Thermometer Placement for Thermostat

Byron Todd

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May 31, 2017
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38
Hi All,
I have a thermostat that has a thermocouple connected by wire. Currently, I place this thermocouple below the light attatched to the wall.

However, this placement seems to measure the temperature innaccurately. For example the thermostat will measure 95 degrees where directly under the light is 120 degrees. How do y’all deal with this? Do you just decrease the setting on the thermostat do cut off heat at 70 degrees to compensate for the 25 degree difference? Or do you change the placement of the thermocouple? If tried to decrease the setting but I can never get it quite right, and I can’t really move the thermocouple to the top of the substrate because if the tortoise is sitting on top of the thermocouple it will continue to heat because he will be blocking the heat from reaching the thermocouple.

Please share your wisdom!

Thanks guys
 

Jodie

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I use the thermostat to control ambient temp, not basking temp, so I would put the probe in the coolest location of the enclosure. Then using a temp gun, I adjust the height and wattage as needed of my basking light to obtain the desired basking temp.
 

Byron Todd

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May 31, 2017
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I agree, if you don't have one already you'll want to pick up an infrared temperature gun like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PVZ4WH4/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

What kind of heat are you using?
I have the heat gun already. I’m using direct heat from CHE. I know ambient heat is better but they are mounted 3ft above the substrate.

So if using the thermostat to control ambient heat, how do you control basking temp?
 

vladimir

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I have a sulcata so I didn't use a CHE for very long before he got too big for it to be practical. I think a lot of people use the CHE on the thermostat to provide a steady ambient temperature, and an additional 65W flood bulb (not on a thermostat) to provide a basking temperature area. Adjust the height of the flood bulb as needed to get the correct temperature.
 

jsheffield

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As others have said, I use the thermostat to maintain the baseline ambient heat in my enclosures. I track the cycling of heat and humidity using bluetooth thermometer/hygrometer sensors, and use those readings to adjust the thermostats upwards or downwards.

Jamie
 

Gijoux

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I place my probe on the coolest side of the enclosure (opposite to the side where my Radiant Heat panel is installed, to ensure the cool side never gets cooler than 80 degrees. I measure basking temp with my heat gun to make sure it is about 95 - 100 degrees. I place a Sensor Push on each end of the cage so I can see what the temps are from coolest to warmest.
 

Maro2Bear

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I place my probe on the coolest side of the enclosure (opposite to the side where my Radiant Heat panel is installed, to ensure the cool side never gets cooler than 80 degrees. I measure basking temp with my heat gun to make sure it is about 95 - 100 degrees. I place a Sensor Push on each end of the cage so I can see what the temps are from coolest to warmest.

Pretty much exactly what I do as well. I only use one wifi enabled temp/humidity sensor. Seems to keep our Sully happy.
 

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