Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm at the end of my rope and just have run out of ideas~ little help please?

I built this incubator:

Incubator plans

Well, basically the same incubator. I used more heat cable (because I had a longer length) and I used glass pans in the bottom (I got metal ones~ but the promptly rusted)

Don't worry~ thats not eggs in those deli's~ I'm using those to calibrate my temps

The instructions call for a fan~ and it needs a fan~ the temp is not even without one. Okay~ I bought this one at Best Buy

But I couldn't figure out how to wire it up to 110V~ so....wasted that $10 bucks. The I bought this one for $25 at Radio Shack (it's the ONLY small one they had that was 110V and I had to put a cord on it myself)

It's 110V~ but it doesn't solve the problem. It turns off within about 5 min of being in the incubator. It will start again as soon as I open the door and let some fresh air in~ but that kind of defeats the purpose of having built an incubator!! So I snaked this bigger 110V one off my sons desk

Also 110V~ but doing EXACTLY the same thing the Radio Shack fan is doing!! I can't figure out if the fans are over heating (at 90F??) or if it's the humidity or both. They are not being pluged into the Helix~ they are plugged into an extension cord that goes to a GFCI outlet (no~ the GFCI isn't popping).

I KNOW there has to be fans that will work. Where do I get them!!

Thanks for any help!!!!!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

I had a similar problem. My Beardie cage was too humid so I took the fan from an old computer, cut the wires and used the plug from an old cell phone charger, spliced the two together plugged that into a plug-in dimmer switch and viola! You can adjust the fan speed so it's not running full blast/ getting hot?It's worth a shot if you have the spare parts. PS use slicing connectors for safety. And remember folks. Always were safety glasses when working with power tools.

Thanks~ luckily a little common sence has saved the day~ but your info is very much appreciated. I thought it might have been the very high humidity myself~ in fact I have removed the open water tubs and replaced them with sealed water bottles because the humidity in there was SO high I was getting "rain" dripping from the top!

One more stupid question....what are "slicing connectors"~ When I wired up the little fan I was very worried about the humidity issue with the spliced wires so I used wire nuts and then a LOT (I MEAN A LOT) of electrical tape around the connections to try to keep water out of the splice. Are these slicing connectors a better option?
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

Hi Cheryl -

Another way of looking at your problem, if you don’t mind –

Do you really need the fan?

For more than twenty years I used a big ol' homemade incubator 36”H x 36”W x 20”D with heat tape wrapped around rods near the bottom. No fan. I kept meaning to install one lol but never did. Sure, the temperature varied by around 1.5 degrees from the lowermost egg containers to the uppermost. But that didn’t affect hatching success (for various python species).

For all but the last year of operation, I was controlling the heat output with one of those old wafer thermostats. And, get this, it was the same wafer thermostat for over twenty years. I never changed it out until I switched over to a proportional thermostat.

Your mileage may vary.

-Joan

Thanks Joan
I did think of that~ but I've got an almost 5 degree range from the middle to the sides in there. If the range where smaller I wouldn't worry~ but I've still got at least a month to eggs so I still have time to play with it and try to get the range better.

Luckily a little common sence seems to be the answer to repeated fan delima......(feeling pretty stupid here!) so maybe I'm on the road again!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

The fan should not be turning off. Make sure you are not conecting the fan to the thermostat, it needs to have full power 24/7

I read your post and thought "Of course I don't have them plugged into the Thermostat~ I know better than that!!"

But then I checked~ because I asked for your help and you told me to check.........

guess what.........

Guessed it the first try didn't you?

Sure enough~ I was plugging them into the thermostat!! (Banging head now) I've got the incubator inside a bathtub in our guest bathroom~ we don't use the bathtub, just the other facilities~ and the incubator fits perfect. I fastened the Helix and thermometers to the wall in front of the throne so that anytime anyone uses the facilities they check my temps for me (got a post it on the helix with the temp range I want) Well.....you know that little handle in the bathtub? I have the cords for everything wrapped around that to keep them up where I can see them.......and there is just so many of them that I got confused which one was the Helix and which was the extension cord!

DUH!

Thanks~ I've been trying for WEEKS to figure this out.....I wasn't going to get it without someone reminding me to check the basics.
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

Definitely a DUH moment.

Hope all goes smoothly from here on. Good thing you're one of those well-organized people who plan way in advance. Good luck with the eggs.

-Joan

You may be surpised to know that quite a few people have done the same thing. Good luck.