building a incubator from a wine cooler

[gpop1]

Absolutely amazing build. This is hands down the best home built incubator I've seen and I've seen many lately. If it performs as well as I'm sure it will. This could possibly even out do pro built incubators.Great Job!

thanks

 

[gpop1]

forgot to post this pic of the rear of the hatcher. The board has 3 mosfets which act as relays and control the light, fans and peltier via pwm. The only real change I had to make to the cooler was drilling 2 holes to add the temp/humidity sensor and a extra fan. Its a good idea if you are using a peltier to add a extra fan. All the tests I did on the bench said it didn't need one until I added racks and other stuff which lead to cold/hot spots.




cable connecting to the incubator uses 8 cores and a multi-pin plug. The hatcher gets power and controls from the incubator via this one cable. I also added a extra screen on the lcd so you can shut down the hatcher when its not in use.

 

[gpop1]

not sure what links are allowed. This is where I started to learn how to code and some of the basics of arduino.



http://wiki.epalsite.com/index.php?title=Starter_Kit_for_Arduino

 

[yellowherb]

Absolutely amazing build. This is hands down the best home built incubator I've seen and I've seen many lately. If it performs as well as I'm sure it will. This could possibly even out do pro built incubators.Great Job!

I've been telling him this is better than any cabinet incubator I've seen for sale. It may be small, holding only 2 trays or 3 if you get stackable green type, but it's mighty and has all sorts of gizmo's built in.

 

[wynn4578]

It's a high set bar. When I find the right wine cooler I'm going to steal some ides from your build. I am the type however to give credit where credit is due

 

[gpop1]

It's a high set bar. When I find the right wine cooler I'm going to steal some ides from your build. I am the type however to give credit where credit is due

lol you don't have to steal or give credit. I did this as a project if it helps you or anyone else then im happy. Im also willing to help anyone that's building a incubator. If I had to list the people I borrowed ideas from I would need another 3 pages of posts.

I like to follow other people builds as there's some neat design. I still think the peltier is a option that more people should consider and I wish I had finished some of my design testing before yellow over flowed the proto-type cooler.

Im still looking at coolers on CL (they had the same make i used for the incubator on there for $50 which is a shame as i would have liked the incubator and hatcher to look like a matched pair). I might make another if I happen across a larger compressor driven model as I have a few ideas that I would like to try.

 

[gpop1]

If anyone needs anything like pictures, coding, electrical, measurements just post what you need and I will try my best to answer as soon as I can.

 

[gpop1]

incubator now has 3 types of eggs in it and the hatcher has 2 types on lockdown. This will not be a fair test and I hope once yellow gets caught up I can get some turkey eggs to give it a true test. Mk1 will now be taking a break and used as a emergency heated space for cockatiel/budgies chicks if we have to hand rear any.

Now its time to go look at other peoples quail runs as theres more quail then are needed in the bottom of the aviary's so its time to build something to cage the rest of them.

 

[gpop1]

been running for a few days now. everything is better than expected apart from the turner coupling which has a little slack. Jumped on fleebay and found a proper motor to shaft coupler for $4 so ive ordered that. It will take about 5 mins to install so I might have to wait till yellowherb allows me. Great thing is the hatcher is wider so the trays can be quickly moved then returned later.

trying to locate a battery to borrow for a test run before I buy one. My calculations are 24hr on a size 27 marine battery but I want to be sure as this is based on 12v where a battery is 12.6 fully charged and 10.5v when flat. I may have to knock up a test rig with a spare peltier and foam ice box unless im willing to wait. My plan is to be able to go 16hrs minimum so I don't have to run a generator during the night. I will just use a time delay relay to do the auto transfer. Arduino will sense the voltage drop and reboot so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[gpop1]

new peltier came in the post Saturday so I thought I would add a picture of whats creating the heat for the incubator




this is a 60w its the same size as a 40w that's in the cooler. just add heat paste and bolt it between the two heat sinks.

As im using a computer power the extra power required is not a problem.

If I was to repeat this project then I would change a few things like

Turner side rails would be square so theres more support in the channels when turning. this is due to the channel being slightly wider when hot. This isn't something I need to fix just a note if someone wants to copy the design.

I think I would go with a different style button as they are hard to find In the dark. To be honest I would probably go with a keypad style 9 or 12 buttons then add text to the buttons. Mine works great but I would rather hit a button for leveling the tray then have to go to the 3rd screen and choose the option to level. (keypads are cheap)

Im looking at a touch screen lcd 4.2 inch which is harder to program but the colors would make it worth the effort. More data can be displayed using a color because out brains seem to find that easier than text. I have ordered one to test and to master the code, I will post some info once I receive it and see how it does.


things I wouldn't change.

I like the peltier so I would stay with this design

I really like the humidity channel as it works great. just set and forget.

I like the turner motor as its working great even with all the eggs on one side it turns with out a problem. (coupling is a small problem but that was my fault and a $4 premade one will fix that)



As always project money is tight but im thinking of building mk3. It doesn't look like im ever going to get the last one back to try new designs. I might go with a compressor driven under cabinet one this time so I have a lot more room for all the extras I can add.