Mini fridge incubator, opinions needed...

[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

[Boanerges]

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

How did you wire the fan?

Second that.

These are pics of the back of the packaging of the fan I am using:


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:


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.

I used these to splice the wires together:

Then I used heat shrink tubing to cover them. Then I used electrical tape over the heat shrink tubing:

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

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 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.

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 .

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

All-in-all, looks great!!

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

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

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

[Boanerges]

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

[771subliminal]

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

[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.....

[Boanerges]

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.....

Thank you 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 Just be careful not to crack the plexi glass

[mechnut450]

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??