Homemade incubator... think anyone can help me solve the mystery?

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I've only built one incy and it only took a coulple of hours to dial it in. Here's what I see wrong. The thermostat doesn't need the fan blowing across it to work properly. I would move the fan so that it blows to the opposite wall of the bulb. I would also add another bulb, I used a 14 watt curly Q bulb and mounted it away from the t-stat. This bulb should be on all the time. That allows your big bulb to do the fine tuning on the temp and it also maintains a constant temp inside without a big temp swing. In my incy the smaller bulb maintains 89 degrees and yours might be a little higher with a smaller incy. My t-stat is mounted 2" from the big bulb and set to almost 125 degrees. You also need to mount the black plastic part of the t-stat to the wire and not the metal part because that is a heat sink for the t-stat to work correctly. You also need to let it run for at least an hour for temps to get stable and then make adjustments.

Check out this link, he spent time putting this site together to help and he should be charging for this esay to understand info.

http://cmfarm.us/WHTincubator.html
 
Having the thermostat on the wire is fine, but you need to move the back of the thermostat as close to the bulb as possible. I'm talking about 1/16 or 1/8 of an inch. I built 2 incubators from a small refridgerators, and it took me awhile to figure that out. My thermostat is on a screen like yours so I could mount it out next to the bulb. That is what you want. But you got to have it close, even touching probably won't hurt.

When you have the thermostat too far from the bulb you can get one of two results: Either the air will cool down faster than the thermostat and will not turn on causing lower temps, or the thermostat will cool down faster than the air and come on too much. A lot depends on fan placement also in that circumstance. By placing the BACK of the thermostat up against the light the temperature from both will be the same. Also, I have a computer fan pulling fresh air in from two small holes, plus a small 5 inch fan sitting inside pointing up at the bulb/thermostat. This is just to make sure the air is moved around keeping even temperatures.

This is the most common problem most people have with getting their homemade incubators to work properly. Some people have a problem understanding that close means CLOSE! They put it about an inch away, and think, boy, that is close. But you might as well have it screwed to the outside of the incubator!
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Mine isn't touching, but I don't know if I could get a hair between them.

Sometimes, depending on certain factors other set ups will work, but it isn't often. Try what I said and see if you don't get a much better temperature range than what you are getting. Mine is staying within just a few tenths of a degree.
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Quote:
okay so I did what you suggested (except for the 2nd fan because I havent been able to get out to Bust Buy) but the Thermostat is practically touching the bulb and the fan is in the same place as in the pictures with the 2 holes... it gets up to where I need it to but it drops to 93.2 before it kicks back on again and it only kicks on for 30 seconds which takes it to 97.8 an the longer it sits the probe says 99.1 befor slowly falling to 92.3...

My husband told me today to just give up...
hit.gif
 
Quote:
okay so I did what you suggested (except for the 2nd fan because I havent been able to get out to Bust Buy) but the Thermostat is practically touching the bulb and the fan is in the same place as in the pictures with the 2 holes... it gets up to where I need it to but it drops to 93.2 before it kicks back on again and it only kicks on for 30 seconds which takes it to 97.8 an the longer it sits the probe says 99.1 befor slowly falling to 92.3...

My husband told me today to just give up...
hit.gif


Don't give up. Basically it's easy, but you need to tweek it a bit. You'll be shocked how well it will turn out. Just gotta iron out the bugs. I made one once that took me 2 weeks to get just right. After that, never had another problem with in.
 
Quote:
okay so I did what you suggested (except for the 2nd fan because I havent been able to get out to Bust Buy) but the Thermostat is practically touching the bulb and the fan is in the same place as in the pictures with the 2 holes... it gets up to where I need it to but it drops to 93.2 before it kicks back on again and it only kicks on for 30 seconds which takes it to 97.8 an the longer it sits the probe says 99.1 befor slowly falling to 92.3...

My husband told me today to just give up...
hit.gif


Don't give up. Basically it's easy, but you need to tweek it a bit. You'll be shocked how well it will turn out. Just gotta iron out the bugs. I made one once that took me 2 weeks to get just right. After that, never had another problem with in.

Its been 2 months since I started this lol
I dont know but something has to be wrong or bad..
 
I deal with alot of different brand incubators. with any ones with fans . so the air temp should be near the same temp, to matter where in the incubator , i would say different type of themostat , or at least replace the thermostat.
 
http://cmfarm.us/WHTincubator.html

Ok first set your thermostat to come on 99 degrees. At this point you dont care where it turns off at.


Then once running like that push the flat side of the thermostat closer an closer to the bulb till the bulb is only on long enough to get the air up to about 101. If you dont get there step up to a hotter bulb. 40 watts is probably not going to cut it.

It also helps to shield where the eggs are from direct light waves with tinfoil or something solid. Then you should be mesuring temp in the egg spot.


Just remember the thermostat only controlled the cold temp an should be set to come on at about 99. The hot temp is controlled by how long the bulb stays on which is controlled by how fast you can get heat into that thermostat. Hotter an closer = quicker cycles an more stable temps.
 

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