Chic Chick 'Bator *UPDATED*

[Pitchfork]

MissPrissy:

I started reading this thread and got through about 5 pages and then skipped to the end and was happy to find you posted very recently. I apologize if this was covered in the pages I missed but..... As a retired electronics tech. the first thing that struck me about your wiring is that the thermostat that you are using is designed to use a small voltage to operate either a mechanical relay in older homes or an electronic switch with newer heat and A/C units. In short you use a relay so that you can use a small voltage small amperage to control a larger voltage and amperage.
I don't want to get too complicated as I am not sure that this has not all been discussed already but essentially in your home 120vac gets stepped down to 28vac by a transfomer. This 28vac then runs through the contacts of your thermostat so the contacts are not getting hit with 120vac every time they open and close. Higher voltage means more arcing and sparking which will cause the contacts to fail sooner.
This means that running a light bulb with 120v running through the contacts of the thermostat might cause it to fail prematurely. I don't think it would be a hazard just cause it to fail much quicker than in a heating/airconditioning system in your home. The answer would be to pick up a step down transformer from Home Depot and step your 120v down to 28vac and use the output of that to run through your thermostat and have the output from the thermostat run to a relay that you could pick up at RadioShack . The relay would be a sealed unit that would take the low voltage output from you thermostat and use it to close a set of large contacts made for handling 120vac in a sealed environment, so no arcing and sparking. The 120vac would then go to the light bulb. I don't know how much expense it would add to the unit but you would not have to worry about your thermosat burning out on you in the middle of a hatch or the contacts welding together and keeping the light on constantly..
Again sorry if this was all covered in those pages I have not read.
Mike

 

[OzarkCountryGirl]

Tried the WD-40 repeatedly and left on for a couple of hours...didn't phase it.

This bator was given to me by a friend who had it in an old dilapidated outbuilding for literally years, and everything not galvanized was fused together by rust. I’m not complaining though, as just grinded bolts off and those can be replaced.

I didn't realize how "basic" these units really were until I started taking them apart. And though I would have preferred that they both had worked from the get go, it's kind of fun working on them...in a science project sort of way.

And I can't wait to get started on my homemade bators!

 

[Pitchfork]

Well I was trying to get my post into the thread concerning the homemade incubator. I am not to good at computers.
So if this seems confusing just ignore it.
Mike

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
Uhh ... show me a photo of what you are talking about ? LOL

 

[Pitchfork]

Now I feel like a total goof because after going back and rereading I see that you are using a water heater thermostat and not a furnace airconditioner thermostat, or you know your wall thermostat soooo as Gilda use to say NEVER MIND.
I was concerned that the thermosat would fail with 120 volts running through it turning your light bulb of and on. But the one you are using, if for an electric water heater will work fine.
Mike

 

[Mrs MIA]

Whew! Pitchfork, I was about to jab you! LOL! I have made two of these incubators, and in one I have some extremely rare breed eggs! If it fails now I don't know what I would do!

But as you said... Never Mind! (I can hear Gilda's voice, now!)

Your description was wonderful, though... thank you.

 

[Eggseronious]

Pitchfork your post contained very good information

and people should understand this where one gets "spikes in their temps" by the contacts sticking, where the voltage is not matched and poor contacts.

 

[Half-a-dozen]

Whew for me too.....as I had my Hubby contruct one for us....

 

[Pitchfork]

I was a little tired last night and not only not reading well I was not writing well, but to clarify a little.
Anytime you need to use a large voltage, lets say 120 volts ac such as your standard house system and you need to switch it on and off over and over again you need a switch with contacts, (the two parts that come together and come apart to allow current to flow or to stop current from flowing) large enough and made of the correct material to prevent them from burning out. This is because each time they open and close there is a little spark and arc of electricity as they seperate or come together. Your light switch on the wall has a large set of contacts and it is made to open and close thousands of times with out burning out. Now it is common in electrical applications to use what is called a control circuit for, obviously, controling large amounts of current flow using a device that requires a much smaller current flow. So it is like a switch that controls another switch. The switch that will have the contacts needed to control a large voltage with high amperage flow can then be sealed up in a hermetically sealed container so that no oxygen is present when the contact points open and close thus no spark and no wear on the contacts. This device is called a relay. In your car you will have a horn relay and a light relay a blower relay for your air circulation etc. many relays. Now to control that relay you can use a regular switch but you only need to use a very small amount of electricity to do it.
So you flip the switch for the headlights on your car and a very small amount of electricity goes through the contacts of that switch and that electricity does not go to the lights but to the light control relay which then closes its' contacts and turns your lights on. Since headlights require a relatively high amp draw you don't have those amps running through the switch inside the car but through a relay mounted under the hood. The thermostat on your wall, that controls your heat and airconditioning, must open and close many times during the day and so you don't want 120 volts running through that carrying 10 amps or so, instead it is a control like the headlight switch in your car. It controls another circuit that handles the large amperage to run your furnace or airconditioning. Had I thought for longer than two seconds last night I would have known that the temp range would not be right for the incubator but as I said I was tired.
The thermostat for a water heater, I am guessing here as I have never worked on or owned and electric water heater, is designed to handle large current flow just like the light switch on the wall, so it should be able to open and close many times with out burning up the two contact points.
Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm anyone. It might be interesting to find out how often the light in the incubator turns off and on because it could still be a problem in the long run because I am thinking that a water heater, depending on usage might only have to cycle three or four times in a day. But most water heaters can do that for twenty years so that is a lot of ons and offs. Ha! But the time frame might be a factor. Being an old aircraft technician I am trained to think safety and back up. We might have to come up with a warning system to alert to a dropping temp or a rising temp.
Hope this makes a little better sense.

 

[Meesh]

Pitchfork, can you diagram it? I read your posts and have a vague idea of how to implement the relay, but diagrams make it so much more clear.

I am in the process of collecting parts for a bator that a friend is going to wire up for me.

Thanks,
Michelle