Incubator testing not going well

[rlditmars]

Ok, so I bought a Herpstat II. It is used but they Seller said it was fine. I have been trying to test the incubator we built as we are expecting a clurch here in a couple weeks.

The problem is the last two days it has held steady at 90 all day. Then when I check in the morning it is down around 86. The first time I thought maybe I forgot to turn off the Nitedrop. But the second time I know I had it off and when I checked it after noticing the temp down, it still showed it was off. I am quite sure I am using the correct probe and output.

Any idea what I am missing? Is there some kind of reset or overide?

[PitOnTheProwl]

I would hate to tell you thaat you might have to watch it all night to see if it is turning off or something freaky like that

Are you sure the outlet you are using is not on a switch that someone might be turning off??

[rlditmars]

[QUOTE=PitOnTheProwl;1854230 Are you sure the outlet you are using is not on a switch that someone might be turning off??[/QUOTE]

It is just a straight wall outlet and it is still has power in the morning.

It's not just the that the temp has dropped, but the temp being displayed on the Herpstat is showing down too. So it's as if there is something programmed to drop it down but I am not sure what or how to correct.

[1nstinct]

Is the room where the incubator get colder at night? Check the night drop again just to make sure, or put the night drop as the same temp you have the incubator set as so no matter what the incubator doesn't drop in temp.
Tom

[Don]

How big is your incubator and what size flexwatt are you using? Do you have stabilizing bottles of water in the incubator? What is the temperature fluctuation in the room during the night?

[rlditmars]

How big is your incubator and what size flexwatt are you using? Do you have stabilizing bottles of water in the incubator? What is the temperature fluctuation in the room during the night?

Here is a picture of my setup.
It is a Uline wine cooler purchased off CL. 3 ft of 11" flexwatt, with a ac fan on a reastat. I intend to add a few more water bottles but I have nearly a couple gallons worth in there already as there are 8 bottles in the back you can't see,so heat sink shouldn't be a problem. Anyways, the change has occured without opening it up.

[Don]

I've found that sometimes the fan can give off heat and mess up the temps. Try turning down the fan with the rheostat so that it is just moving a small amount of air around. I would also add a second or third thermometer to test the temperatures. It could be a faulty thermometer. I'd trust the Herpstat before I'd trust those thermometers. I would also move the probe to the center of the shelf.

[rlditmars]

I actually have the probes for the thermostat and the thermometer, in the egg box.

What is puzzling me is the temp being displayed on the Herpstat.
Is it supposed to display what the actual temp is, or the temp it is set to and trying to maintain? I thought it was the latter. Which is why I cant understand it displaying a value of 86 when I haven't set it for that.

I thought the thermometer was used to corroborate the Herpstat value. Is that not the case?

[Don]

If the probe is inside the egg box, then any temperature variance will be harder to correct as the flexwatt has to keep heating until the inside of the box reaches temperatures, then the flexwatt stops, but the outside of the egg box is a higher temp and then it cycles cool. This causes swings in temperatures that take a long time to settle down until everything is stabilized. Add to that the heat from the fan and it can cycle even more. I have a large incubator (upright freezer) and my probe is right in the middle of the incubator, not in an egg box.

Also, I would look at the Herpstat documentation and see if it has a tolerance zone that can be adjusted. I have older Herpstats, so I can not help with this setting. Good luck.

[Rallisonreptiles]

I figured if u were gonna try to breed snakes that sell for over 600 dollars y not buy an animal plastics rack and it works perfect it was only 799 dollars and holds 16 16 qt tubs