# Dimmer Thermostat question



## djf01 (Mar 19, 2010)

Hi,

Dim question (pardon the pun!) but I have a dimmer thrmostat to control the basking light in my viv.

The basking light has an on / off switch and is plugged into the termostat.
What do you do at night, as the instructuons with the termostat states that you should not turn the stat off. Do I simply turn off the light by the swtch and leave the thermostat on and turn it down?

The temps a night are usually fine and do not require any other heat source.
Ta


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## Whosthedaddy (Nov 29, 2009)

Just turn the dimmer down to a level that'll be the lowest temps wanted overnight, or if you have a ceramic as well, turn the dimmer all the way down and let the pulse stat and ceramic keep night temps up and just have the bulb fr basking during the day.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Stick the light on a timer (cost a couple of quid) and set it to go off when you want the lights to go out. 
Plug the stat into the wall, plug the timer into the stat and then plug the light into the timer.


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## lee young (Oct 14, 2009)

The instructions state that the stat shouldn't be turned off? Really? I've never seen that before, I can't see how turning off or unplugging a stat could be bad? My dimming thermostats have always been plugged into timers, they all get switched off every night with no issues?


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

lee young said:


> The instructions state that the stat shouldn't be turned off? Really? I've never seen that before, I can't see how turning off or unplugging a stat could be bad? My dimming thermostats have always been plugged into timers, they all get switched off every night with no issues?


Ditto.


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## rob2278 (Feb 20, 2008)

Meko said:


> Stick the light on a timer (cost a couple of quid) and set it to go off when you want the lights to go out.
> Plug the stat into the wall, plug the timer into the stat and then plug the light into the timer.


If you do use a timer, don't plug the timer in to the stat, plug the stat in to the timer. As you have a dimming stat, when it does "dim" it is supplying the attached lamp with a continuous variable supply of power or voltage depending on the required temperature. Things like timers are not designed to be used with fluctuating voltage supplies, they require a constant supply and in turn can fail.


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