Dimmer switch on homemade incubator

[aka Rachel]

I was in the middle of a hatch with my brinsea mini adv when it started going whacky with the read-out and the temp was running up and down like crazy. It finally quit working all together

. I loved using this incubator so much

I put the eggs into the brooder to hold them over while I made a incubator from a hard cooler, using a light bulb, a couple computer fans and a lower hot water thermostat.

I've made one like this before and it worked..ok. This one is holding the heat better but the thermostat I found only goes down to 110. So I also bought a dimmer switch to control the light bulb.

Everything is working ok but really the only control I have on the temperature is how close to the bulb I put the thermostat. If i turn the dimmer switch down, the temp in the incubator actually goes UP! I don't get it. And I have to worry about hot spots in the incubator. I think the light bulb should go on the top for next time. Viewing window on the side. I bought a thermometer with an outdoor probe and I think it only measures in increments of .8. How dumb is that. I have a fish tank thermometer inside a bag of water and it seems to be holding about 100 and another thermometer holding just under. I miss my brinsea

These poor eggs have been baked and frozen now but when we candle they still seem to be growing. They have a week left to go. Actually less now, tuesday is hatch day.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

I was in the middle of a hatch with my brinsea mini adv when it started going whacky with the read-out and the temp was running up and down like crazy. It finally quit working all together

. I loved using this incubator so much

I put the eggs into the brooder to hold them over while I made a incubator from a hard cooler, using a light bulb, a couple computer fans and a lower hot water thermostat.

I've made one like this before and it worked..ok. This one is holding the heat better but the thermostat I found only goes down to 110. So I also bought a dimmer switch to control the light bulb.

Everything is working ok but really the only control I have on the temperature is how close to the bulb I put the thermostat. If i turn the dimmer switch down, the temp in the incubator actually goes UP! I don't get it. And I have to worry about hot spots in the incubator. I think the light bulb should go on the top for next time. Viewing window on the side. I bought a thermometer with an outdoor probe and I think it only measures in increments of .8. How dumb is that. I have a fish tank thermometer inside a bag of water and it seems to be holding about 100 and another thermometer holding just under. I miss my brinsea

These poor eggs have been baked and frozen now but when we candle they still seem to be growing. They have a week left to go. Actually less now, tuesday is hatch day.

My hubby and daughter just made a cooler bator and had a hatch in it. we replaced the hot water thermostat for the wafer thermostat, it varies less then 1 degree in temp! we have two light bulbs and its centered between the two bulbs, we use two bulbs so we dont loose our eggs if one light blows.... you can find the details at the link in my signature below...... its sorta chaotic but I sorta just threw stuff in there when I was researching and havent cleaned it up yet, lotta pics and videos too! btw we had a 100% hatch rate on local eggs, and that WHILE we lost electric for 1 week with huricane sandy AND then no turning the next week as I was in the hospital!!!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubator-incubator

 

[Quyen Le]

When you use dimmer, the light never get hot enough to cut the circuit. Just adjust the distance between the light bulb and the thermostat. Use the $14 thermostat on ebay, it works way better than the water heater thermostat.