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Flexwatt emergancy - help!

S

Slik

New member
Ok, I need the resident Flexwatt electricians to help me out if possible.

I built a rack for my collection of Corns this week, the 3" Flexwatt came last night and I elected to solder the wires on as opposed to using the clips...I've read the solder method holds up better over time.

After soldering 4 pieces together with 12" of extention cord splices and plugged it all in and waited for 30 minutes...it never heated up. Here is a pic of my solder joints...can you think of anything I might have missed?

I know the info I just provided isnt a lot but that pretty much how I did it. I received the roll of the #" tape, I cut it to the lengths I needed, I took the hot solder gun and melted the plasitc off the visible copper strip at two spots, one on each side and then soldered the wire in place.

Enclosed is a pic.

My major dilema is that I am supposed to pick up 3 other corns tonight and I had not anticipaited having any issues making this heating strip work. So as you can see I am in need of some FAST help.

Many thanks,
 

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Sorry, I knew I had not given enough clear info...

The rack I'm building as the normal shelves and I have elected to run the flexwatt vertically behind each set of tubs. So I cut 4 piecees of equal lengths (33") and soldered electrical plug piece to the bottom of the 1st row, then soldered a 12" piece of cord to the top of the same row...soldered it over to row #2 at the top then moved to the bottom of row 2 soldered a new 12" piece to it and then soldered the other end of the 12" cord to the bottom of row 3,....basically following this method until I came to the last piece of flexwatt.

As far as I could tell I constructed the wiring just per the nice tutorial found here...

Flexwatt Wiring Help

Thanks
 
I think he wired four pieces of flexwatt together for 4 shelves on one circuit.

Well, I guess not :eek: I forgot that some people use the heat tape vertically. I still had the general idea, though.

Ummm...one more thing...
I once wired several strips of flexwatt together, and they wouldn't work. I had forgotten about this. I found out that I didn't have my "circle" of connections right. If I remember correctly, the current has to make a complete circle. I had somehow gotten mine criss-crossed. Once I straightened that out, it worked.
 
Yes, what Corncrazy said...

here is a drawing to help explain my jibberish~
 

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Basically, what I am saying is that if you lay all of the heat tape out in a straight line, would your connections be like this? Or are they criss crossed somewhere along the way?
 

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Well I am 99% sure they are all wired like your diagram indicates but I can verify this at lunch time today.

If I did accidently cross any would that prevent the tape from heating up at all?

Lee
 
I believe it would cause all of the heat tape to remain cold because the current would not be able to make a complete circuit.
 
Ok, I know absolutely nothing about electrical (as if you couldn't already see that :D ) so I will double check that possibility at lunch today. I hope it is that simple...I have a history of mechanical/electrical failures so this little episode is not surprising for me...I'm kind of an "all thumbs" sorta guy I guess.
 
Ok, the good news and the bad news...

I went ohome over lunch and looked the setup over closely to discover that on of my sections of the extention cord had indeed been crossed (next time I will seperate the two individual strands and solder one piece at a time instead of leaving them together like a lamp cord). However, after correcting that issue and covering all the exposed connections with electrical tape I plugged it in and still nothing...no heat, not even the slightest ( I had my digital thermometer on it to validate nothing was happening)

So I am now at a complete loss as to what may be the issue. Could I have possibly fried the heat tape when I plugged it in and it was cross wired? Guess I should have gone with the clips or something to make this a bit easier on me.

Thanks

Lee
 
Sorry to hear that it still isn't working. I know that mine still worked after I corrected my connections. I guess it's possible to fry them with incorrect connections, though.

I have never tried soldering my connections before. The clips just seemed easier. You are sure that you got the plastic off enough to get a good connection?
 
Well, I assume I did, like in the link I attached above, he mentions using the soldering iron to melt off the plastic until raw copper is visible. I did this but I guess I can heat them all up and remove the wires, use a knive to scrape them perfectly clean and try again...

Another thought I had, actually brought up by the guy I was supposed to be getting my corns from tonight, was this...

When I received the tape it was cut to a 20' length but the end cuts were angled as to not cut across any of the black elements which run in between the copper strips. I "squared" the ends up prior to soldering and am wondering if by doing so I cause it to not work? In this picture you can see a sliver of one of the elements which is not reaching across to the copper strip but I know very little about electrical things and didn't know it this would/could be the issue.

Thanks
 

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I don't think cutting across the heat tape like that would cause it to not heat. With the first ones I made, I cut straight across and they worked. I made sure to cover the raw end with electrical ends to make certain it was not a fire hazard, though. I use 4" flexwatt and it's "heating elements" are not at such an extreme angle. I now try to not cut into the black stripes, though, just to be on the safe side.

I looked at the link you provided earlier in the thread. It says, "Be careful not to get the heat tape too hot or the copper strip will separate from the plastic on the other side and lose some strength." I wonder if it would be possible to make it not work at all if this happens...

I am out of ideas. I don't know anything about soldering the connections. Maybe you can write to Clay at ARB Reptiles. He's the one that made that page. Maybe he can help...
 
i would check to make sure that the plastic is melted off. if th plastic wasn't melted off then the wire wouldn'tgeta good connection and that cold definetly be your preoblem. If that doesn't work i ould try to see if it would heat up with just one strip of heat tape. meaning not t have the three strips hooke together ony hook up one strip. If it still doesn't wrk then i dont know what else to sugest except possible emailing te manufacturer.

hope this helps
 
Ok folks, here's the scoop. We're up and RUNNING!!! :dancer:

It seems the brand spanking new 12' electrical cord I picked up at Menards to use for the wiring was faulty~ After trying everything (twice) on a whim and out of sheer desperation in the wee hours of the morning I walked down stairs and spied a 1/2 dead fan...I cannibalized its cord and went back up stairs to cut off ALL the old solder connections and started from scratch. I decided to check the heating part one section at a time and low and behold after soldering up the 1st panel it got HOT!!! The rest is history and my new rack is up and running.

I really want to thank all of those who continued to try and provide me with solutions and help on this issue (especially you Corncrazy), I cannot believe what a great bunch of knowledgeable and helpful folks you all are~~

So mystery solved and I am headed to pick up my 3 new Corns this evening...a male and female '03 Bloodred and a nice '03 Snow Motley!



:cheers: to everyone...

Lee
 
Great news!

I am very glad you got it going! But mostly I am glad you are going to get your new snakes today! Post pics of them after you get them all settled in!
 
It looks to me that you had a cold solder joint. It seems that way in the picture but it could just be the picture.

Cold solder joints generally look more like a "bubble" of metal while correctly fused joints meld in with the metal they're bonding with a lot more.
 
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