DIY Propagator
I always wanted to use propagators to germinate seedlings as early as possible in the season and put them in the greenhouse, however the problem is that all of the commercial ones i have come across are mains powered. While this makes manufacture easy in practice it means that in the early part of the growing season the greenhouse can be a tangle of mains cables. This is not a good idea when there is a lot of water and condensation around! To get around this problem i decided to develop a home made propagator powered from a safe DC voltage.
I wanted some simple design goals:
1. The unit should be DC powered, say from 12V DC or a laptop power supply of say 17V DC.
2. The unit should dismantle so that the seed tray can be used normally and to minimise the amount of storage required when not in use.
3. The unit should have a visual display,possibly LCD of the set and current temperature.
4. The unit should have a movable temperature probe.
5. [The unit should be able to control multiple propagators.(optional later development.)]
I wanted some simple design goals:
1. The unit should be DC powered, say from 12V DC or a laptop power supply of say 17V DC.
2. The unit should dismantle so that the seed tray can be used normally and to minimise the amount of storage required when not in use.
3. The unit should have a visual display,possibly LCD of the set and current temperature.
4. The unit should have a movable temperature probe.
5. [The unit should be able to control multiple propagators.(optional later development.)]
Photograph showing the components, base, bubble foil, plastic top, aluminium plates, resistors, wire,grommets, LCD display.
Photograph showing resistors mounted on plate and wired up.
Photograph showing plastic base with bubble foil lining and cable access hole.
Photograph showing completed assembled base.
(Unit can be dismantled and the seed tray used normally.)
(Unit can be dismantled and the seed tray used normally.)