Ceramic heat light, newbie HELP

[JAS101]

id get the wiring checked out , from the ceramic socket end . with the heat the wire will fail over time the higher the wattage CHE used the more prone the wire is to fail.

 

[Bart70]

All good...I could not determine from your original posts if you had tried it without the thermo.

If all connections/wiring is good it will be looking like the CHE - I agree that it should be heating your enclosure VERY quickly at that wattage and from the look of your enclosure. I have used 100 & 150w in my very large enclosures (on a thermostat) and they have no problem doing the job at all. Enclosures the size of yours (if I am judging the size correctly from the pic) can mostly be heated satisfactorily with 35 or 50w halogens without thermo's if you are prepared to do a little testing and monitoring to ensure you get it right.

One of my current setups is a 600x450 enclosure with a basking tile 30 cm below a 35w halogen light and the tile sits at 35 degrees (this is without a thermostat....the light is on a timer) and warms up over about 2 hours or so. This tile is in one corner, allowing plenty of cooler areas around the enclosure for the snake to thermoregulate. As you will see, an enclosure this size with a well set up basking site does not require high wattages (and arguably fancy thermostats) to make it work, but they do make it easier for those with less time/ability to play around with setups.

The only thing I would suggest if using a Jet or Eco-Tech is to consider how large the globe/emitter is and its effect on the enclosure should the thermo fail and 'lock' it on (as one of mine did). If the globe size is well matched to the enclosure you will have less chance of overheating your animals should this happen.

 

[Squasset]

Thank you so much for this advise. It's given me a lot to consider. The enclosure is 900 by 450.. when I put the 100w ceramic in, it didn't heat it adequately. Now given my experience this time, I'm definitely thinking that there can be a discrepancy with the globes. We have put a regular red heating light (I've forgotten what they are called ) in the mean time, while we sort this out, and it is 75 watt and heating the enclosure perfectly. All in the same electrical fitting. What doesn't make sense to me is that the ceramic heaters are supposed to be more effective than these!? SO, what I'm going to do is get a 75 and 100 watt ebay ceramic job and experiment. I think your advise is really valuable, I'd hate for something to happen and Banjo get absolutely roasted :S
Incidentally, the supply shop DID exchange the original globe, so we have that as a back up too.
Really appreciate all the advice. Good to have people that care about their animals and are happy to share their experience. Ta.

 

[Bluetongue1]

What is clearly evident is that there was something wrong with the original ceramic bulbs you were using. It sounds like the bulbs were flawed but there is also the possibility, albeit unlikely, that they were not appropriate for the socket and were not making full contact with the electrodes.

Your 75W red heating light globe will be giving out both invisible infrared radiation (IR) and visible red light, while a ceramic globe gives out only IR and no visible light. The CHE should therefore produce more heat for the same wattage compared to heat source that also gives out visible light.

Infrared is the radiation that transfers heat e.g. from the sun to earth. It is a broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength just longer than the visible light spectrum. Like visible light, it passes through transparent materials, such as air and glass, and is absorbed by opaque materials, such as soil, skin etc. When absorbed, it causes the material to heat up. For example, if you are standing in the shade on a hot sunny day and move out into the sun, the heat you can feel in your skin is due to IR being absorbed by your skin.

Blue