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Zoomed 500R Thermostat

T

tom e

New member
After I built my new enclosure and before I had moved Holden into it (Thank God), I decided to set up everything so I could see how it all worked..
I was using Flex Watt tape on a Zoomed Repti temp 500R thermostat. I set it all up, taped the sensor to the Flex Watt and covered with about an inch of aspen. I set the therm on low and then I left for work.
When I got home from work and checked the temps, the heated side seemed way up. I dug to the flex watt and checked it's direct temp..

158 degrees F!!

I don't know if my snake would have survived had he been in there. I got so freaked out, that I went and bought another (much more expensive) thermostat- which worked great, but I still have the first..

I know I've seen a couple other people here recommend them, and so I'm wondering if there's some common mistake that I might have done? Or maybe mine was just defective? Or maybe it's not meant to be used with flex watt?
Any advice would be helpful, as I'd like to be able to use this one if I get another snake...
 
I've heard that it really depends on how much and what size Flex Watt you are using, the Repto therm 500R is only usable with a certain amount of electricity (although I don't know what it is). I have never used Flex Watt with the thermostat so I don't have any direct experience.
 
How hot does Flex Watt get _without_ a thermostat??? :eek1: :eek1:

I use the ZooMed 500R on 5 tanks, with a couple different UTHs, and I've been hapy with it. If anything, it lets them get a few degrees colder than I'd like before kicking in.

Nanci
 
This is what I have and it controls flexwatt just fine. I think its around the price range of your ZooMed. Maybe you just got a defective thermostat? The one I have is not perfect, I find I have to reset the temps once in a while, but I have had it about a year and a half with no problems so far *knocks on wood*. But I also have a more expensive Ranco thermostat you can get from mgreptiles. And once I get my AP rack in a couple days I will be using only that thermostat... I dont trust the cheap ones after all the stories I have heard about them!
 
I'm surprised, I use the zoomed 500R and I haven't had any problems.

How long was the heat tape you had plugged into the thermostat? The 500R can deal with 500 watts of power, hence the 500 in the name. That's enough to heat 50 feet of 3" flexwatt! If anyone else has had problems with the zoomed 500R I'd love to hear about it 'cause I was going to use it for my 39 cage hatchling rack, and if it's not safe I'd like to know.

One more thing. There's quite a bit of VERY important info out there about how to safely set up flexwatt. It needs to be ventelated etc. so that could be part of it, but I agree that you probably had a defective thermostat.
 
I have a Zoo Med 500R hooked up to a Exo Terra heat mat and it works fairly well but the temperature setting is turned pretty far to the cool side to maintain the glass temp under 90F.

Where did you have the dial set on your 500R? Maybe it was dialed up to the hot side?

I would try again without the snake in there and start with the dial in the middle. Give it a couple hours and check your temp. If too hot turn the dial half way to the coldest setting and wait a few hours and check again. Keep adjusting until you get the desired temp.

If you're on the coldest setting and the heat runs away too hot like that then I'd send it back.
 
I use that exact thermostat with all of my flexwatt and haven't had any problems. It does a good job holding the temp to within a couple of degrees. And even if run at full power flexwatt shouldn't get that hot. Sounds like you either had a defective thermostat or defective flexwatt.
 
You just didn't adjust the 500R properly. You can't just "set it to low' and assume the temps will be in the proper range. It takes a bit of trial and error to get it dialed in to the proper temp.

I imagine you probably had it set to the higher range and thought you had set it to low.

I find the best way to adjust it is to watch the temp as it warms up and when it hits the max temp you want, turn the dial until the light just goes off. Then keep an eye on it for a few cycles so you can fine tune it to the proper range. They work just fine, I have 3 500R's running 5 corn tanks with UTHs.
 
I've spent a good bit of money on buying those ZooMed thermostats/rheostats, and I won't do it again. For all of you that have had good encounters, more power to you, but every 'cheap' thermo/rheo I've bought is junk (I was trying to go the cheap route at first b/c I wasn't sure what I was doing). The 500R worked the best out of them all, but it's still nothing special. I now have a Johnson Control and it's pretty good, but I would go buy an appliance dimmer from home depot (I have 2 now) before I bought another ZM product. Good luck, maybe the store will take it back or exchange it.
 
Flagg said:
You just didn't adjust the 500R properly. You can't just "set it to low' and assume the temps will be in the proper range. It takes a bit of trial and error to get it dialed in to the proper temp.

I imagine you probably had it set to the higher range and thought you had set it to low.

I find the best way to adjust it is to watch the temp as it warms up and when it hits the max temp you want, turn the dial until the light just goes off. Then keep an eye on it for a few cycles so you can fine tune it to the proper range. They work just fine, I have 3 500R's running 5 corn tanks with UTHs.
Click to expand...

No, as per the directions, I started it completely on low. (Turned the dial so that the word "low" was visible and none other...) and my plan was to come home from work and see what temp low had created so I could adjust.
In fact when I had seen the high temp I checked it again just to be sure.

So that's clearly not the problem.

I guess I just have to assume mine is defective?
 
Lennycorn said:
I was thinking about switching over to ZM 500R and flexwatt, when I build a larger Viv. I already bought one. But I wasn't sure if it was any good. Still not sure. But this is was I read so far about it. http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/flexburn.shtml
If thats any help to you.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's a wild story.
If I understood it correctly though, he wasn't using anything to regulate the flex-watt though, so I guess we should fully expect that to happen?
 
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