As a continuation of this older thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=307399, I finally have a completed, tested, working controller. I ran it for weeks, and it holds temp within 1/2 degree F. The outlet on the left controls the temperature, so you either plug in your heat element from your homemade bator, or your incubator power cord from a commercial bator into it. It is rated and fused for up to 400 watts at 120v.
The outlet on the right is to accommodate a humidity pump. The red switch is to switch to lock down mode, which will increase the humidity setting from 50 to 70, or whatever is programed in the controller. The picture of the inside, is just a real small cooler, as you can see it saves quite a bit of space. The sensor cord runs the box fan as well as the sensors themselves, which plugs into the controller. The light that I have in there is what I had just laying around. It is plugged into the HEAT outlet of the controller. So it turns the bulb on and off as needed.
I was thinking of making a few models, one that does heat only, one that has heat only without display, and I have a few other tricks up my sleeve for futures models.
There are several safety features, but they all default to shutting the heat source off, that was important for me.
Here are some pics. What do you think?
Pre-Assembly:
Outside of Controller:
Outside Front:
Running (starting up):
Inside my cheap cooler:
The outlet on the right is to accommodate a humidity pump. The red switch is to switch to lock down mode, which will increase the humidity setting from 50 to 70, or whatever is programed in the controller. The picture of the inside, is just a real small cooler, as you can see it saves quite a bit of space. The sensor cord runs the box fan as well as the sensors themselves, which plugs into the controller. The light that I have in there is what I had just laying around. It is plugged into the HEAT outlet of the controller. So it turns the bulb on and off as needed.
I was thinking of making a few models, one that does heat only, one that has heat only without display, and I have a few other tricks up my sleeve for futures models.
There are several safety features, but they all default to shutting the heat source off, that was important for me.
Here are some pics. What do you think?
Pre-Assembly:
Outside of Controller:
Outside Front:
Running (starting up):
Inside my cheap cooler: