I would just like to say that my UTH is driving me nuts.

Thank goodness I got this presnake this would have driven me nuts if I only got it right before the snake.
I thought it was regulating ok and everything (yes I have the reptitemp 500) but then I noticed when I thought it was at the right temp I would suddenly look over and it would be a degree or two more.
I finally realized tonight that my thermometer probe was not directly where the probe for the thermostat was, so I moved it...and it was at 93* F that'll show me to have it just resting in the substrate.
So I turned it down. Just now it was trying to regulate itself, the Thermostat light turned off when the thermometer read 85.5* So I'm thinking yay! But the temp is still rising, even though the light is off its at 87.4 right now. It seems to always rise another few degrees after shutting itself off, so I figure now I gotta turn the damn thing down even more. This UTH wants to badly to be hot. :flames:

It's entirely normal for your temps to fluctuate 2-3 degrees from what you have your thermostat set at. I wouldn't worry about it.

what i did was start with it on low (im a noob too) but then i put it almost half way then turned it down just a little more.. barley that worked 85..

Well after lowering it the last notch it kicked in at 81* stopped at 84* and now it's rising to...86.9*
I want to have it low enough so that when it spikes after going off it doesn't hit 90*

I just discovered that interesting UTH behavior last week, having a thermometer connected to it all the time! Really, all you can do is go by the highest temp. Even a more expensive proportional thermostat isn't a perfect fix- all that does is prevent it from falling 5F below what you set it at. Give it time to settle in, and make very small adjustments over the course of days.

Nanci

Well it's been set up since monday night @_@
Quick question.
Once I do finally get it regulated is it ok to turn it off till I get the snake? I mean the snake won't even been in it's habitat till monday night on the 7th. I sorta don't want to leave it running all this time if I don't need to.

i've had mine on for a few days to make sure the temps stay put. i'd leave it on if i was you i mean you might as well get used to the power being used..

Leave it on. It uses almost no power. I think all mine together use $35 a year, or something.

Nanci

Well hopefully I just found the magic spot.
Just went through another cycle, kicked in at 81.1* kicked off at 84.1* and then started to drop again 86.7* Do your thing reptitemp! :crazy02:

I took me about a week to get the temps where I wanted it isn't exact, I think mine turns on at 83 and off at around 88. I've found that my best friend for my viv is Velcro dots to secure the probe so it doesn't wonder from my snakes constant burrowing. Good luck

---Kenny

You could be getting the spike because the thermostat probe is inside the viv. By the time the heat gets thru the viv material to the probe, the UTH is already warmer. So it shuts off and eventually that extra heat makes its way to the probes.

Since you have time you can try moving the thermostat probe outside the viv and attach it directly to the UTH if thats possible, Use foil tape. Keep the thermometer probe inside at the hottest point the snake can get to.

I've found it to work better this way. Still takes fiddling to get it set correctly, but it doesn't tend to have as much of a spike

While an interesting and good idea Flagg, I don't want to fix it if it ain't broke. It seems to be staying at what I set it at last night thank jeebus.