Is a Zoo-Med 500R Thermostat okay for an incubator?

[justin-branam]

Hey,

im wondering if you all think the Zoo Med 500R thermostat would be okay to regulate the temps for my incubator. I have a hovabator, and im incubating for female, but it just dips too low sometimes (last night it got down to a frightening 77!). i need to do something today and i can get the 500r locally, so, Im thinking if i set the temp of the hovabator up to the male temp of 88, and then plug it into the thermostat which i will set on 82, i wont have to worry about it getting to cold, but for some reason if the 500R thermostat doesnt work, the incubator will just raise the temp to the male incubation temp. Does this make sense? if so, does it sound like an okay idea, atleast for a temporary fix until i can get my good incubators built?

 

[justin-branam]

okay, since no one had any input, i just went ahead and bought a ranco controller to keep the temp up. i figured for $20 more it was a lot more reliable.

 

[trizzypballr]

ive never actully used a hovabator before, i didnt know that they had problems with temperature like that. You say its dropping as low as 77? you have it set on what, 82? I dont think it should be dropping 5 degrees like that, because 5 degrees the other way would put you the whole way up to the male temperature. Do you have it near a window or door or any kind of draft? Something just doesnt sound right, make sure to keep it where the temperature is constant.

 

[NaughtyDawg]

Justin,

I would set it just above 82 to say 84. You don't that big of a temperautre swing.

 

[justin-branam]

ive never actully used a hovabator before, i didnt know that they had problems with temperature like that. You say its dropping as low as 77? you have it set on what, 82? I dont think it should be dropping 5 degrees like that, because 5 degrees the other way would put you the whole way up to the male temperature. Do you have it near a window or door or any kind of draft? Something just doesnt sound right, make sure to keep it where the temperature is constant.

problem is when i set it, outsied temps were fairly warm. now its been getting cold, but only for a few days at a time (wierd houston weather), so i dont want to set it to high. the ac/heat in the house shuts off during the middle of the day when no one is home, so that is why the big temp swing.

i think i made the right move getting the ranco, as i use one on my aquarium, and it stays within 1 +/- degree of the set temp.


this brings up another question though. im sure i can figure it out by looking at it, but is there a way to just bypass the disk thermostat in the hovabator?

 

[trizzypballr]

Like I said ive never delt with a hovabator before, so I have no clue, I actully went on EBay and bought and incubator, bought a Napco 4200 controlled environment incubator. Everyone told me Im crazy because this thing is huge, and has alot of things i dont need like c02 intakes and such, but it doesnt realy matter, because I picked it up for like 260 shipped, and it is double sided, stands as high as a stove, and about 4-5 ft wide, this thing can store massive ammounts of eggs Was fun to learn how to adjust the temp, but after messing with it for about 2 weeks I got the temp locked in, and it hasnt varried more than a degree and a half from the min to the max so far that Ive seen, very happy with it. Ive heard alot of good things about natures spirits incubators, everyone seems to love them.

 

[trizzypballr]

Justin,

I would set it just above 82 to say 84. You don't that big of a temperautre swing.

My personal opinion 84 is to high, I believe 85 is the temperature at which both males and females are hatched(correct me if im wrong) So setting your tempature at 84 is just asking for trouble, you could easily end up hatching out males when you temperature sexed them as females because of a slight jump in the temperature

 

[trizzypballr]

....... Accidently posted the same message twice, can someone tell me how I can delete this post?

 

[boutiquegecko]

If you're still having trouble take out the wafer that came with the hovabator. That's what I had to do, because even hooked up to my thermostat the hobabator kept going by the wafer and my temps where everywhere until I took it out.