OAC wrote:Impressive! Honestly I haven't follow this heat mat making too close. What type of wires are you using?
Thanks!
The wire I use is Hot watts R-25 resistance wire (NiChrome), 2 ohms per foot. I got a great deal on it off of ebay this past spring, 2200' for $32. I called hot watts about some more they said 90 cents per foot!!!! Since then I have found another place that sells it by the pound. A pound of the correct gauge is around 8300' and $90 per pound. A typical heat mat has around 125' of wire in it.
can you clarified for me.
from my reading on Internet 2ohms/ft is 25AWG wire and about 1000 feet in 1 pound. 8300' in 1Lb is 34AWG wire and 17 ohms/ft
The resistance varies depending on the gauge wire you are using. You have to play around with the formulas to see which one will work in your application.
troublemaker wrote:It depends on the alloy. This is what I use $26 per pound about 1100 feet per pound.
That's a great price. Would you sell me some?
The resistance varies depending on the gauge wire you are using. You have to play around with the formulas to see which one will work in your application.
Looks like 25gauge wire working really good. Why mess around?
Yeah, I'll sell you some. What size mat? It takes about 125-135 feet per mat. For a 120VAC mat shoot for about 10 ohms total and a 240VAC around 26 ohms. You are going to have alot of series/parallel circuits.
troublemaker wrote:Yeah, I'll sell you some. What size mat? It takes about 125-135 feet per mat. For a 120VAC mat shoot for about 10 ohms total and a 240VAC around 26 ohms. You are going to have alot of series/parallel circuits.
For that price I'll take 1 lb spool. PM will be followed
On separate note why you making the blanket ways the resisting wire crossing over bus? To me would be easier make bus side-by-side and last run in each circuit go to other side this way no crossing over no possibility of short-circuit. I think this way done on commercial blankets (can make drawing picture if my description is not understandable) you can see wire imprint on Happy Monkey blanket picture
