Incubator building time!!!!!!!!!(PICS) Inside! NEED HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[geosheets]

There are some options... I'm using a reptile enclosure stat/humidty controller for mine... you can see all the details on my BYC page. I think the controller was somewhere around 100.00.

Here's a link to another stat only for reptiles
http://www.spyderrobotics.com/products/herpstat.html

and another option I have used is the Ranco digital stats like this one
http://www.pexsupply.com/Ranco-ETC-...r-120-240V-Input-Plastic-Enclosure-11636000-p
if you watch ebay you can pick them up new for under 100 bucks

With all those choices, I don't know that any of them are better than the tried and tested wafer thermostats that you can buy for 20.00... even though I use one of the fancy ones I don't see any huge benefits.
http://www.cutlersupply.com/cart/in...ducts_id=307&zenid=mmlpici05da0e2diif7vqg1te1
They've been used in incubators for years and have proven to be reliable... you know you are not going to trust the readout of a digital stat and will have a thermometer in it anyways so why not save the money.

As for the cabinet, I would pick whichever one is deeper and has the most room. Build a false wall towards the back of the cabinet (inside) and keep your heating element and fans behind it... a space that is 6-8 inches deep should be plenty. Screw another panel on the back(outside) so that you can easily access the element and fans for maintenance. Design it so that it draws air in at the top and out at the bottom. Put your stat as close to where your eggs are but in the air flow.

 

[k2chickens]

Quote:
Thanks for all the great info but I'm a little confused about building the false wall and mounting all of my heating element and fan behind it. Wouldn't the wall block my heat and air movement? And I'm still afraid I dnt understand the difference between a stat and heating element. For some reason I thought the stat is what radiated the heat but I guess I just learned I need both now? But how do I get them to work together? Gosh I just dnt understand I guess, like do I wire the heating source to the stat? Did you check the link with that fish tank heating element you could adjust with lcd readout? Would that work? Man I know this should be easy to understand but for some reason I'm really confused. With the fan, how would I draw in fresh air without cutting a hole in the back of my incubator wall and mounting the fan just a few inches above it? Man this is discourageing......I wish I was a little bit sharper so I could figure all this out.

 

[k2chickens]

Lil help? Lol sry, I really wish I knew more.

 

[k2chickens]

Really need some help

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
Thanks for all the great info but I'm a little confused about building the false wall and mounting all of my heating element and fan behind it. Wouldn't the wall block my heat and air movement?


just think of another side with 3-4 inches between the new side and the old side the new side needs to have a gap at the bottom so air can flow usually the fan draws from the heated space and blows in to the space created by the new side and the old side . as large as the TV is I would build a false floor and put a fan at each end and have the airflow coming out of small holes I drilled in the new floor ( 1/4" holes or so)



And I'm still afraid I dnt understand the difference between a stat and heating element. For some reason I thought the stat is what radiated the heat but I guess I just learned I need both now?

a thermostat senses what the heat level is and either tells the heating element to come on and heat or stay off and don,t heat. the heating element is what make s the heat


But how do I get them to work together? Gosh I just dnt understand I guess, like do I wire the heating source to the stat?
normally the T-stat is wired inline between the power supply and the heating element

Did you check the link with that fish tank heating element you could adjust with lcd readout? Would that work? Man I know this should be easy to understand but for some reason I'm really confused. With the fan, how would I draw in fresh air without cutting a hole in the back of my incubator wall and mounting the fan just a few inches above it? Man this is discourageing......I wish I was a little bit sharper so I could figure all this out.

 

[k2chickens]

thank you so much for your explanation, im still 2 for 3 tho....this new wall is really giving me a trip.

Ok, so im looking at the side view of the tv stand. There is no back wall so i was going to add a back wall and line the entire inside with tin foil/space age insulation. So now i am suppose to add another wall basically 6 to 8 inches towards the inside of the tv stand. The heating element should be mounted on the original back wall behind the newly added wall. Now, i will be mounting a suspended shelf right in the middle of the stand on the inside to hold my egg turners. Should the heating element be mounted on the back wall behind the false wall level with the egg turning shelf?? Or mount it more towards the top or bottom of the back wall??
So, when the heating element is wired and mounted and working with the T stat, where should the T stat be mounted?? I was told as close to the egg's as possible so im guessing it should be mounted on the false wall but as close and level to the egg turners as i can get?

Also, im confused on how to mount my fan/fans.....this is what i bought from the computer store for $5 bucks for all 3 fans.

The one nice clear fan has very small red and black wires but has a long clear wire with three individual wires inside it that lead to a female port which obviously was meant to plug into the computer. I'm fairly positive i cut thoes wires off and focus on the small red and black wires because that usually stands for power and ground. But they look like they are soldered in to some green circuitry?? Seen here...

What would be the best way to make it functional? The first thing that comes to mind is to find a small 12 volt power source like the power adapter to an old cordless phone and crimp the wires together from the fan and plug the adapter into the wall or power strip and boom it should work. But then i think how am i going to know what wire is positive and what is negative because normally 12 volt adapters are just incased in black tubeing that im gong to have to strip off to expose the wires and they normally don't specify what is what wire. Also from the looks of it, will that fan be big enough by it's self or would i need to wire the other ones up as well to help circulate the air even more inside the tv stand?

Now, once the fan works....it should blow air towards the heating element correct?? So in other words i should cut a hole just slightly smaller than the radious of the fan so the fan can draw air from the inside of the incubator?? But then fan's are suppose to draw in fresh air correct? Doing it that way would only draw in the air that's allready inside the incubator. And for the air to blow towards the heating element thus hitting the board and bouncing ether up or down i would need to have spaces cut out at the top and bottom of my false wall. Basically im thinking of what a square looks like as my wall, then cutting a strip out about 4 or 5 inches from the top and floor but leaving 3 or 4 inches on the end so the wall can stand.....kind of like the letter "H" but the bar in the middle will be much fatter. Then this makes me think.......the air will then have to hit the element...go ether up or down or both against the false wall, then through the gaps i cut out and towards the inside of the bator. Now, an idea that just came to mind is....what if i mounted the two smaller fan's near the bottom corners on the right and left side of the back original wall......cut holes out with a drill so the little fans can draw in fresh air from the outside of the bator, then the small fans can shoot the fresh new air "and im guessing some of the reflected air off the original fan blowing towards the element" back into the main area inside my bator where the egg's can benefit from their effect.

Or do you think i am an idiot and have no idea where im going with all of this and i have way to much fan action going on??? lol, at least im trying to learn/understand

 

[aprophet]

http://www.vonrussellfarm.com/IncubatorandHatcher.html

here are some pictures of one I used to go by I will try to take a few pictures of my cabinet bator it is easier to look at something for me then to have someone try and explain it to me. the power supply / fan I cut the plug off strip the wires on the fan and the power supply most of the fans I have seen lately have 3 wires on is negative or common the other 2 are low speed and high speed I figure out which is negative ussally by hooking up the power supply to it momentarily if it is hooked up backwards it does not run reverse the leads

 

[aprophet]

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[Surehatch]

Keep us posted on how the progress goes

 

[bigdawg]

there is a guy on ebay that sells vert detailed instructions on building a cabinet bator. its around 10.00 and you can adapt the directions to work with what you have. the heating and wiring parts of it