Incubator ?

[BPMIKE]

Are you saying to take the thermostat probe off of the heat tape? Andwhen it reach's the correct temp it will stay cosistent using the thermostat this way?
Thank you!Mike

[RebelYell83]

should,,and we are using a small 6 inch fan from walmart in the bottom of our fridge conversion,and its holding great

[LCB]

how about people post pics of there bators and how there heat/probes are set up. i have mine running and its a converted fridge with sterilites full of water on the bottom and middle shelf. i set the probe right in the middle and it gives me 89-91. ill get pics soon.

just trying to help.

felipe

[BPMIKE]

Okay this is what I did.I changed to a proportional Thermostat took an old computer apart and added two fans.I also moved the probe to the center of the frige convert.Lots of water bottles.So now I need to watch it for awhile and see what happens. Thanks very much for all who gave their advice.
Mike.

[Dr_Gonz0]

Here are some photos of a incubator i recently finished. It needs a few last touches, but is operational at this point. The Pepsi can on top is there for size reference. It is heated via 4 feet of 11 inch heat tape, controlled by a Helix.

outside shot



Inside shot



close up of overall lay out



Close up of fan (upper right corner) and Helix probe (upper left corner)



Robin
H2 Exotics

[BPMIKE]

Good job!Looks great.
Mike.

[LCB]

Looks Great! question, whats wrong with using infared bulbs as the heating source? ive seen that done on many separate bators but few bp bators. just wondering.

felipe

[RebelYell83]

can i ask why so much flexxwatt?,ours is running 2ft,we had 3ft,but with our thermostat we couldnt get the temps low enough,and Mike,you shouldnt need waterbottles,they just even out the heat,with the fans in place,i would dump them and free up the space bro

heres a couple shots of ours:

[Dr_Gonz0]

Makes for more even heat distribution and holds temps better i find. You also have to take in consideration that my incubator is probably twice the size of yours. My thermostat is also proportional, so it is not like the tape is at full power or off, it gets just what it needs to keep temps steady.

Robin

PS - the fan you have in your incubator was the very one i installed in my first incubator that i built in '07. It threw off a insane amount of heat and that could be the reason for your varying temps. A 12 volt fan with a transformer is the way to go. I also found having the probe measuring the air temps and not the tape temps also helped to create a more stable system.

[Chuck]

Okay this is what I did.I changed to a proportional Thermostat took an old computer apart and added two fans.I also moved the probe to the center of the frige convert.Lots of water bottles.So now I need to watch it for awhile and see what happens. Thanks very much for all who gave their advice.
Mike.

Mike

Ya your should have the probe in the middle of the incubator. Think of it like the flexwatt is heating the air, so you want the probe to sample the air. If you were to put the probe on the flexwatt you would get a very accurate temp on the flexwatt but not the air. Also try to setup the fans so they work togeather to move the air around. like you are trying to push air around an oval track if that makes any sense.