Little Giant Incubator mods/temp controller help

[dand883]

Hi Guys,

I need some help/advice on an incubator. I have the option of getting a used little giant 9200 pretty cheap, but it's just the basic still air model.

An auto egg turner seems pretty easy/standard to add in, but the incubator and the temp regulation seems to be very very poor. My thought was to adding an amazon temperature controller and a computer case fan.

Has anyone had any luck with an aftermarket temp regulator and/or fan assembly? I suck at electrical stuff, so i don't know how tough it would be to get working correctly or if there's something that is made just to solve this problem and fits right in.

I've tried searching for past threads, but i just get a ton of stuff where people talk about the incubator itself, but nothing specific for changes they have made to it.

Hopefully someone else has done this before and can help me out.

 

[FarmInProgress]

Hello I have the same incubator! If you want to incubate without a fan temp needs to be 102, but with a fan needs to be 99-100. I have a small computer fan that I set in the bottom back in the bator. I have it angled so it blows to the top of the bator so I am not chilling any eggs..( if you do this I would highly recommend making a a chicken wire cover for the fan during lock down so they can stick their beak in their and brake them.

 

[Sir Eggcellent]

Hi! I’m in my first test run with an STC-1000 controller and a $20 eBay fan kit. Both were super easy to install. I’ll go look for the link to the post I followed to show me how.

I’m not completely certain it is precise enough yet. My ‘air’ thermometers all say I’ve been perfectly in range for most of the time, but my Govee thermometer always says it’s around 98.2–98.9. So I’m not completely sure which to believe. The air temp shoots up and back down, up and back down in a pretty little sine-wave parody.

EDIT: Here's a link to the guide I followed.
http://www.backyardchickenelearning.com/wiring-stc-1000-temperature-control-incubator/

 

[dand883]

I managed to find a different video that showed installing the same type of controller. I added in a computer case fan for air circulation and so far it seems to be working quite well. I have an egg turner coming in the mail, once it gets here I'll be ready to test the whole system out.

 

[Sir Eggcellent]

I managed to find a different video that showed installing the same type of controller. I added in a computer case fan for air circulation and so far it seems to be working quite well. I have an egg turner coming in the mail, once it gets here I'll be ready to test the whole system out.

I do wonder if there would be some way to bring the elements on for longer per time at lower power, as the temperature seems to violently swing one way or the other. I also wish it had tighter controls than 1 degree.

 

[Kiki]

Hi! I’m in my first test run with an STC-1000 controller and a $20 eBay fan kit. Both were super easy to install. I’ll go look for the link to the post I followed to show me how.

I’m not completely certain it is precise enough yet. My ‘air’ thermometers all say I’ve been perfectly in range for most of the time, but my Govee thermometer always says it’s around 98.2–98.9. So I’m not completely sure which to believe. The air temp shoots up and back down, up and back down in a pretty little sine-wave parody.

EDIT: Here's a link to the guide I followed.
http://www.backyardchickenelearning.com/wiring-stc-1000-temperature-control-incubator/

What is this app called?

 

[dand883]

I do wonder if there would be some way to bring the elements on for longer per time at lower power, as the temperature seems to violently swing one way or the other. I also wish it had tighter controls than 1 degree.

If you put a resistor in the heat circuit you could have the heater put out less heat. I suck at electrical, so i wouldn't even try and suggest a type/size, etc.

Do you have the link to the fan kit? i went with a computer case fan, but i don't know if it's spinning too fast. Where it's 12v i don't mind messing around with it and was thinking about adding a voltage regulator into the circuit to slow it down.

Just in case someone is looking for the same info either, i pretty well followed these two videos to add in the temp controller.

and i followed the fan parts/instructions from this video.

 

[Sir Eggcellent]

If you put a resistor in the heat circuit you could have the heater put out less heat. I suck at electrical, so i wouldn't even try and suggest a type/size, etc.

Do you have the link to the fan kit? i went with a computer case fan, but i don't know if it's spinning too fast. Where it's 12v i don't mind messing around with it and was thinking about adding a voltage regulator into the circuit to slow it down.

Here’s the kit I went with. Separate wall plug, it doesn’t attach in to the incubator electrical.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/271545542674


How’d you convert down to 12v for the computer fan?

 

[dand883]

Here’s the kit I went with. Separate wall plug, it doesn’t attach in to the incubator electrical.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/271545542674


How’d you convert down to 12v for the computer fan?

I used a 12v transformer similar to this
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...d9aa7e7ae32a59b443d59cdcb5ce6d&language=en_US
But if you wanted you could probably tear apart an old phone charger if you wanted