Mini fridge incubator, opinions needed...

This is my mini fridge incubator that I am working on. I have a light in there not sure if I need it. It will turn on and off with a switch so it will not be on all the time. The wattage is low on it also as to not cause to much heat when on. How many of you have a light in their incubator's and use it? I also used 3 feet of 11" flexwatt to heat it. I was scared 2 ft would not be enough but I don't know if 3ft is too much. Thoughts on that? I also added a fan on the bottom. Do you think it is needed in such a small space? I figured it couldn't hurt to add one. The only thing I am worried about is the fan blowing all the heat out when I open the door. I figured I would shut it off before I open the door. Thoughts on the fan? The space next to the fan at the bottom of the incubator is for the bottled waters I am going to put in there. Thanks for the opinions :gj:

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...2/DSCF1001.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...2/DSCF1004.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...2/DSCF1019.jpg

Nice my man!!!

Minus the light, I think it is perfect.

I really dont see the need of a light, no offense brudda man!! LOL

I think that much flex with a fan will be ok. A few water bottles on the bottom should be A-ok!

Unless your checkin on your eggs with the lights out, at 2am...im really doubtin you will use it at all.

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Originally Posted by Patrick Long

Nice my man!!!

Minus the light, I think it is perfect.

I really dont see the need of a light, no offense brudda man!! LOL

I think that much flex with a fan will be ok. A few water bottles on the bottom should be A-ok!

Unless your checkin on your eggs with the lights out, at 2am...im really doubtin you will use it at all.

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Thanks Pat!!! That is the type of opinions I needed. I wished I would have asked about the light earlier before I got it. It would have saved me some time and $7. I will know for next time though :gj:

Nice looking! I made an incubator out of a reddi wip industrial fridge, and used 4 ft of 11". Complete overkill, but it is hooked up to a herpstat. I have test ran it MANY times, without any problems...actually use it to thaw rats haha.. My fan is hooked to the herpstat right now, but won't be when I use it for incubation. I would keep the 3ft. What do you have it hooked to?

As for the fan, I guess you could put a switch for it, though I really don't think you will be opening the 'bator up all that often, and with 3" of heat tape, it wont take long to get back to your target temp.

i kinda like the light. i wouldnt run it all the time due to heat, but it will surely be easy to see in there

Hi,

I like the idea of being able to turn it on and see all the little heads without having to open the door and cause temp drops. :)


dr del

I LIKE it! Good job! I only have 2 feet of flexwatt in mine, for what it's worth. It still does the trick!

I also have only two feet in mine, although I wish I had a longer strip. The more you fit in there the less it will have to run to hold your temperatures. The thermostat will keep it from overheating. :gj:

looks good. what thickness is the acrylic and did you seal around it? thinner acrylic will lose heat faster and if not sealed around it, heat loss will be greater. i prefer 2 fans even in smaller applications. one pointing up and one point down to circulate the air inside of the bator better. i did this in my super small cooler bator and it worked great.

i like the light idea! you can see the egg boxes without opening the bator.

Looks great Jeff! i would hook it up to a proportional thermostat (I'm a Helix guy myself) and fill er up with egg boxes!

I used a wine fridge, the kind with a glass door. I have 2' of 11" flexwatt and mine gets plenty warm. Can't answer about the fan though. Mine holds temps well and doesn't take too long to back up to temp after the door is opened. Hope that helps.

Looks good. I think you'll appreciate having the light in there. I wouldn't leave it on, but even during the day it is pretty hard to see inside the egg boxes without a light inside the incubator.

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Originally Posted by HypoPita

Nice looking! I made an incubator out of a reddi wip industrial fridge, and used 4 ft of 11". Complete overkill, but it is hooked up to a herpstat. I have test ran it MANY times, without any problems...actually use it to thaw rats haha.. My fan is hooked to the herpstat right now, but won't be when I use it for incubation. I would keep the 3ft. What do you have it hooked to?

As for the fan, I guess you could put a switch for it, though I really don't think you will be opening the 'bator up all that often, and with 3" of heat tape, it wont take long to get back to your target temp.

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I do not have a thermostat yet as I will not be breeding this year but DEFINATELY next year. I plan on getting a herpstat or helix though.

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Originally Posted by Lucas339

looks good. what thickness is the acrylic and did you seal around it? thinner acrylic will lose heat faster and if not sealed around it, heat loss will be greater. i prefer 2 fans even in smaller applications. one pointing up and one point down to circulate the air inside of the bator better. i did this in my super small cooler bator and it worked great.

i like the light idea! you can see the egg boxes without opening the bator.

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I have no idea what thickness the the plexiglass is. But I did seal it really well on the outside with silicone before I put the screws on and on the inside around the edges where the hole meets the plexiglass. I was thinking about adding a second pc. of plexiglass on the inside of the door but I wasn't sure if I really needed it or not.

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Originally Posted by Boanerges

I have no idea what thickness the the plexiglass is. But I did seal it really well on the outside with silicone before I put the screws on and on the inside around the edges where the hole meets the plexiglass. I was thinking about adding a second pc. of plexiglass on the inside of the door but I wasn't sure if I really needed it or not.

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I would put another piece on the inside.... This will create an air pocket betweent the two pieces which works the same way as a storm window, and will keep the temps up and more stable inside your incubator.

Good job with the incubator though... I'm hunting a mini fridge to make one similar to this one myself.

How did you wire the fan?

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Originally Posted by MAballs

How did you wire the fan?

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Second that.

Nice lookin bator Boany, the next pic you post should be filled up with eggs right my man!

Looks like a great job ....... Hope you fill it up this year

Yea lights are not needed, as itll just cause over gawking and restless wiating for hatching.

On a side note i how ever would move the fan to the top, to blow the hot air back down to the bottom to circulate the rising heat.


As long as your using a good thermostat, 3 ft of flexwatt wont harm anything, but rather cause it to heat up/ stabilize faster.

I have the same mini fridge set up (3' x 11" flex watt & computer fan), minus the plexi front and the fan is at the top. It worked great! Only a .5 degree fluctuation. Used the regular Herpstat to run it.

I also think you should add a second piece of plexi on the inside and seal it well. That way you will have an air pocket to insulate it better and keep the temps as stable as possible. Nice to be able to see inside with out opening the door for those "I have to look, I have to look, I have to look!" kind of days :D.

A light is a great idea! :gj: I found my self removing the tub all the way to get a good look inside. It was dark.

All-in-all, looks great!!

The light is a personal preference. Connect it to a door switch, so it only comes on when the door is open. Doesn't really matter to the eggs, it would be nice if you have mutlible layers of containers. It would make it easier to see.

As for the fan, I'm a little concerned it's too big. You don't want to pull the moisture out of the eggs, and if that fan moves as much air as I think it will, you'll have a good bit of convection going on. Ideally, you want a fan that will circulate the air, but not build a convection. Since I don't know the CFM rating on the fan, it's just a guess on my part. Either way, it's a good looking job and one to be proud of. Good luck with the eggs!

Jim Smith

My apologies for not responding in this thread. I did not know people were posting in it or I would have responded sooner.

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Originally Posted by MAballs

How did you wire the fan?

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Originally Posted by Falconsmith

Second that.

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These are pics of the back of the packaging of the fan I am using:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e262/001-5.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e262/002-6.jpg
Now that I have my fan I need something to power it. I used an old Nextel cell phone charger (got this idea from someone on here). Now this charger will work for this fan because the specs are rated the same. This charger can not be used to power any fan! Please excuse the gloves as I was lifting when I took the quick pics and didn't take the gloves off:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e262/004-4.jpg
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e262/003-6.jpg
Now I got my fan and and something to power it. Next you splice them together. The Nextel charger and the fan have two wires and the wires are marked so you know which wires are the positive and negative. One wire is coated with a solid color and the other has a solid color with dashes on it. The wire with the dash on it on the fan goes to the wire with the dash on it on the Nextel cell phone charger and solid to solid.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f1...e262/009-1.jpg
I used these to splice the wires together:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f166/riane262/012.jpg
Then I used heat shrink tubing to cover them. Then I used electrical tape over the heat shrink tubing:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f166/riane262/014.jpg
Just REMEMBER to only crimp one wire in place then put the heat shrink tubing on then crimp the next wire. If you crimp both you will not be able to get the heat shrink tubing on. Heat the tubing with a blow dryer then wrap with electrical tape. Plug it in and you should be good to go :gj:

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Yea lights are not needed, as itll just cause over gawking and restless wiating for hatching.

On a side note i how ever would move the fan to the top, to blow the hot air back down to the bottom to circulate the rising heat.


As long as your using a good thermostat, 3 ft of flexwatt wont harm anything, but rather cause it to heat up/ stabilize faster.

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I wanted the fan at the top but if I mounted it there then I wouldn't be able to fit as many tubs in the. I think if I remember right I can get 4 six quart tubs on each side. With a fan mounted on top I could only get 3 on each side.

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Originally Posted by jsmorphs2

I have the same mini fridge set up (3' x 11" flex watt & computer fan), minus the plexi front and the fan is at the top. It worked great! Only a .5 degree fluctuation. Used the regular Herpstat to run it.

I also think you should add a second piece of plexi on the inside and seal it well. That way you will have an air pocket to insulate it better and keep the temps as stable as possible. Nice to be able to see inside with out opening the door for those "I have to look, I have to look, I have to look!" kind of days :D.

A light is a great idea! :gj: I found my self removing the tub all the way to get a good look inside. It was dark.

All-in-all, looks great!!

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I agree with the second sheet of plexi glass and plan on adding it :gj:

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Originally Posted by j_h_smith

The light is a personal preference. Connect it to a door switch, so it only comes on when the door is open. Doesn't really matter to the eggs, it would be nice if you have mutlible layers of containers. It would make it easier to see.

As for the fan, I'm a little concerned it's too big. You don't want to pull the moisture out of the eggs, and if that fan moves as much air as I think it will, you'll have a good bit of convection going on. Ideally, you want a fan that will circulate the air, but not build a convection. Since I don't know the CFM rating on the fan, it's just a guess on my part. Either way, it's a good looking job and one to be proud of. Good luck with the eggs!

Jim Smith

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This is the size fan I seen most used. The specs are up so you can tell me if you think it is over kill or not :gj:

Whe I wrote rated the same about the fan and the charger it was a poor choice of words now that I think about it. A better explanation is the fan is rated at 6-7 volts (7 volts being the max that can power it). The nextel phone carger is rated at 5.9 volts power. So the Nextel phone charger is only providing the fan with 5.9 volts of power to run it. So it is at the low end of the power rating wich is not providing so much power that the fan is blowing super hard. Hope that makes more sense. Any more comments, questions or opinions please feel free to post. Thank you everyone :gj:

:gj:think it looks great man i dont think that 3 ft of 11 in isa over kill at all, i used 6 ft of 11 in one a little smaller (i always seem to over build things) but it gets up to temps quick after i open the door and holds the temps great 100% hatch rate last year so something was right.

hope to see pics of it full soon

that thing i pretty cool man i actually have one of these minis sitting in my basement but mine dont have a glass door like yours... i think im gunna try to do this whene i get set up for breeding.....

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Originally Posted by Mrgbb

that thing i pretty cool man i actually have one of these minis sitting in my basement but mine dont have a glass door like yours... i think im gunna try to do this whene i get set up for breeding.....

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Thank you :gj: It is plexiglass on the front door and I just cut a hole in the mini fridge door then I just siliconed and screwed the plexiglass on there. You could do the same with yours :gj: Just be careful not to crack the plexi glass :)

looks like what I am planning/hopping to try and do tomorrow with my coke machine ( using a smaller fan on a old cell charger) . But I must ask what the water bottle do ?? outside of maybe taking up space and being used to release some heat later on ?? ? I not using doing 4+ cltuchs so I got the room to place larger bottles and what not. I think I will only have 2 clutchs in the fridge once I get it done ( this year ) and redo the heating with 11 inch next year... I only got 3 or 4 inch on hand right now. plus the unit in my snake room so i get a bit of a preheat for it now. I just needot rais it a couple degrees for the eggs. and I figuer a large U shape in there will do just fine this year. I also wonderwere the best palce toset a temp probe insuch a large unit ?? in a dummy box or just to hang loose in the air??