Any Cheaper Thermostats for Heat Mats? - Page 2

luigiwu · December 29, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by loulac

I never cut off the lead of the mat but I connect the lead out of the thermostat to what we call a female plug in French, and I connect the male plug of the mat to that female plug. I hope I have been clear enough, if not I think some helpful Tomatovilian will be kind enough to reword that post !

I think I understand. So I need to buy a female plug in addition. Thanks very much!

biscuitridge · December 29, 2014

You don't need to cut the plug off,I'll show you how in a few days, it's very simple.

Worth1 · December 29, 2014

One thing I would like to discus here it the contact (what the guy in the video calls a switch) rating on the thermostats.

The 120 volt models that have been shown here have a contact/switch rating of 10 amps.
The largest heat mat I looked at (20X48 consumed 107 watts, this would be .89 amps.
We will just call it 1 amp to be on the safe side.

So with this said a person could go to the big box store and buy a 20 foot 16 gauge extension cord.
This cord with the above heat mat will have a voltage drop of 0.167 with load voltage being 119.833 volts AC.
The maximum currant draw on a 20 foot 16 gauge extension cord is 13 amps.

If you have one already and dont know what it is look on the sides of the cord.
It will say 16 AWG all along its side.(AWG stads for gauge).
You can then cut the thing in half in what ever place they wanted and they would then have the male and female ends that were mentioned before.

You would use the female end to wire into the dry contact/switch and the male end to plug into the power outlet and the other cut end to power the thermostat and supply the power to the heat mat by way of the contact/switch.
The hot wire will be switched through the contacts.

To tell the difference in what wire is hot and which one is neutral.
The hot will be black or any color but white or green.
White is always reserved for neutral and green is always ground.
The neutral will be solid white or black with a stripe down its side.
Neutral is what the guy in the video calls common.

When you cut the cord strip back to where you have about 9 inches to play with you can then use part of the 9 inches to make your jumper from the switch to the hot side of the thermostat.

Worth

greenthumbomaha · December 29, 2014

Worth, I'm the OP and that just convinced me to buy the Hydrofarm. I know nothing of grounding, etc. I wanted to save money but not if it means risking injury for $30. Useful info for those that are confident in their electric skills. The unit looks very reliable. Maybe someday ....

- Lisa

Worth1 · December 29, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Worth, I'm the OP and that just convinced me to buy the Hydrofarm. I know nothing of grounding, etc. I wanted to save money but not if it means risking injury for $30. Useful info for those that are confident in their electric skills. The unit looks very reliable. Maybe someday ....

- Lisa

Lisa I was actually hoping you would read this.
You know what I can do but even if it were me I would spend the 30 dollars too.

I dont like the idea of having open wires so I would have to have a box for it to go in.
By the time it is all said and done you would have spent 30 dollars.

Worth

Lindalana · January 4, 2015

Not sure of safety features although I have been using it for many years, I use electrical blankets bought on clearance sale many years ago. Large surface, fairly good temp control, once in a hoophouse on a cold night I drape entire blanket over the shelves. It does the trick every time. I am not growing for markets though, just myself and giveaway seedlings/ annual large plant swap/ which usually amounts to couple of thousands per season.

loulac · January 5, 2015

I suppose the electric blanket you are talking about was designd for beds. let me add that it should be entirely spread out, never folded, which would break the insulation of the wires inside. Your spreading on shelves looks safe. Isn't the temperature too high? I think you use a thermometer to check it.

biscuitridge · January 11, 2015

Hi everyone I'm finally getting to this032.jpg,sorry it's taken so long,first of all go to amazon and buy a digital thermostat,005.jpg 011.jpgthey're about $14.00, then decide what kind of box you want to mount it in,I just used a screw or nail on plastic box from big box stores and while your there pick up a double face plate,some 14 or 16 gauge stranded wire [it's easier to bend] a duplex outlet,wire nuts,romex connector,and extension cord with ground,it should be 14 or 16 gauge003.jpg,now the fun begins.First step is to lay out the size of hole to cut in the face plate,012.jpgcenter it exactly over where the switch goes,it needs to be 11/8" wide x 2 3/4" long,you can cut it out using a fine tooth jigsaw blade or a dremel type tool,once you get that cut out remove the little orange clips on sides of thermostat007.jpg by pressing and sliding off the end,now stick it in the hole you just cut and reinstall orange clips[,nice and snug,should look like this014.jpg next you need to do a little mod to the blue box in order for it to fit,if you look at this picture closely016.jpg 017.jpg 018.jpg 019.jpg you'll be able to see what needs to be done,I used a dremel tool with a spiral cutter,there's lots of ways to do it.Now that you have that done you can remove the knock-out on the back of the box and mount your romex connector in the hole,now it's time for wiring it up,if you follow my pictures001.jpg 025.jpg 026.jpg 027.jpg 028.jpg 029.jpg you will end up with one of the outlets that is always hot for like putting a timer in it for your lights and the other outlet will be where you plug in your germination mat,once you have the wires all hooked up[Note: BE SURE TO REMOVE THE LITTLE CONNECTING TAB BETWEEN THE TWO SCREWS ON BOTH SIDES OF OUTLET OR ELSE IT WON"T WORK ]021.jpg 022.jpg just stuff everything in the box and put the two face plate screws in and plug it in and stand back and admire,032.jpg 033.jpg 036.jpgthere that was EASY

PhilaGardener · January 11, 2015

Great tutorial! Thanks so much for putting that together!

biscuitridge · January 11, 2015

Your welcome, I trust it might be of some help to others, when I have a little bit of time I'll try to post some pictures of my germination set up,it might be of interest to some.

JamesL · January 12, 2015

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing.
Definitely post your germination setup.

Ed of Somis · January 18, 2015

My new heat mat did not come with a thermostat, of course. Are there drawbacks to germinating seeds (especially tomato) without a thermostat? Sorry if this has been covered already....

Worth1 · January 18, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed of Somis

My new heat mat did not come with a thermostat, of course. Are there drawbacks to germinating seeds (especially tomato) without a thermostat? Sorry if this has been covered already....

The drawback would be the heat mat over heating the seeds and killing them.
Myself I dont even see the need for heat mats they sprout just fine without them.
Whatever your room temperature is in the house is what the temperature of the seeds will be.

Worth

Ed of Somis · January 18, 2015

W...thanks for that. I did think that was the case. However, you guys were bent on spending my pension check!

If I use the mat...perhaps it should be turned off during warm days/nights. The dome sure keeps it damp inside!

luigiwu · January 18, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed of Somis

My new heat mat did not come with a thermostat, of course. Are there drawbacks to germinating seeds (especially tomato) without a thermostat? Sorry if this has been covered already....

I found I did not need to use a heat mat on tomato seeds, only peppers. I'm cheap an did not want to spring for a thermostat but I did put a little thermometer gadget to see how hot it was getting... it was getting HOT!! So I elevated everything above the mat now to make sure nothing gets fried by putting spacers.

This is the little gadget I put in my humidity chamber to see how hot it was getting.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80277004/

January 11, 2015	#23
biscuitridge Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: washington Posts: 487	Thermostat instructions Hi everyone I'm finally getting to this032.jpg,sorry it's taken so long,first of all go to amazon and buy a digital thermostat,005.jpg 011.jpgthey're about $14.00, then decide what kind of box you want to mount it in,I just used a screw or nail on plastic box from big box stores and while your there pick up a double face plate,some 14 or 16 gauge stranded wire [it's easier to bend] a duplex outlet,wire nuts,romex connector,and extension cord with ground,it should be 14 or 16 gauge003.jpg,now the fun begins.First step is to lay out the size of hole to cut in the face plate,012.jpgcenter it exactly over where the switch goes,it needs to be 11/8" wide x 2 3/4" long,you can cut it out using a fine tooth jigsaw blade or a dremel type tool,once you get that cut out remove the little orange clips on sides of thermostat007.jpg by pressing and sliding off the end,now stick it in the hole you just cut and reinstall orange clips[,nice and snug,should look like this014.jpg next you need to do a little mod to the blue box in order for it to fit,if you look at this picture closely016.jpg 017.jpg 018.jpg 019.jpg you'll be able to see what needs to be done,I used a dremel tool with a spiral cutter,there's lots of ways to do it.Now that you have that done you can remove the knock-out on the back of the box and mount your romex connector in the hole,now it's time for wiring it up,if you follow my pictures001.jpg 025.jpg 026.jpg 027.jpg 028.jpg 029.jpg you will end up with one of the outlets that is always hot for like putting a timer in it for your lights and the other outlet will be where you plug in your germination mat,once you have the wires all hooked up[Note: BE SURE TO REMOVE THE LITTLE CONNECTING TAB BETWEEN THE TWO SCREWS ON BOTH SIDES OF OUTLET OR ELSE IT WON"T WORK ]021.jpg 022.jpg just stuff everything in the box and put the two face plate screws in and plug it in and stand back and admire,032.jpg 033.jpg 036.jpgthere that was EASY

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December 29, 2014	#17
biscuitridge Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: washington Posts: 487	You don't need to cut the plug off,I'll show you how in a few days, it's very simple.

December 29, 2014	#18
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	One thing I would like to discus here it the contact (what the guy in the video calls a switch) rating on the thermostats. The 120 volt models that have been shown here have a contact/switch rating of 10 amps. The largest heat mat I looked at (20X48 consumed 107 watts, this would be .89 amps. We will just call it 1 amp to be on the safe side. So with this said a person could go to the big box store and buy a 20 foot 16 gauge extension cord. This cord with the above heat mat will have a voltage drop of 0.167 with load voltage being 119.833 volts AC. The maximum currant draw on a 20 foot 16 gauge extension cord is 13 amps. If you have one already and dont know what it is look on the sides of the cord. It will say 16 AWG all along its side.(AWG stads for gauge). You can then cut the thing in half in what ever place they wanted and they would then have the male and female ends that were mentioned before. You would use the female end to wire into the dry contact/switch and the male end to plug into the power outlet and the other cut end to power the thermostat and supply the power to the heat mat by way of the contact/switch. The hot wire will be switched through the contacts. To tell the difference in what wire is hot and which one is neutral. The hot will be black or any color but white or green. White is always reserved for neutral and green is always ground. The neutral will be solid white or black with a stripe down its side. Neutral is what the guy in the video calls common. When you cut the cord strip back to where you have about 9 inches to play with you can then use part of the 9 inches to make your jumper from the switch to the hot side of the thermostat. Worth

December 29, 2014	#19
greenthumbomaha Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Omaha Zone 5 Posts: 2,514	Worth, I'm the OP and that just convinced me to buy the Hydrofarm. I know nothing of grounding, etc. I wanted to save money but not if it means risking injury for $30. Useful info for those that are confident in their electric skills. The unit looks very reliable. Maybe someday .... - Lisa

January 4, 2015	#21
Lindalana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Chicago IL Posts: 857	Not sure of safety features although I have been using it for many years, I use electrical blankets bought on clearance sale many years ago. Large surface, fairly good temp control, once in a hoophouse on a cold night I drape entire blanket over the shelves. It does the trick every time. I am not growing for markets though, just myself and giveaway seedlings/ annual large plant swap/ which usually amounts to couple of thousands per season.

January 5, 2015	#22
loulac Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: France Posts: 554	I suppose the electric blanket you are talking about was designd for beds. let me add that it should be entirely spread out, never folded, which would break the insulation of the wires inside. Your spreading on shelves looks safe. Isn't the temperature too high? I think you use a thermometer to check it.

January 11, 2015	#24
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	Great tutorial! Thanks so much for putting that together!

January 12, 2015	#26
JamesL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 1,992	Fantastic! Thanks for sharing. Definitely post your germination setup.

January 18, 2015	#27
Ed of Somis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Somis, Ca Posts: 649	My new heat mat did not come with a thermostat, of course. Are there drawbacks to germinating seeds (especially tomato) without a thermostat? Sorry if this has been covered already....