Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well I finished it actually a few weeks ago but forgot to post it here. I think I may have a productive spring coming with all my pythons copulating, so I built this unit and have is ready to bake up some babies. Hope the info helps anyone looking to build their own incubator. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to hit me up. If you have any design enhancements, by all means let me know those as well.

-TT
Incubator Design

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I think a lot of people are going to find your page handy.

You probably don't have the room, but if you were able to put in some tubs of water (sealed) into the incubator your thermal load would increase and you'd have more stable temps.

You might try it during your experimental phase. By increasing your thermal load and experimenting with sensor placement you can get very stable temps, even with a on-off thermostat.

Probably trivial, though, as a better thermostat is usually a good idea.

You mentioned replacing the current thermostat with a proportional Ranco. If you are talking about the Rancos sold by some of the Herp supply outlets, they are also ON/OFF thermostats, not proportional. If Ranco does in fact offer a true proportional model and that is what you are talking about, then I stand corrected. Also, if proportional, where did you see it offered? Thanks.

Yes, they do make proportioanls. ETC models that are offered in the classifieds as well as where I get them at Grainger.com. They are awesome units.

-TT
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0.1 Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Sorong Green Tree Python
1.1 Blue Tongue Skinks (Female Irian Jaya - Male Merauke)

I was looking at getting a Ranco from Grainger.com and I see two of their smaller units (3ZP77 vs 3ZP78). The difference between them is that the 78 has the capacity of 0-10 V output while the 77 does not.

Does this mean the 78 is proportional and the 77 is not?

I spent my college years learning biology and don't remember squat about physics or other such electrical stuff.
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Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

The 0-10V out is a DC voltage proportional to the temperature range of -30F to 220F = 0-10 VDC. It is used to drive a panel meter or strip chart for temp monitoring and is not for the Ranco to control temperature.

I have the ETC 3ZP77 and it is NOT proportional control, nor are any of ETC models I saw on Grainger's catalog, whether it be the 3ZP78, 80, 81, etc. Yes some have the proportional 0-10v output for monitoring. To use this 0-10v out for control would require another controller that is proportional (which defeats the purpose of calling the Ranco proportional.) I need to ask that guy the model #, because this is very misleading to folks to say the ETC models are proportional when in fact the ones I saw and have are not.

I don't see any proportional units. The ETC line are ON/OFF. Can you give me a model #? Maybe I am missing seeing the proportional models. I own 2 ETC models, both ON/OFF control. They sell some with a 0-10VDC proportional output for monitoring, but not control.

I have to look which models I have at home. They may not be exactly "proportional", but the 0-10 V thing sounds familiar. I use them with Ultratherm heat mats and flexwatt, I set it to 90 degrees F, set the differential (what it can drop to before kicking back on) and thats it. The heat pad tests with an IR heat gun to exactly 90 degrees. Is that proportional, I am not truley sure? My Big Apple thermostats seem to fit the proportional description much better but are far less acurate as the Rancos. Now that I think of it, which one is really better? Either way both are upgrades from the crappy ESU on/off model I am using on my Incubator.

-TT
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1.1 Children's Pythons
2.1 Irian Jaya Carpet Pythons
1.1 Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.1 Coastal Carpet Pythons
0.1 Olive Python
1.0 Madagascar Tree Boa
0.1 Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Sorong Green Tree Python
1.1 Blue Tongue Skinks (Female Irian Jaya - Male Merauke)

Rancos are ON/OFF (not proportional) controllers with adjustable differential (diff between ON temp and OFF temp.) They are high quality and have high capacity. When the heat tape is in a position where it doesn't lose heat quickly (like under a wood cage), the Ranco's control may seem to hold the heat tape constant, when in fact it is slowly cycling to the difference of the differential. You would see it more if the room was cold. Anyway, you're right, Rancos are higher-quality than those $30 jobs.

So are these worse than say the big Apple style thermostats? From my standpoint they have proven to be real solid so far. They don't seem to switch on and off a ton. Although my room temp is 80-82 most of the time. So I could see your point there.

By no means did I want to confuse anyone. I guess I was mislead / confused myself about them. Anyone know the CONS to the Rancos vs others? Maybe I should be upgrading then? Sorry again....

TT
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1.1 Children's Pythons
2.1 Irian Jaya Carpet Pythons
1.1 Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.1 Coastal Carpet Pythons
0.1 Olive Python
1.0 Madagascar Tree Boa
0.1 Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Sorong Green Tree Python
1.1 Blue Tongue Skinks (Female Irian Jaya - Male Merauke)

Hey, no apology needed and no problem. I happen to know much about controllers (and less about biology) so I jump up and down whenever the subject comes up. Most people are confused on proportional vs ON/OFF, and I thought your original post would add to that. Its all straight now.

You are correct, with ambient temps around 80 deg, you will see little cycling. Believe me, if your room temp was 65 deg, you'd hear that little relay clicking away and see your heat tape temp go from 90 to 86 (or less) and back and forth all day and night. Not that big of deal really, but it isn't the best it can be. The point is, a proportional controller would hold it more steady even whether the room temp was cold or warm, so for people like me trying to keep exotic snakes in a room that is unheated, proportional is the way to go for heat pads and tapes. Your situation is different, and an ON/OFF controller will work fine. In an insulated incubator, ON/OFF control works great.

The bottom line is that Rancos are excellent ON/OFF thermostats, and if they are working great for you in your environment, then there is no reason to change. But to answer your question, in a fight to maintain a set temp, Big Apple's proportional controller would win.

Awesome, thanks for clearing that up. You learn new stuff every day. Hopefully this will help others as well, because I have seen questions like this come up before. Thanks again!

TT
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1.1 Children's Pythons
2.1 Irian Jaya Carpet Pythons
1.1 Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.1 Coastal Carpet Pythons
0.1 Olive Python
1.0 Madagascar Tree Boa
0.1 Baja Rosy Boa
0.1 Sorong Green Tree Python
1.1 Blue Tongue Skinks (Female Irian Jaya - Male Merauke)

Hi –

Thanks for taking the time to show and tell exactly what you did. I’ve been using the same old homemade incubator for well over 20 years, but I’m always interested in what other people do. One design I saw recently on another message board incorporated a bunch of one-liter plastic bottles filled with water which rested on or near the heat source. Seemed like a good idea for smoothing out temperature fluctuations when you open the incubator for routine maintenance or checks.

My incubator usually contains some of the larger-sized python eggs, and I’ve always felt that these eggs themselves inside the closed plastic containers served well enough as heat stabilizers, so to speak, and were very slow to lose heat. But since I have room for some water bottles, I thought I’d see how they work this year. I noticed you seem to have plenty of room between the top of the flexwatt and the bottom of the first level of egg containers to accommodate something like that. Since your access doors are large and you don’t have shelves (necessitating taking out the top boxes to get to lower ones) you’ll probably dump a lot of heat whenever you open the incubator, so it might be something you would like to try, too.

-Joan

Well I wrote this before I read Chris Harper's post. I'll post it anyway. Great minds think alike, I guess.