Incubator got unplugged for 9 hours 😭😭😭

This is all great news for me as well. I just set some Orloff eggs this week and there’s a planned power outage in my neighborhood tomorrow…yikes. Supposed to be only 5-6 hours, but I don’t trust them. I’ll probably throw a blanket over the incubator for that time to keep some heat in
 
I have a Milwaukee inverter tool I can use to run the incubator with my power tool batteries if the grid goes out. Works well and should give 20-30 minutes of power before needing to swap tool batteries or use a backup generator. I have this tool set next to the incubator in case we lose power:

https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200841328_200841328?cm_mmc=Google-LIA&utm_source=Google_LIA&utm_medium=Electrical > Renewable Energy > Power Inverters + Accessories&utm_campaign=Milwaukee&utm_content=103425&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_P6dBhD1ARIsAAGI7HD9-2rNZBUu693zVwRadGqr6QrU7wrdM-drkP3LmkwcFWLgFul11J8aApPIEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
This is all great news for me as well. I just set some Orloff eggs this week and there’s a planned power outage in my neighborhood tomorrow…yikes. Supposed to be only 5-6 hours, but I don’t trust them. I’ll probably throw a blanket over the incubator for that time to keep some heat in
Good idea. They’re pretty regular where I live too, or even the power going off without proper warning and it’s always a stress when incubating. Sounds like you’ve got a good plan, you should be fine. :)
 
I purposely bought a 12v powered incubator because I have a solar generator power box that holds 27 Amp hours of power and I can charge it with 200w of solar. Not sure how long that will run it but it's an option that I wanted after going 2 weeks without power after hurricane Ian!
 
I purposely bought a 12v powered incubator because I have a solar generator power box that holds 27 Amp hours of power and I can charge it with 200w of solar. Not sure how long that will run it but it's an option that I wanted after going 2 weeks without power after hurricane Ian!
It's easy to figure out if you do a little math. People talk about chicken math. I'm an electrician. So I use this math often. LOL

12Volts x 27Amps = 324 Watts

Depending on how many watts your incubator uses, will depend on how many hours it will run on a full charge.

That being said. The average usable sunlight per day, to operate a solar panel, is about 5hrs per day on average. So back to some math...

200Watts x 5hrs of sun = 1,000Watts MAX on average of power produced per day, per 200w solar panel.

To find out how many watts you can use per hour, you guessed it. More math! LOL

1,000Watts ÷ 24hrs (the amount of hours you need to run your incubator) = 41.67Watts

41.67Watts is the MAX your incubator can draw in order for it to be sustainable on 1x 200w solar panel. Plus, you'd also need more batteries to store that much power.

1,000Watts ÷ 12Volts = 83.33Amps

You would need 83.33Amp Hours worth of batteries, to store the amount of power 1x 200Watt can produce in 1 day.

Bottom line...
It'll get you through for an hour or 2. But if you want it to be sustainable, you'd need to add a lot more solar panels, and a lot more batteries.
 
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Yup, I worked as as electrician for 6 years and took 4 years of school for my journeyman before the 08 crash and I left the trade. I just never looked up how much my little incubator uses and realize that heat uses more than most would think. I live in Florida, so we would get more than 5 hours but understand that I would need to store a lot more than 27 AH and do have that ability. I need to dig out my watt meter and see what its actual usage is to know for sure.
 

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