricity for the pad go on and off accordingly. Without the rheostat, the pad just gets hot and stays hot.

Thank you Yvonne. Some of this stuff goes right over my head lol. I will set it in the middle and go from there. So go go by the temp of the pad? What temp do you like to set it at? In other words how do I know he is warm enough? The temp read 83 degrees and his plastron was a little warm but not overly. I am not really sure how to gauge if he has the right setting.

---

I found it was the cheapest at valley pet supply so I ordered both the mat (18"x28") and rheostat from them. The total was $109 plus shipping. This did not include a thermostat....

---

I'm not familiar with the Kane brand, but with my pig blanket, I set the rheostat to a number I want, usually about halfway (my numbers on the dial go from 0 to 9) and then after a couple hours I measure the temp of the pad. If it's not warm enough, I'll turn the dial on the rheostat up a number. If it's too hot I'll turn it down a number. You have to keep checking and adjusting throughout the winter because if it gets colder, the pad heats up more, etc. The rheostat tries to keep your pad at a steady temperature, making the electricity for the pad go on and off accordingly. Without the rheostat, the pad just gets hot and stays hot.

Thank you Yvonne. Some of this stuff goes right over my head lol. I will set it in the middle and go from there. So go go by the temp of the pad? What temp do you like to set it at? In other words how do I know he is warm enough? The temp read 83 degrees and his plastron was a little warm but not overly. I am not really sure how to gauge if he has the right setting.

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I also have it hooked up to a thermostat.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Just FYI to help differentiate these things, modified from a like listserve. Will

A thermostat tests the temperature then turns the heat or light ON and OFF to keep the temperature in a certain range, like the one in your home that controls your heat or air conditioning. Some thermostats for animal housing come with a probe you can place somewhere in the enclosure. The one in your home has the 'probe' in the controller itself, that is why placement of the one in your home is important. It is typically only an automated ON and OFF.

A rheostat or dimmer is a dial that allows the user to adjust the level of heat/light based on the person using the device by rotating the knob, but is not automated with feedback from a probe sensing the surroundings. It works like the volume knob in your car. Rheostats can be used with a thermostat but it’s not necessary, if so, then you have a proportional thermostat.

A proportional thermostat is a combined mechanism that 'rotates' the knob to adjust how much power is used to maintain the set point, like in the thermostat description above. It is always ON, but regulates how much power is used, like a dimmer to maintain the set points bracketed by low and high.

 

[erica anne]

Should I use the thermostat with the rheostat?

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I bought them separately.

 

[sibi]

Thanks Will, that perfectly answers the question. I too bought a Kane blanket but it doesn't have a thermostats connected with it. I had to get a rheostat. You either use one or the other. If you purchased it w/ a thermostat, you didn't need to get the rheostat. I would just use one or the other.

 

[erica anne]

Ok thanks!

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

EEEEEEEEEK! That's expensive.
I will save for a few paychecks and get Oliver a warmy. Thanks for the info.


-------
Sandy
Oregon-Washington Tortoise Rescue

Mo the Sulcata (4.8 lbs)
Oliver the Sulcata (50 lbs)
Larry the Jordanian Greek
Curly the Eastern Hermanni
....baby Sulcata Franklin on the way!
Lola the Basenji
Dexter the Basenji
John the boyfriend stuck in Kansas...so I get more tortoises!

 

[sibi]

Yeah they are! And I bought two of the larger ones!

EEEEEEEEEK! That's expensive.
I will save for a few paychecks and get Oliver a warmy. Thanks for the info.


-------
Sandy
Oregon-Washington Tortoise Rescue

Mo the Sulcata (4.8 lbs)
Oliver the Sulcata (50 lbs)
Larry the Jordanian Greek
Curly the Eastern Hermanni
....baby Sulcata Franklin on the way!
Lola the Basenji
Dexter the Basenji
John the boyfriend stuck in Kansas...so I get more tortoises!

 

[wellington]

If you use a thermostat, you have less worry in my eyes. You set the thermostat to the temp you want and plug the heat mat to it and place the probe inside the area you are heating. The thermostat does the rest. There is no having to keep adjusting the knob or changing it because the weather changed. For my area, Chicago, I have a radient heat panel on top of hide facing floor and a heat mat on the floor under the panel. Both hooked up to the same thermostat. If the temp in the hide gets below 80, both will come on warming the tort from above and below but will. It heat up over the set temp of 80.

 

[erica anne]

Very expensive. I am sure we all discover at some points that tortoise keeping is not cheap lol. They are with it though.


Here is a question:

If I hooked up both the thermostat and the rheostat to the heat mat which one would take over to control the temp??

Thanks for all if the feedback!!

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

Can one of you please post pics or a link or give me an idea where I can buy a thermostat style rheostat? I need one ASAP to go with the pig blanket Cowboy_Ken just lent me.

Lowe's, perhaps?


-------
Sandy
Oregon-Washington Tortoise Rescue

Mo the Sulcata (4.8 lbs)
Oliver the Sulcata (50 lbs)
Larry the Jordanian Greek
Curly the Eastern Hermanni
....baby Sulcata Franklin on the way!
Lola the Basenji
Dexter the Basenji
John the boyfriend stuck in Kansas...so I get more tortoises!

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Re: RE: Rheostat. What does it do?!?

"Can one of you please post pics or a link or give me an idea where I can buy a thermostat style rheostat? "

No such thing as you worded it. A proportional thermostat, is what you may have tried to describe (?).

LLL has them at the lowest price I know of. They have "helix" brand at $140 each.

There are many more choices. At lower cost.

Otherwise many pet shop, tack supply, hay & grain stores will have otherd.

Will

 

[erica anne]

I prefer my thermostat over the rheostat. I can set it to a specific temp. My thermostat was $30 on amazon but I would defiantly check Lowe's etc.

 

[wellington]

This is the ones I use. I have three of them. Not purchased from the place in the link.
http://www.petco.com/product/108340...la-_-1202944&gclid=CPmS_ZbrkroCFZBAMgodtx4AAw

 

[mike taylor]

You could have just went to Walmart and got a 45 dollar oil filled heater. Put it on the floor of the enclosure block it off so your tort can't burn him self. Works better than the pig mat heaters and way cheaper.

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app

 

[wellington]

You could have just went to Walmart and got a 45 dollar oil filled heater. Put it on the floor of the enclosure block it off so your tort can't burn him self. Works better than the pig mat heaters and way cheaper.

Sent from my C771 using TortForum mobile app

I agree. Pig blankets only warm from the bottom. I have mine with a radiant reptile heater over head to also warm from above. I also have an oil filled radiator to warm the whole shed.

 

[Len B]

When the rheostat that I got with my first stanfield mat stopped working I looked inside the cover to see if I could see why it stopped working, I found a dimmer, The wall mounted type that is used for incandescent lighting in homes. I never did figure out why it stopped working properly, just replaced it with a dimmer switch from home depot, this is it's 3rd season and still working fine.

 

[Sulcata_Sandy]

I placed the pig pad on the top of the Rubbermaid, using an old bath towel as a privacy curtain, temp inside is 86.5°.




-------
Sandy
Oregon-Washington Tortoise Rescue

Mo the Sulcata (4.8 lbs)
Oliver the Sulcata (50 lbs)
Larry the Jordanian Greek
Curly the Eastern Hermanni
....baby Sulcata Franklin on the way!
Lola the Basenji
Dexter the Basenji
John the boyfriend stuck in Kansas...so I get more tortoises!