Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Thanks in advance for any opinions!

As a weekend project, we built an incubator out of a cooler using a regular house thermostat that we bought from home depot for like $17.00.

From bottom of cooler to top:
*3 glass planks (10in x 1.5in x 1/4 in)
*zoo med heat mat made for 50gal tank
*3 more glass planks
*that egg crate light fixture crap from home depot
*8 full 17oz water bottles
*more egg crate crap with a computer fan in the middle
*the home thermostat, resting on the top egg crate layer(inside cooler)

(I followed the physical design (NOT heat design) from someone else on K.S.)

We wired the fan seperate w/ a DC adapter from an old cell phone.
We shoved the 4 huge wires from the home thermostat out the drain hole, and it was a S.O.B. to wire it from the outside to the female & male ends of a cut-in-half extension cord. We plugged the zoo med mat into the extension cord.

We used a zilla probe thermometer, as the wires from the temp probes are so thin, they can run under the closed cooler lid.

We plugged it all in,,,,tweaked it a little,,, and to our surprise it ran for the past 2 days rarely deviating from 89 degrees.

Now,,,,, we are not cheapskates. We merely thought it would be fun to test out our ideas...(the worst we loose is $17!!)... We originally intended to buy a helix and heat tape,,,,,,,,, but now that it seems to work, we can't foresee any downfalls???

Hopefully, if anyone else can see some downfalls w/this, PLEASE TELL US WE ARE STUPID!!! (in a nice way, LOL)
Thanks!!!!!!

P.S.- If we find any downfalls,,,, we'll let you all know!

what voltage was the t-stat rated for becouse most are rated at 24v and not 120v that is the only thing that I see you might have a problem with.
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www.wreckroomsnakes.com

I think they must have used a line voltage t-stat. They mentioned large wires coming off of it. There was no mention of a transformer or a contactor.

Tha only problem I can think of is most line voltage t-stats are mechanical and not digital.

yes, it is mechanical- not digital.

So, once you have tested it out let us know how consistant it holds the temp and how easy or difficult it is to set the exact temp you want.
Claude