PID controllers

[twigg]

Quote:
Could you expand a bit on the "really good heating elements"? Thanks

I can.

If you are using proportional control then you can get away with a rather smaller heater than those used by Dickey and GQF. I think they use 225 or 250W resistive wire heaters. That amount of power is useful in two ways.

It allows a rapid recovery from cooling caused by opening. It quickly restores heat that needs to be lost for the thermostat to operate.

Proportional and PID controllers don't suffer in quite the same way, and I would be comfortable with a 125W heater in a Sportsman size cabinet.

125W of heating rope can be had for $20 delivered, and 250W for about $30.

The fitting methods are endless.

 

[millebantam]

Ok, here's a peek into the hatcher that I recently built out of an antique carpenter's chest. I insulated it with 3/4" sheet insulation inside of the 3/4" spruce walls. Then I lined the inside with moisture resistant white tileboard. I skinned the outside with 1/4" oak plywood that I had leftover from my incubator project. You can see the white ceramic 100 watt heating element running off of a wafer controller that I spleened from an old Hovabator. I had to fab my own mounting bracket for the element, but it is super efficient, makes quick heat, and cost around 20 bucks. This hatcher is not very big, but I'm convinced that this same element in 150 to 200 watt would rock a big cabinet

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The last pic is the chest before I converted it.

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[CARS]

Thanks Twigg.

I read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller and now I have even more questions than answers.

Anyone want to sketch something simple using a PID controller and heat rope?

 

[twigg]

Quote:
Most PID controllers have a 3 amp switched terminal pair. The small heaters we use can be wired directly to those terminals, polarity doesn't matter.

They also have a switched relay output for higher wattages. You need a SSR (Solid State Relay). About $25 on eBay.

 

[HappyHatch'en]

Great info and pic's...question if you have 3 heating 250 watt elements in a bator, does that mean you have 750 watts of heat or just more volume of 250 watts?
Happy Hatch'en

 

[twigg]

HappyHatch'en :

Great info and pic's...question if you have 3 heating 250 watt elements in a bator, does that mean you have 750 watts of heat or just more volume of 250 watts?
Happy Hatch'en

If your incubator is about the size of my living room, then 750W of heat might work well

If you wire them in series, you have a 750W heater. in parallel then I think you have a 65W heater.

Jump in if I got the math wrong.​

 

[HappyHatch'en]

It would be 3 - 250 watt heating elements, wired parallel to heat a space approx. 24W x 48D x 56H.....or bigger.
Thanks Frank.....LOL
Happy Hatch'en

 

[twigg]

HappyHatch'en :

It would be 3 - 250 watt heating elements, wired parallel to heat a space approx. 24W x 48D x 56H.....or bigger.
Thanks Frank.....LOL
Happy Hatch'en

The heaters are, I presume, resistive types.

Wiring them in parallel means that the circuit resistance is reduced, in this case by 3, so you effectively have a heater of 250W divided by 3.

Try cutting two of them out ... you will be left with one 250W heater, more than enough for that size container.​

 

[josh]

Would this one work? http://auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=14

 

[twigg]

Quote:
Yes, perfectly, and that's a good price.

Source a T-type thermocouple.