Power inverters - greatest invention EVER!

[quiltnchik]

We had terrible T-storms come through last night and knock out power for about 3-1/2 hours. The first thing I said when the lights went out was, "OH NO! My incubator!!" I quickly threw a blanket over it, but after about 30 minutes we noticed the temps plummeting. My DS24 then said, "Where's your laptop?" When I asked him why, he reminded me that we had purchased a power inverter for the laptop so that we could take it on a trip to KY last year. He grabbed the inverter, plugged it into the cig lighter in my truck and then hauled the incubator outside. The eggs were safe, happy and warm in my truck until our power came back on about 2:00 AM. For those of you with 'bators in stormy areas, this might be something you may want to consider investing in

 

[Grampa with chickens]

When I built my "Super Bator", I made it as a dual power unit. I have a 110 volt system and a 12volt system. I had some left over solar panels and two 12 volt RV batteries that I hooked up in parallel. I got two 12 volt light bulbs from a camping place and a 12 volt computer fan.
Although, I still have some tweeking to do and some adjustments to make I hope to get this system working. I have been unsuccessful so far. It lasts about 4 days and goes dead.
The bator works great on the 110vac side and has been pretty much used lately. So playing with the 12vdc side has not been a big priority. One day I'll start working on it again and will prefect it.