So I have my 120W RHP set up in my 6x2x2 enclosure and when I got it about a month ago it was fine and everything was good. my probe is hanging about 3” under the panel. It’s hooked up to a VE-200 thermostat. Well I have my thermostat set to 90 but the probe is reading 75 and doesn’t go higher than that but the panel started melting a bit the other day (I stopped using it till I could figure something out). I’ve tried moving the probe and setting it in other places but it just sits at 75 and never reads the 90 I set it to. Since I turned the panel off and have been watching it closely the melting hasn’t gotten worse so I don’t believe it’s still doing that. Could it be cause of the size that it’s throwing the reading off? Is it cause my room isn’t 90 degrees?? Like I really don’t know. The panel itself isn’t even hot so idk how it melted. In the spots it’s melted at it’s barely hot at all it definitely doesn’t even feel like 75. I feel like the probe is reading the ambient temperature cause of my room but I have no idea. Also google says it’s normal for one side of the panel to get warm instead of of the whole panel? Cause one side of my panel is warm and the other is not.
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If a panel is starting to melt, something is very wrong and the panel should not be used.
On the probe, set temp, etc, With a setup like you’re describing, the thermostat set temp will be lower than the intended hot spot temperature. For example, in my vision 422 enclosures using 80 watt panels, my desired hot spot is 89 to 91 f. The thermostat is set to 80.5f
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Just to clarify about the photo, did you tape the wire of your probe to the bottom of the RHP or is that something else?
Also, an RHP should not be melting at all even when set on max for weeks. If it is, and it isn’t some other plastic thing nearby or touching it, there’s definitely something wrong and should not be used.