timed temperature controller......

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Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
While I think that the PAX units just might work (they take digital inputs that allow remote selection of different set points), seeing as this is an open ended tinkering project, I'd actually suggest using something like an Arduino system rigged as a PID controller, and also suggest moving over to a different board for the discussion, eg 'cooking for engineers' or the like.

People have already made Sous Vide controllers using the Arduino (eg. http://learn.adafruit.com/sous-vide-powered-by-arduino-the-sous-viduino ) so there are PID libraries out there for programming. Adding multiple temperature sensors would be trivial. The biggest problem would be the high temperature sensor.

You could hack away as much as you wanted, including doing things like adding fan speed control to adjust airflow. I recall someone who had gotten very precise temperature control by adjusting air flow to a smoker.

Actually I just looked: there are many people building Arduino controllers for smokers and barbecues. Lots of ideas about how to best proceed out there.

-Jon

agreed.. i did some googling as well.... the Arduino is being played with quite a bit...

and as mentioned, some tweaking will be necessary.... as my little thermometer wifi does an
excellent job of data logging, i'm going to simply try an ice cube relay interrupting the auger
feed, and see how well it regulates... it's a $5 experiment. if the fire stays lit, problem solved.
if the fire goes out, i will tinker further.

and as was also mentioned, there is a significant difference from one wood type of pellet
to another... the 5 blend fruitwood pellets i'm using now take about 50% more pellets
to get the job done. your milage does vary. so with the pellets i'm running now, there is
a much higher total weight of pellets being consumed, and that may make a trickle feed
unnecessary to keep the pot lit.

one cold night of tuning to see what specific temperatures require in terms of pellet feed
to run stable will be all that is required.. i can set it when i light it off, and that is that.

i'm reluctant to tinker with the airflow into the unit... i was asking Ed Maurin about it,
and when they were developing the PG-500 they didn't want to reduce airflow thru
the unit, as with heating pellets, which backyarders are wont to use, it'll creosote
up the smoker pretty badly...

thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. i appreciate it.
 
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Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
agreed.. i did some googling as well.... the Arduino is being played with quite a bit...

thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. i appreciate it.

for anyone who does play with smoking food, it seems
that this wheel has already been invented, and beaten to death.....

two people have it pretty well nailed down..... one in the bay
area, and one in georgia.....

rock's bbq has a device called the stoker, which is a monitor and
control unit, with a serial bus for thermocouples, and can be expanded
a long way, to control several smokers at once, if need be.
thermocouples are K band, and can be individually identified and calibrated.
it's dead nuts accurate.

it has an embedded web server, so you can make changes over the net,
there are also iphone and android apps to telnet into it, so you can set it
up for long smokes like brisket, and tweak with it from work. it'll also kick
down to a holding temp. when the internal temp has been met, and maintain
the internal temperature of the meat.

their is another fellow who has a complimentary device called the
savannah stoker II, which is a PID controller optimized for maintaining
a set point on a pellet smoker, and can interface with rock's stoker,
so you have a turn key (almost) solution. it'll maintain a set point
within about 5 degrees, regardless of ambient.

so my portion is just building a stainless enclosure with a 10 watt cabinet
heater to keep condensation off the electronics, and a tidy install.
some oiltight switches and a little panduit, and we'll be up and running.

the rock's stoker can keep the cabinet heater dialed in, as well.
it might as well do something to earn it's keep.

this thing probably will end up with more telemetry than the space
shuttle, and cost about the same...... :lol:

on the other hand, last night i smoked a filet, a tri tip, and a turkey
breast. judging by the feedback from the spouse and neighbors, i can
do anything to the smoker i want to, as long as i don't turn it off.

life is good.
 
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