Hobby Elstein Ceramic Heat Emitter - 60W

Hobby Elstein Ceramic Heat Emitter produces infrared warmth and no visible light at all - which is the whole point. It can run through the night to hold temperature without giving a nocturnal animal a permanent daylight it cannot escape. Elstein is the German ceramic element these are built around, and the reason they last.

Key Features

• Heat With No Light: use it overnight, or in a setup where you want background warmth separate from the lighting.
• Over 8,000 Hours of rated life, and it holds its output rather than fading the way a filament does.
• Four Wattages: 60W, 100W, 150W and 250W. Pick above.
• Splash Resistant: insensitive to water splashes, so it survives a humid or misted enclosure better than a glass bulb.
• E27 Fitting, so it goes into a standard ceramic lamp holder.

The Two Things That Catch People Out

• It gives no light, so you cannot tell it is on. That is exactly why it burns people and animals. It reaches a temperature that will cause a serious contact burn, and nothing about it looks hot. A guard is not optional.
• It needs a thermostat, without exception. A 250W ceramic emitter running unregulated in a UAE summer will cook an enclosure. Buy the Biotherm with it if you do not already have a controller.
• And a ceramic lamp holder. A plastic E27 fitting will soften and fail. The Hobby clamp lamps use heat-resistant ceramic sockets for this reason.

Using A Hot Lamp Safely

• Fit a guard. A basking lamp reaches a temperature that will burn an animal that climbs onto it, and reptiles do climb onto them. Hobby's Clamp Lamp Protector grids are listed separately and are not an optional extra in our view.
• Mount it so it cannot fall. Check the clamp or bracket every time you work in the enclosure. A lamp that drops into a terrarium is a fire as well as a burn.
• Run it on a thermostat, and measure what you get. Wattage is not temperature - the same bulb at 20cm and at 40cm gives completely different basking temperatures. Use a thermometer at the basking surface and adjust the distance.
• Leave a cool end. Heat one end of the enclosure only, so your animal can choose. A uniformly hot enclosure is the commonest husbandry mistake.
• Keep water off a hot bulb. Misting a lamp that is already up to temperature can shatter it. Switch off and let it cool first.

Good To Know

• Pick the wattage above. Start lower than you think - it is much easier to add heat than to cool an enclosure here.
• UAE mains suits this. Hobby build to 230V 50Hz, which is what comes out of the wall here, so there is no voltage problem. The plug is the European two-pin type, so you will want an adapter or a UK plug fitted - and it is worth running tank and terrarium equipment through an RCD-protected socket.
• Let it cool completely before you touch it or mist near it.
• It holds no UV and no useful light, so it does not replace a basking lamp or a UV lamp - it works alongside them.
• Check the fitting and guard every time you open the enclosure.