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| beehive heater |
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| metrologist:
--- Quote from: Brutte on November 19, 2019, 09:07:55 pm ---Things to consider: --- End quote --- Probably 41C to 42C will work. Were thinking solar power. Also, the complication of bee thermal managing brood temps makes central heating less successful. There is already a temp, humidity, and weight monitoring system that is bluetooth and wifi, but I'm not sure if it could be tapped in to. It also requires a visit to the hive proximity with a mobile device to download the data. Some other details were posted by others above. |
| Gregg:
Electric blankets and heating pads often have nichrome wire with silicone or PTFE insulation. A thrift store electric blanket could be taken apart and the heating wires shortened to work suitably with solar panel voltages. |
| floobydust:
I suggest not make your own heating element - open nichrome will be hot and can generate smoke or burn local materials, plastics. Beehive heaters already exist. Even several 25-50W power resistors mounted to an aluminum plate is better. Reptile/terrarium mats. FlexWatt heat tape looks interesting. Some 3D printer heating plates might work. The bees apparently will chew on some materials. You'd have to estimate how much heat is required. It depends on the delta T needed and the construction of the beehive, for heat loss. I see ~10W to 50W. From winter and spring heating, you can see given delta T, the energy needed in this old 1950's research paper 1,500 thermocouples https://beesource.com/resources/usda/electric-heating-of-honey-bee-hives/ They found conduction heating best. Include a high safety-limit switch in case the controller crashes or malfunctions. |
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