Little giant incubator modification help

[jermb11]

I have a little giant incubator that my dad wired a thermostat like the one pictured. We were trying to get it to stay a more constant temp. Has anyone had any experience with these thermostats. For me the temp swings to much from 97.5 - 102. It has a fan kit on it also.

Anyone have any advice to share?

Thanks

 

[WalnutHill]

I use those thermostats with all my incubators.

Three of the four settings are used, and the location of the temperature probe is critical.

F1: set at 37.5. (temp set)
F2: set at 0.3 (temp swing)
F3: set at 1 (only applies to cooling)
F4: set at whatever it takes to get a displayed 37.5 to be 37.5. (temp calibration)

take a chicken egg, make a small hole in each end, stick a toothpick in and stir up the insides. Blow through the smaller hole to push the insides out the bigger hole. Rinse and let dry.

Tape a small piece of masking tape over the smaller hole, then pour a little white glue into the egg and set it into a carton until the glue is dry. This will seal the bottom hole.

Put a calibrated thermometer into the hole and try to get it centered in the egg. I use a cheap drugstore digital medical thermometer. Fill the egg with some sort of solid that will set up and not spoil in warm humid places. I've heard of hair gel and various craft store gel substances, but do a little research. You could even use dry sand.

Tape or seal the top hole with the thermometer in place. Set in your egg turner or on the egg rack in your incubator. Place your thermostat's temperature probe on top of the test egg, and tape it into place. When the digital controller shows that temperature is 37.5 for at least two hours, check your test thermometer. Calibrate your digital controller accordingly...if the digital controller shows 37.5 and the medical thermometer shows 101, you need to calibrate your digital thermometer by 0.8 so that it reads 38.3. Then repeat until you get a steady temp.

You want the temperature inside your modified egg to read 99.5 all the way through incubation. If you start with your probe egg in the center, test the temperature all around the incubator by setting and letting it stabilize for a couple of hours.

With my Little Giants, I rotated the eggs from outside to in a couple times during incubation to even out temps. I am not sure it made a difference, but it seemed sensible.

 

[jermb11]

Ok thanks I will try that