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DIY Projects Use this forum to post threads related to home made projects for your corns... Vivariums, hides, decorations, accessories, you name it. Anything to save some bucks or give your personalized touch.

How to make your own Rheostat for less than $7! Detailed instructions.
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Old 09-17-2005, 04:05 PM   #71
DdotSpot
Well, i knew it was only a matter of time before someone tried to rail me for my post. Boy I sure hate it when threads take left turns like this. *sidenote* can we make some requirement that you send a PM first?

Anyhoo, can of worms already open. Ok lets address a few things...

First of all, thank you for your post. Its important to have and want to have everything as safe as possible for your animals.

Quote:
I personally would not use something of that quality in any outlet in my home. If anyone has questions as to safety, ask anyone that has experience in building such items.
I appreciate the compliment. I've wired near to 300 homes/businesses in my short-lived life and am not such a snewbie in that department. I can give you some good advice on building such items...

Quote:
Even just asking the guy at Home Depot or Radioshack as to how to make something as safe as possible and they will be glad to help you out.
Please...DO NOT ask these people for advice(esp Radioshack). 98% of the employees know JUST enough about electricity to give you the wrong advice and still make it sound like a good idea.

Quote:
Whenever working with electricity around a wet environment it is imperative to have a GFI outlet, like the one in your bathroom that shuts off when overloaded (say if you throw the hair dryer in the full bath tub).
I sure hope that nobody is using this item in the bathroom. Just fyi, this is strictly a guide for the heating in your snake rack. Not to adjust the voltage for your hair dryer. GFCI would be pretty useless in this situation. But hey, I'm all for safety! If you want to spend $25 for a GFCI alone go for it, but you wont find any "UL listed" rheostats using them...

Quote:
All that I am saying is that if you are going to build a custom unit like this, make it safe so that if maybe somebody pulls on the wires somehow (tripping over it, trying to straighten it, whatever) that you don't have live bare wires hanging out.
Well if thats all your saying, then good. We are on the same level. I certainly don't want ANYONE being able to pull these wires and it fall apart. Nor do I want anyone tripping over their cord. My suggestion is, if you build this item(which you are quite obviously not), when you secure it to your rack or UTH move the cords out of walkways so that you do not trip on them. Also, make sure that the wires are secure in the box(usually tested by pulling with sufficient might and making sure they are not moving).

I bought one of those "Zoo Med Rept Temp" rheostats, and I guarantee that my design is 3x safer. It is no longer being used on any of my heaters because of that fact. For one thing(as Mike mentioned), I cannot bring the temperature to below 100F. Secondly the box where the control dial is wired into has fallen apart(the metal screws that hold it together stripped out the plastic thread - go figure).

I'm done with part 1 of this response...we'll see if I can muster up the strength to finish all that I have to say later.





 
Old 09-17-2005, 05:56 PM   #72
Energi2er
I used a 16 Gauge 3 conductor Heavy insulated extension cord wire. I tied a knot in the wire on the inside of my gang box, so the knot in the wire is bigger than the hole it goes through. I can pull pretty hard on the wire and its not going to disturb the wires on the inside, they will still have plenty of slack. Also there is no way the knot can come undone because the harder you pull the tighter the knot gets. Not that I go and pull on the wire as hard as I can, But I think mine is pretty safe.
 
Old 09-17-2005, 09:46 PM   #73
stormi
Quote:
Originally Posted by DdotSpot
Please...if I left anything unclear, or you have any questions, please let me know. As I said before this isn't the only way to make one of these, actually I prefer this design over the other one, but its just a hair more expensive(not much though).
2questions 1 comment
1st question:how did you learn this
2nd question:how much is a store bought rheostat
comment:Brilliant
 
Old 09-18-2005, 08:18 AM   #74
jbkd
I don't know why I am responding to this thread as it has already gotten out of hand.

The most important advise anybody here can give is use common sense even if you don't have any. What I mean is, if you are not comfortable with this type of set-up than don't use it and if you are, do use it. You could spend a little more and get boxes with clamps to attach you cords and make everything nice and neat.

I have to agree with the comments about what is being sold out in the reptile world for these things. I looked at a bunch yesterday at a show and could not believe how crappy they were and how much they wanted for them. Obviously these items are manufactured for the brand-name reptile companies by third party contracts. I decided to make my own for the new rack I have.

What really freaked me out was one dealer of new reptile supplies was selling new and used helix controls pre-wired with only wirenuts loosely put on. The nuts were falling off as you picked them up. The used ones looked like rats chewed on them. The price was really good on them, but I could see that 13 yr old kid buying it and who knows what would happen. We all need to be responsible to keep this industry/hobby alive.
 
Old 09-18-2005, 02:19 PM   #75
DdotSpot
Quote:
Originally Posted by stormi
2questions 1 comment
1st question:how did you learn this
2nd question:how much is a store bought rheostat
comment:Brilliant
1st question: I worked as a journeyman's assist.
2nd question: about $20-$25

comment: Thanks for the kind words
 
Old 09-19-2005, 08:16 PM   #76
djsethall
I am actually going to be building two custom cages. One for my fiance to hold 16 corns and mine to hold 2 Red Tail Boas. I will be employing a custom heating unit with controls of my own design. I will be using 12x3 cable for all of my wiring. It is double insulated for use in wet environments, you never know if water might spill or not. The flex watt tape will be sandwiched between rigid foiled insulation and a layer of 1/4 inch ceramic tile fully grouted and waterproofed and on top of that will be a layer of 1/8 inch showerboard fully caulked for waterproofness. If anyone has autocad I would love to share the design and hear any input anyone might have. My plan is to use the little digital thermometer/hygrometers that are sold at MGReptiles for monitoring and the digital thermostats for control. Good luck on any projects you might involve yourself in, but remember safety.
 
Old 09-22-2005, 01:07 AM   #77
Tegucentric
When wiring an outlet or switch into an electrical box there are small aluminum fasteners that go into the holes in the box with a large round nut on the inside. The wire runs through these and can be screwed down.

A tip for a wire/plug; Open your junk drawer (don't we all have a drawer somewhere in the house with extra wires and misc junk?) and look to see if you have an extra computer power cord.

As far as grounding, if your UTH or heattape doesn't have a ground plug, then grounding the outlet does you no good.

Rick
 
Old 01-26-2006, 12:28 PM   #78
2i2_D3gr33s
I just wanted to add that a dimmer for a floor lamp is what I use. It's the same type of setup as the one built here, except that it's all one nice litte piece, and only cost's about 11 bucks. It's the first one on this page:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...gory=&pad=true
 
Old 01-26-2006, 12:30 PM   #79
2i2_D3gr33s
Here's a better page:
http://www.westsidewholesale.com/ind...&CATEGORY=3174

You can find these all over....
 
Old 01-31-2006, 04:20 PM   #80
LUBU
very good info... thanks
 

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