Arcadia 100w or 160w?

[zx4g]

Hi, sorry in advance for the long post.
It's time to change my compact UVB bulb, I think im going for
Arcadia combined but unsure of which wattage
Would be best for my stars?
I have ceramic heat bulb (+7 year old) on a pulse
stat but now the new home is much bigger the heat
Isn't reaching the cold end which is open topped.
Table size is :-length = 4.5 ft (54 inch)
width = 3ft (36 inch)
max hight = 1.9ft (23 inch) Covered area (hot end)
my ideas are either:-
1) combined mvb over basking area and
Move ceramic heat to halfway down the unit (to the edge ofwhere
the roof ends)
Or
2) new UVB bulb with ceramic close by (as it is now)
and halogen strip-light in the open area
(not sure but that may overload the plug
socket, will need to do some maths)
Any advice please?
Temps are 38 -40 under the lamp and
Cold end is whatever the room temp is
(heating set at 21)
Thank you for reading

[houseofcutler]

Your table is much bigger than mine (I only have hatchings) So I can't advise on the whole set up but I can tell you that the Arcadia D3 Combi does not kick out much heat, far less than the equivalent wattage incandessant bulb. So if you want to maintain your basking spot temps you may well need a second heatsource on a stat next to it.
I started a thread about it, might be worth a look...

[Watermelon]

Heya my table is smaller than yours, it is 2ft x 3ft.... I have 160w and I get good temps 35C + hot end, 14/15 inches away. Some days it reaches 40C.

I used to have 100w megaray.. I got good temps but when it came to winter it wouldnt even reach 30C some days.

[Alan1]

if it was me I'd get the 160w

[zx4g]

Thanx, Alan do you think my maximum
height would be a problem? (23inches from
substraite to roof)

[Alan1]

Originally Posted by zx4g

Thanx, Alan do you think my maximum
height would be a problem? (23inches from
substraite to roof)

sorry, i never noticed that. yes it would i reckon because my bulbs are 19 inches from the glass to the ground and it's 26 inches from the ground to the top of the ceramic holder and 29 inches is the height my stands are set at. plus, if yours is kind of enclosed it would perhaps get too hot in there

[zx4g]

So 100w then or second option?
Sorry to be a pain
And thank you

[Alan1]

Not sure but I think given that it's 4ft 6ins long, I doubt whether the light would be very good over the whole table as it would have to be kept low at about 12 inches. Perhaps you'd be better with a T5 lamp and controller and a separate heat bulb like a spot lamp. Romski, who knows about such things says the likes of a lamp is really low in amps, like a 100w is about half an amp and you can have a max of 13amps in a socket. I think to find what amps an item has you divide the watts by the volts so 100 watts divided by 230 volts (or is it 240v, can't remember) = about 0.4 amps

[Alan1]

having said that, if your ceiling is as low as that maybe using a bulb with no shade would bounce light off the ceiling if it is light coloured paint but I don't know, most of the light goes downward anyway because of the reflective coating in the bulb but there is still some that goes up