In case of emergency?

[West Coast Jungle]

Just curious, I am not breeding (yet anyway) but how would you turn a small fridge into an incubtor...maybe I have just not thought enough about it, but seems like this could be a task indeed....

Easy run a strip of flexwatt down the back, install a computer fan over flexwatt to blow down over it. Drill some holes to run electric cords and t stat probes, hook up to t stat and you are rockin. I leave the computer fan running 24/7. Also I like to remove all the coolant lines and compressor, uneeded weight and chemicals and don't use fridge fan, too cold.

[Brimstone111888]

Even very small backups, which usually look like powerstrips, can run a computer for about 15-30 minutes. Computers use MUCH more wattage than a simple flexwatt, but without knowing the exact numbers on each I give give a definite amount of time.

You can get a 6 hour battery back up for around $300, which could translate into days of power, obvious depending on how many things are running off of it. $300 might be a good investment if you are hatching $10,000 dollars in snakes.

Tim mentioned something about proportional thermostats don't work with generator power. I'm not sure if it has the same affect with the back ups.

[takagari]

you over estimate the battery backups and how much a flexwatt will drain them. i assure you it smuch faster then that. if you have one. just plug i your heaters, unplug it and check the clock. and wait for it to beep dieing.

Ive used mine before and only got a few hours for two snakes

BUT that being said if you have a dirty generator. AND one of the UPS supplys for your pc. You plug it into the generator and the whole idea of the battery ups will help regulate your power a lot.

[Brimstone111888]

How big is your back up? If its is normally a 15-30 minute one I think that 2 hours is pretty good for two snakes. As I said I am unsure of flexwatt wattage.

[JoshJP7]

Also who makes it? Mine is built for a server that would power a whole network of computers... I'm going to guess yours is built just to power 1 PC

What I have is very similar to this...

http://www.apc.com/resource/include/...sku=SUA1500X93

a 11inch flexwatt is 20watts... so for me... 11 pieces of flexwatt x 20w is only 220W which is like 1/4 of the Max power ... plus I use a Herp Pro which is a proportinal t-stat so it doesnt even use the full 20watts(usually around 20-40%).

[muddoc]

Curious as to what you consider a fortune for a generator?... My pops has one that he spent like 5-6k on that will power and entire floor of a house... weve only had to use it once for the house but would you consider that dirty power?

It doesn't really matter how big the generator is, it could be a 50K, but if it doesn't have some kind of filter to clean up the power (i.e. surges and inconsistent amperage), then it won't power a proportional T-stat. If you don't trust me, that's fine, just have pops start up the generator and try to run your thermostats. If they work, great. All I am saying is that after Hurricane Katrina, I was out of power for 31 days, and I tried to run my snake room with a generator and none of my Helix's worked. It would run a fan and the AC's though. I am not trying to get into a debate about electricity, as I am not that versed in it, but pass on some experience that I have had.

[rabernet]

Just curious, I am not breeding (yet anyway) but how would you turn a small fridge into an incubtor...maybe I have just not thought enough about it, but seems like this could be a task indeed....

I didn't build this one myself, a friend is selling me one of his. But basically it has a fan to circulate the air, and flexwatt for heating.

Here's how to make one with a full sized fridge, so I would imagine you'd modify it.

I'll be picking mine up next weekend!

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/incubator.shtml

[nixer]

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm?

try the ups selection tools that apc has on their site.
if you look under the telecom (middle colum) it says by load fill it out and viola! it helps you select one.

i have (2) 1500kva ones that i can use if need be but most of my stuff is set on/off cept for the incubator

[nixer]

http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm?

try the ups selection tools that apc has on their site.
if you look under the telecom (middle colum) it says by load fill it out and viola! it helps you select one.

i have (2) 1500kva ones that i can use if need be but most of my stuff is set on/off cept for the incubator

oops i mean 1500va!

[Sparky1]

Just my thought you would be better off running a generator even if it is small and not of the best quality through a small ups. The ups will clean up the dirty sine wave created by the generator thus letting your proportional stats work properly. The problem with the generators is that they dont really put out 60hz which is what we normally have, it varies and some times alot! Since our proportionals are actually changing the sine wave themselves they will not work since the input is not correct. I also believe just having a ups might not be enough, if it were me i would do a trial run on it to see what it really can do before having a lot of lost eggs because you calculated wrong.