So i built an incubator...

[Everlong]

Ok, built went fine with the Chinese temp control, thumbs up to china for coming up with a piece that was 6$ shipped.
My "box" is 18x12x18. 100w bulb.
it takes it half an hour to get to 37.5C which is 99.5 which I think is too long. As soon as I start the fan to recirc the air It drops dramatically.

My questions are:

1. is my incubator too tall?

2. how do I control the 12v fans? at the same time as 120ac comes on? or separately?

3. is my box, being 18" high too high?

4. is a cooler the only option? I would like to see more. Yes I know its insulated, what bulb?

5. Fan! I see people use case fans, which are 4", my fan was only 2 and it failed.

6. suggestions?


here are the pics...

 

[Everlong]

and, no, the fans will not be battery powered

 

[Everlong]

Anyone?

 

[yellowherb]

For lack of anyone else replying..
I think your main issue is the plastic tote. They just are not insulated enough and I fully understand you want to SEE..ME TOO!

My husband used wine fridges to make our incubator and hatcher.


Obviously I need to clean them, that flash showed all the finger prints. He made a auto turner for the incubator, but I filled that up and am having to use a low tech (haha) turner on the hatcher. It's also acting as a brooder box for baby cockatiels hence the poo. Sorry. But I think you could do a similar build using a fridge off craiglist to keep it low priced. The two best things about wine fridges are the glass doors and they are insulated, ok and a 3rd..they look much better than coolers.

 

[Everlong]

For lack of anyone else replying..
I think your main issue is the plastic tote. They just are not insulated enough and I fully understand you want to SEE..ME TOO!

My husband used wine fridges to make our incubator and hatcher.


Obviously I need to clean them, that flash showed all the finger prints. He made a auto turner for the incubator, but I filled that up and am having to use a low tech (haha) turner on the hatcher. It's also acting as a brooder box for baby cockatiels hence the poo. Sorry. But I think you could do a similar build using a fridge off craiglist to keep it low priced. The two best things about wine fridges are the glass doors and they are insulated, ok and a 3rd..they look much better than coolers.

Hey, awesome idea!!!! Thanks!!!

 

[yellowherb]

He went a little tech building these, but maybe there's some ideas on fans or something you can snatch.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/976303/building-a-incubator-from-a-wine-cooler

They have held up really well and reach temps and humidity quickly, they have to since I'm very hands on hatcher. He also tried to make a larger one out of a dish washer sized wine fridge and using light bulbs rather than the peltier has the heat source. It did not work out so well and was not as dependable, but we have had to replace the peltier 2 times in the small incubator, I think.

How not to do it But don't tell him I said that haha!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1052404/time-to-build-another-incubator
This is still sitting in our storage room and it's a thought in progress on making it work. It never did well and most eggs that went into it went into the trash. I still hope one day he gets bored and fixes this up since you can never have enough incubator space.

 

[EyeKeyYou]

Like yellowherb said problem with tote is no insulation. If you are just making this to use once it will do the job. The problem with the Chinese thermostat is that it uses a normal relay that has to click on and off and it won't last that long. You need something that uses a solid state relay or a proportional thermostat. After building 20 incubators using anything from a cake tote (the round design makes building a turner easy) to old wine chillers with timed hot dog rollers i can tell you don't skimp on the electronics if you get a proportional thermostat like the ones they sell from Spyder Robotics a light bulb and a computer fan will turn anything into an incubator, the bigger it is the larger the light bulb. The proportional Electronics will hold the temperature within .1 degrees no matter what you put it in they are self adjusting to demand. Only time I use GQF cabinet is when my wine chiller fills up though i mostly hatch peafowl.

 

[yellowherb]

The relays are went wrong in gpop1's second incubator I think, and they were Chinese. So I can attest to splurging for quality pieces. He put a ton of work into that bator only for it now to sit in the spare room while he contemplates a rebuild when he gets bored.

 

[jimbo1989]

The holes for the fan would probably loose a lot of the humidity and heat .id also suggest better insulation .the idea and design is amazing though .

 

[robdog]

1. is my incubator too tall?
No the tallness of it is just fine.
2. how do I control the 12v fans? at the same time as 120ac comes on? or separately?
Not a electrician but just just 1 12V fan running the whole time with just maybe 1 small air hole going right into it and one on the bottom of the incubator to let other air out.
3. is my box, being 18" high too high?
No its fine it will just take longer to heat it up.
4. is a cooler the only option? I would like to see more. Yes I know its insulated, what bulb?
As long as your thermostat works and keeps it a little less than 2* Degrees off 100 (98-102) Its fine. It will take a white longer than most to work up its heat because of the poor insulation.. Maybe try buying a little bit and. installing insulation around the inside of the incubator
5. Fan! I see people use case fans, which are 4", my fan was only 2 and it failed.
Just have a fan on a separate power cable running 24/7 it will be fine with small air holes maybe quarter inches and all. I use a regular computer fan in mine. works fine blowing past bulb with makes the heat stable everywhere.
6. suggestions:
You still need to buy a humidity monitor... https://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-00613A1-Indoor-Humidity-Monitor/dp/B0013BKDO8 ... These work perfect so you have another trusting thing to measure your heat to. To increase humidity add a small bowl with a sponge. First 18 days Humidity is 40-50% last 3 days its 60-75%.