Cube mk2 and WIR

[Lewis]

I've been thinking of hatching quail for a while, and am making an incubator, and would like to know what you think. (Please excuse the poor drawing skills )

For the Outside:

For the inside (with doors removed):

It will be made of wood and heathed by 2 bulbs (controlled by a thermostat/dimmer), humidity is provided by a water pan in the base. There will be a small Computer Fan placed by the light bulbs so that I don't have and hot/cold spots.

Now for the questions :

1.Can anyone see any problems?

2. What should I coat the wood with to keep humidity in the air, not soaked into the wood?

3. Should I have the air vents as shown, or not?

Expect more questions shortly... Thanks. Lewis

[Egg Lou]

Sorry don't have any advice but wanted to say the drawings look great! best of luck to you!

[JamesH]

Just a quick note on the humidity. It is the area of the water that decides the humidity to a big extent. So your tray should perhaps be split into sections or hold smaller containers so that you can control the humidity some.

[Duckmomma]

It looks great

AS far as coating the wood goes, there was a thread on here somewhere about a spray on plasic coating.

people were talking about spraying on the roosting bars.

Maybe that would be suitable?

Sorry I can't find the thread but someone might be along soon to point you in the right direction

[JamesH]

Found this on ebay when looking for different types of thermostats:

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Low-temp-thermostat_W0QQitemZ220258922594QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220258922594&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

 

I remember seeing this before or something similar. Prebuilt.

[Lewis]

That thermostat looks good and I have seen them before, but I would know what to wire the bulb and fan and power into etc.

I may look into the plastic coating, has anyone had much success with it?

I was thinking more of a varnish, but wondered how it would cope with the heat

[Egluntyne]

Plastikote or Plastidip are what you are looking for.

 

Not sure about their flammable qualities re the bulbs though.

[JamesH]

Image from here

 

1. In the bottom diagram if you replaced the siren with a 12volt bulb the bulb would light when a low temperature was reached. The temperature depending on what the variable resistor was adjusted too. once above the low temperature the bulb would go out. The circuit has a capacitor in it which prevents the relay switching like mad on the boundary between on and off.

 

2. Again bottom diagram. If you moved both the top 2 connections down 1 hole (where the screws hold the wires) then you could attach a fan instead. Then when the temperature reached a preset high temperature the fan would draw out some hot air. The heat would be provided by either mains bulbs/dimmer or 12 volt bulb wired to be on all the time.

 

The 12volt power supply would have to be able to supply enough juice for the bulb used. You can't use the relay to make the circuit for mains voltages.

 

Also if you went this route I would get the guy selling it to supply the thermistor on a couple of wires then you would have more choice in mounting it.

 

I would mount the fan for air circulation near the bulbs as you said and also have one of the air vent holes behind it, so clean air is drawn in there.

 

Going back to the room thermostat, I think room thermostats may have 3 terminals live, neutral, and switched live so you would connect live and neutral to it and then the bulb between switched live and neutral. I'm still not sure they work to the required range. You could mount it in a cooler part of the incubator (lol i know) and then it would.

this one appaers to go to 37.5 at least on the markings.

 

how accurate are these

 

There are also some thermstats here:

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=0561460

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=2506112

[Lewis]

Wow! Thanks James, if I buy one of those, and use a computer lead to power the thermostat, how do I connect the 2 wires from the thermostat into that?

[JamesH]

Sorry which one do you mean?

 

The circuit above is the same one the guy on ebay sells. He supplies a thermistor with it. The thermistor is the little blue thing labelled sensor on that diagram. Its the bit that senses the temperature. It's best to get this soldered onto 2 longer wires as then you can just mount the thermistor inside the incubator, the control could then be mounted outside (the bit which you adjust). It would be the same just the little blue thermistor sensor on a longer lead.

 

edit: ok seems there are loads of people selling these now. here is what i mean

 

You could just forget the longer lead for the thermistor and just drill a hole and the little twisty bit could go through the hole in the side of the incubator. Just thinking about avoiding opening the incubator to make an adjustment.

 

The computer lead would be wired in where it says 12 volts. The block on the right where the wires connect are little screw terminals. You just use a screw driver to loosen, put the wire in and tighten up.

 

You can get 12 volt halogen bulbs in tesco/whereever, I have them in the kitchen and bathroom and I think they would give enough heat. I think they are 20watts. A computer power supply would be great if you have one.

[Lewis]

That's a good idea about the longer wires.

So if I buy this I will have to use 12 volt bulbs.

I got confues where you said about using a fan, do I have to have 2 thermostats to control a fan and a bulb?

Tha main bit I don't understand is the power supply, do I use this or this?

And how do I plug this into those small holes on the thermostat.

Sorry for all the questions.

[JamesH]

If you use the above circuit to control the bulbs you have to use 12volt bulbs and a 12volt power supply.

 

You have to power it from something like the second one. You would have to cut the plug off the end of that power supply and inside is 2 wires + and -. something like this Note how many watts output the power supply has. If you used 2 x 20watt bulb you need 40watts + enough for the circuit + you recirculation fan + a bit more to be on the safe side. You can get 10 watt 12volt bulbs and bulb holders too, this would mean you could use a smaller power supply. As a rough guide a 12volt 1amp power supply will give you 12watts to play with. A 12volt 2amp gives you 24watts. A 12volt 3 amp gives you 36watts.

 

If you don't fancy mangling the power supply lead you can get an extension lead like this and cut the pulg off the end. to get to the 2 wires.

 

You would use that circuit to control either the bulbs or the fan not both. If you wanted to do both you'd need 2 circuits but it's not really worth it.

 

You could wire the bulbs straight to 12volt and have them on all the time and also connect 12 volts to the above circuit to control the fan to cool the incubator. (you could have another fan always on for circulation wired to the 12 volt supply aswell if it's got enough juice) edit: looking again i'm unsure if it will turn the fan on once a temperature is reached. I think if bulb was attached bulb would be lit until a preset high temperature was reached. you could connect to a 'normally closed' relay and then have the fan and power.

 

or

 

You could wire the bulbs to the above circuit and it would control switching it on and off when it reached a preset low temprature. You wouldn't need the exhaust fan. You could wire the fan to be on all the time.

 

or

 

You could wire your 240volt bulbs to mains as you were going to with a dimmer. 240v. Then use the above circuit just to control the 12volt exhaust fan. edit: again needs a relay. The advantage is you could use a lower rated power supply (which are cheaper and more available) as you would only have to power a fan from the power supply and the circuit.

 

another idea is to use an old desktop computer power supply an AT one not ATX would be better these have lots of watts.

Edited July 27, 2008 by Guest

[Lewis]

I've just been to Homebase and had a look, they had no thermostats.

I got hinges and door handles and also looked at the mesh for the bottom. I bought magnets to keep the door shut.

Im looking at thermostats at the moment on ebay.

[JamesH]

Well you only need a thermostat if you go for the mains route. might work out cheaper though hmmm.

[Lewis]

A new idea is a reptile thermostat. I have a tortoise and he has a habistat one so I know they are good, but they are SO expensive, although there are some cheaper on ebay.

But im not sure what the temperature fluctuations are like on them.

 

EDIT: Just realised they only go up to 92 degrees

[JamesH]

if you can get one cheap enough i think it's a pretty good option!

 

edit: seen you post about temperature range. you would mount it in a cooler part of the incubator (yes i know) like under the water tray might be cooler??

 

A greenhouse thermostat is another one but i cant find any cheap ones.

[Lewis]

Is this what you are looking for?

[JamesH]

shhh don't tell everyone.

 

yeah that sort of thing, although that one looks very industrial, i wonder how quickly they respond to drops in temperature.

[Lewis]

John, you will be pleased to know that I'm the proud owned of a thermostat .

Thanks for all your info, and Dad said he will help me if I get stuck.

 

Expect more questions soon .

[JamesH]

hey cool, time for some experiments and tuning!

 

look forward to updates

[Lewis]

He emailed to say he had posted the thermostat today.

I've marked up the wood and just need to cut it and assemble it all now.

[Lewis]

shhh don't tell everyone.

 

yeah that sort of thing, although that one looks very industrial, i wonder how quickly they respond to drops in temperature.

Did you bid on it? And did you win?

It went for £6.17 + £3 P&P

 

P.S. The thermostat came yesterday