DIY incubator with PID temperature control

[t0m]

This my second incubator build. The first used a homemade thermostat, this one used a PID controller that I had built to govern the temperature on an electric smoker. Last night I set a dozen eggs of all shapes and sizes that I bought from a small farm that had a mix of hens and a couple of roosters. Wish me luck! My first incubation used mailed eggs and was a complete bust.



There are more details of the build on this blog post.

 

[t0m]

Well so far so good with the incubator, it takes about 30 minutes to get back up to temperature after I turn the eggs but once there the temps are rock solid at 37.5°C. I am not too worried, I knew the low voltage heater would be on the feeble side. It's also a consequence of too little thermal mass, if the cooler was just a bit bigger I could fit in a couple of bottles of water to help with that. One other change I would probably make in the future would be to have the water dish underneath the eggs rather than on top. Last night when I took the lid off to turn the eggs I spilt some water necessitating a mop up operation.