Homemade incubator thermostat!

[Dirt Road]

I clicked on the link, and the picture doesn't explain anything. If I understand what you are saying and the description with the picture, it would require wiring your heating element with a plug separately from the rest of the incubator or it would shut off the fan along with the heating element. If I'm not understanding this right how about a picture to show how you have it hooked up?

Jim

 

[DANNY]

I think i will go out on a limb here and say that a wafer thermostat has hatched a few more chickens than a reptitemp 500 r. And available at tractor supply and other local farm supply for about $20.

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
Did you ever use a $5.00 electric timer?

You plug it into electric socket and plug into it your lamp or whatever.

You plug the repti500r into the socket or extention cord, then plug your heating element into the repti , it has an electric outlet being controlled by it, you put the probe inside the incubator wherever you want it, didn't I say "Plug and Play" ?

No wiring, no hassle, no opening the bator to adjust the therm, it has a nice dial instead of thiny screw or thiny knob like LG.

Swing on and off about .5 F

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
That's right, they hatched more chicks cause wafers been around many years more than modern accurate electonic thermostats.

Wafers also killed many more chicks than electronic thermostats, cause they go "bad" suddenly, need frequent replacement due to corrosion, change the temperature settings with atmospheric pressure swings and their on and off cycle is a couple degrees F instead a fraction of degree.

Welcome to 21 Century.

 

[Nicola]

i have a reptile thermostat it has 3 cords 1 is the probe one is the plug that goes in to the wall socket/ power supply and the other looks like a end of a exstension cord that u plug the lights plug into does that make sense to anyone

 

[Davaroo]

All angst aside, 'this is better than that' and so on, the point is that water heater thermostats lack the resolution of the others. They swing more around the setpoint and are harder to get stable.
Compared to the others they are not in the same league.
I tossed mine long ago.
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On a side note, I've used the wafers for years. Contrary to all the dire warnings against them, I've never had a problem with them. I also keep a couple of spares handy just in case. It's just prudent to do so.

Digital electronic units are good too, and provide control that is at least precise enough. I have some industrial controllers that are extremely precise.

With these sorts available at such cheap prices, I do wonder why anyone would still muck around with the water heater route?

 

[DANNY]

I think people should tell a little more about how long they have been using a certain product before encouraging someone else to buy one. There are too many overnight experts giving advice on unproven products and you know who you are. People are trying to learn here. All of this incubator rigging is sad. Just to see if you can do it for $25. Have you ever seen what happens to chicks that are hatched or tried to hatch under poor conditions. It's really sad. There is nothing wrong with a homemade incubator just use proper parts and design.

 

[Stephen in SoKY]

I too went to the site, however the photo/description was terribly vague. I saw no way other than installing a plug on the heat element to be controlled by the thermostat, plugging that into the reptillion thing, and otherwise wiring the fan to operate constantly. Given that I'm unaware of a heating element with a plug, it seems to me the "Plug & play" term isn't entirely accurate. If you've found such an element, please enlighten me, I'm certainly open to alternatives. I'm a huge fan of the GQF unit that's designed to operate in the environment of an incubator. It is electronic, there's no wafer involved. They'll be what I continue to use, but that doesn't mean I don't want to learn about alternatives.

FWIW, I've also hatched hundreds upon hundreds of chicks using wafer thermostats. I was hesitant to switch, but the GQF unit really does work. 1 of my questions was if I could somehow adjust the preset temp, and yes it's quite easy although in 2 years I've never needed to. It really does perform far better than the wafer units. At least consider converting to the electronic unit if/when your wafers need replacing. It's a direct wire replacement on older GQF units.

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
Mine reptile thermostat has 2 cords.

You plug one cord into the wall socket, second "cord is a probe.

Insert the probe into incubator or any object you want to control

then connect the element or light bulb to the thermostat outlet (socket) or plug in the whole incubator. If you plug the whole bator fan is going to cycle with the element,


There is no "rigging" no "wirering" etc.
It connects exactly like a timer, if you ever used one. You plug it into the wall and plug your lamp or whatever into the timer, in this case you plug the heating light bulb into thermostat body, and the thermostat turns it on and off within .5 F instead of a few degrees.

If somebody can not understand that then you should only use factory made incubators, cause "rigging" and "wiring" is dangerous, may cause injury, death, or property loss.

 

[Davaroo]

Common sense dictates that the reptile controller has to have an outlet for a load, be it a heater, incubator, etc. It says so right in the description, something to the effect that it is intended for below gravel heaters, invariably 110vac. The very name gives it away - "controller."

As pascopal says, plug it into the wall, place the thermal probe in your water weasel, inside the bator and then plug the bator/heaters in to the controller.
It seems fairly obvious... but then I've been doing this a long time.

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Danny does make a good point which is, again, use knowledge and good tools for the job. Go ahead and build your bator from what ever you want... wood, stryofoam or a combination. Use bulbs, heat tape, etc for heat, and so on.

But control the thing with quality devices - wafer switches or some sort of electronic control device intended for such purpose. We have now been offered three that have stood the test of time:

Wafer Switches
Reptile heat controllers
Dedicated incubator controllers.

These suit every budget, so there is little need for Rube Goldberg contraptions to fulfill our task as hatcherists. I know this sounds repetetive, but it seems there is a need for that, too...