Hello,
maybe it will help.
To ensure a good root temperature, I use no christmas lights.
As seen on the picture, not much of the heat will heat upt the pot, because the lights radiate much heat beside the air of the pot, as giving their heat to the planting medium inside the pot.
So that's energy wasting....
In terraristic shops, as some special pet shops with aquaristic and terraristic departmants, are heat foils available. Those mats are water resistant and contain a high performance heating cable.
So such mats are ideal, because usually the weight of a whole fish tank or terraristic glas Showcase will be placed on it, so the weight of a pot isn't critical. Those mats radiate their heat direkt to the surface, best for our demands.
I just cut a woody board to the size of the heating mat, place it onto stryrofoam, like styropor (r) for insulating purposes. onto the wood I give a little aluminium foliar, just as reflective, and onto the alu foil A place the heating mat. Not, direct onto the heating mat I set the pot atop.
Now all the heat radiation from the heating mat will penerate from the pots bottom into the pot, warming the roots like a under-floor heating in our living room.
And the results are great.
Simply search for those heating mats,
ThermoLux by Acculux is a brand name here in germany, but I am sure, there will be compareable ones in the US too