Dimmable basking lights, on timers/thermostats....

[charmander16]

We're soon to be upgrading to a larger, 16 sq ft viv and I'd like to use some kind of setup that sort of simulates real world lighting/temp conditions.

My current setup uses 3 timers. I have a red light, a 100w ZooMed Basking light, and 18" UV light. The red light comes on from 6:00 am to 6:30 am and from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The UV light comes on from 6:15 am to 7:00 pm. The basking light is on from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm.

This is all done just using series of simple analog timers.

For the new setup I'd like to use a dimmable flood light (still mounted on a screen above the viv) that will come on on a timer, but also come on in a progressive fashion. Ideally it would start coming on around 6:15 and slowly reach "full" brightness around 6:30. Then again I'd like it to start dimming around 6:30 pm and be fully off by 6:45.

I was even thinking that it may be good to bring the brightness/temp up between 12:00 and 1:00 to simulate mid-day heat. I would think ideally I'd have the basking spot running around 95 F and bring it up to 110 for an hour in mid day.

So is there a reasonable, cost effective way to do this?

If I can do at least some of this I'll stop using the red light in the morning, but will still probably have it on in the evenings. I want to add a ceramic bulb for night-time as well since right now I'm using a heating pad on the side of his tank for night heat, but that won't be an option in the new wood viv. The ceramic bulb will need to be on a thermostat as well.

 

[Taterbug]

Look into the herpstat line by spyder robotics. It's not cheep but they are pretty much the only option unless you are into arduino or something. I have a similar controller and set it up like you describe.

There is no reason to use a red light though. Dimming a hallogen will give you a bit of a warm shift to the light.

 

[charmander16]

Thanks for the info. The main reason we use the red light is just so we can still see him at night before bed without too much disturbance. He usually lays down as soon as the basking light goes off and closes his eyes around 7:30 or so. But yeah, if the halogen on a really dim setting works, we'll go that way.

 

[charmander16]

I contacted the guys at spyder robotics and got some good info from them.

Another question. Can you put a halogen bulb in a typical basking light can? I see a lot of halogens mounted inside the viv, but can you also just put them in a can and set them on top?

 

[Taterbug]

By can do you mean dome?
As long as the socket is the right size and wattage you can use whatever. You can even find halogens of the typical "lightbulb" shape. A dome isn't as necessary on the floods since they have a built in reflector but it won't be a problem yonuse.