# HabiStat thermostat and heat mat?????



## repkid (Nov 30, 2007)

I have a HabiStat heat mat and thermostat. Im very confused at the moment as a few strange things have been happening.

Well to start with,

I turned the thermostat dial to 88, and my thermometer read 91???. A red light was also lit on the thermostat with the word heat next to it.

Then I got back from football later and the thermometer read 82 and the red light was off???

Where should I have the sensor from the thermostat?? Touching the heat mat or on the tiles above, at the moment it is on the tiles above.

The thermometer is on the tiles (it is digital).

I thought a thermostat was supposed to help you maintain the heat you want! Not randomly chage the temps.

Any help will be much appreciated!

Brad


EDIT: Looked at the thermometer about ten mins ago and now it has gone down to 78.


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## slimrob (Mar 11, 2006)

firstly never go by the dial on the thermostat you are doing the right thing by using a seperate thermometer. the sensor should not be touching the mat, it should be above it about 2-3 inches away. there will be a slight variation of temps as the unit adds or stops supplying heat (a pulse proportional stat helps to avoid this) also bear in mind that you need to maintain a thermo gradient in your viv hot endf-86-90 and cool 74-78 as long as you maintain this you wont have too many probs. well done for testing this before before you put your leo in....


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## Mikey_C (Oct 19, 2007)

Reason for this is it works on an average temperature. So if you set it to 88F, it will switch off at around 91-92F and not come back on until the temp drops to 84-85F. The average of these 2 ranges being.... 88F!


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## Asha (Mar 21, 2007)

As others have said - don't rely on the temp setting on the stat itself. Set it a little lower. Place your probes on the heatmat/tiles - actually WHERE the occupant would sit.
Then monitor it for a while... make sure it doesn't go over your required heat when the heating light kicks in. When the light turns off it will cool down, and then kick back in again to heat up. That's how mat stats work... they are on/off stats. It just requires some adjustment on your part to get it right.

Dimmer stats on heat bulbs, and pulse stats on ceramics provide a more constant heat as they don't switch off.


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## labmad (Sep 23, 2007)

So.....do you reckon 'pulse' stats are the better option for heatmats as they are more likely to keep a 'constant' steady temp 

What do you reckon?


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## Asha (Mar 21, 2007)

Check out the different types here: www.camzoo.co.uk - Thermostats

As far as I'm aware you should only use mat stats (on/off) with heat mats. Pulse stats are meant for ceramics.


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## labmad (Sep 23, 2007)

Cheeers for the link  I know there are many stats about for different stuff......proportionals are used for non light emitting heat sources, so think mats would be fine using such a stat.......I'm sure others already do this.....can't remember who though.....so if anyone does use pulse stats for mats please come forward


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## Lizard_Boy (Mar 1, 2007)

Hi, I use my heat mat on a pulse stat, works fine : victory:


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## labmad (Sep 23, 2007)

Nice one matey - I am seriuosly thinking of swapping from the mat stat to pulse stats for my mats .......just think the pulse stats will keep a more constant steady temp than a mat stat.....which will also be good for an incubator too


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## Lizard_Boy (Mar 1, 2007)

I used to use a microclimate ministat 100, good unit just found i had to tweak it every now and then. My pulse is a habistat day/night, i don't use the night cycle but its there if i need it in future. Cheapest place i found was Cornish Crispa, if your just after a normal pulse stat then Camzoo do microclimates for £30 delivered - bargain! Hope this helps mate : victory:


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## Shifta93 (Jul 27, 2008)

*help me!?!?!?!*

Hi, just signed up to this website to ask this question i have a leopard geckos and i do breed but i have recently discovered that the cages over heat in the summer i have invested in a habistat matt stat but soon realised once i got it that it was made for matts it has not yet arrived from ebay but i was wondering if i can use it on a bulb it does say it can be used on matts upto 100w and my bulb is only 60w any help will really be appreciated.



also when people put numbers e.g 1.4.2 what does this mean i think it means what reptiles or sexes they have but i am to sure i know this is not related but please try to answer thank you :?  :?:


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## Axel01 (Jun 14, 2008)

First up 1.4.2
1 = 1 Male
4 = 4 Female
2 = Juveniles/ indeterminate
(I think )

My prob here is I've got a heat mat 'regulated' bay a mat stat. but doesn't seem to do anything. I know it's been warm recently and it's supposed to be maintaining about 25c background. The light is on but nothing seems to happen. All the thermometers are reading a range of 19 - 23c.

The mat is attached to the underside of an exo terra. There is quite a thick layer of substrate above it. there is about 3 cm of hydro leca below a slightly thicker layer of plantaion earth. There is a shallow layer of water in the leca. I had thought that the water would retain soem heat.


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