My setup

[Mr Walleye]

Kane

Sounds great. I look forward to hearing your report. I just haven't pulled the trigger yet but I've definitely been sniffing at it. 

Mike

[car54]

Kane, I am sure that the red jugs underneath your bench are full of BBQ sauce for basting.

Brad

[Kane]

laughs. how'd you know that car54?   

dont worry. only 1 tank has gas in it and Ive moved it everytime I smoke.

[Jimbo]

Is this the type of conversion plug you need?

http://www.winfordeng.com/products/pwradp.php

[Kane]

no, this is what you need

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5Fid=914&sku=03129

[Kane]

well, got the Guru all set up but hasnt had a chance to really test.   

[Mr Walleye]

Kane

You will have to give us a report on the DIGIQ after you get a chance to use it. I've been thinking I need one but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Mike

[Kane]

Had a few beers and played with this thing for about an hour.  I hooked my Maverick up for comparison. Set the DigiQ for 200 degrees, the raptor light came on and brought the pit temp up.  Got the Maverick up to 205 than I had a drop in temp to about 187 to 190 but quickly recovered to 205 again than had another slight drop in temp to 201. Seems the DigiQ learned enough at that point and the temps seemed to hold steady. no other major temp swings.

I decided to raise the pit temp to 210 and see how DigiQ would respond. The temp was over shot and got to about 220. Im sure this was because the extra juice the raptor was providing to the tower. The temp did come down to 210 after a few minutes and stabilize.

just playing around with this thing for a little bit it appears to be doing what I wanted.

[Gizmo]

I wouldn't be surprised if the swings are less when you get a load in there as this will act as a heat sink and consequently buffer or average out the swing.

[Habanero Smoker]

I'm very surprised at the temperature swings. Did you have the generator on. With it being indoors and empty, the bisquette burner could be the cause of it over shooting. That is the only time I have that problem, and if I need temperatures under 180°F, I use the cold smoke method.

Other then that I don't have any swings either with the cabinet empty or filled. When you are measuring the temperature swings, is the DigiQ also reading those same temperatures as the Maverick? The thermocouples of the DigiQ II are much more accurate, and very fast reading. I believe it registers temperature changes within 3 seconds.

[Kane]

hey Hab.

when I raised the temp set point from 200 to 210. the temp was over shot on the maverick and the DigiQ. Both got to 220. I was using the smoke generator. during my quick little test before I raised it up to 210. The DigiQ always stayed at the 200 set point and the Maverick would tend to go from say 201 up to 205. but... with the Snap to target feature did the DigiQ really stay at 200 or was it floating a couple degrees as well?  Anything within 5 degrees of the setpoint and that snap feature kicks in.

also, being that you have more experience with this setup. what should my settings be for the open lid feature and the ramp feature. right now I have em both disabled.  It sounds to me that the open lid feature is more of a control a fire feature. I understand what the ramp feature will do but are you using it?

[Kane]

ok, so I decided to smoke some pork tenderloin so I could take a better look at this DigiQ in action.

It was very cold outside. My garage was about 40 degrees with heater running full.

I set the DigiQ for 300 degrees so the Raptor would supply full power during preheat.
At 250 degrees I loaded the tenderloins and the cabinet temp dropped down to 195.

It stayed at 195 for a few minutes than started a slow climb which I expected would happen. Once the temp hit 210 I reset the DigiQ from the initial 300 degree preheat set point down to 210. It held there for a few minutes than started to drop. Temp fell all the way down to 182 than started back up. temp than stalled between 190 to 193 for about 15 minutes and than went from 194 to 205 in about 4 minutes. The "snap" to set temp feature kicked in to show 210 and it held at 210 for the rest of the process.

During the last hour of cooking I played with raising the temp up to see how things would respond. Adjusted the set point from 210 up to 220 and within a couple of minutes it was there with no over shoot. Than I went from 220 to 225 with the same result.

Overall Im happy with My decision to add this. It seems like it just needs a few minutes in the beginning to learn your pit.   I dont care for the Snap to set temp feature at all. I emailed BBQ Bob to ask if there was a way to disable it and he didnt respond.  I also checked the calibration and it was several degrees off on the high side. no big deal, at least its adjustable.

[Habanero Smoker]

Sorry for the delay, but the forum was driving me crazy. Every time I would type a long response, it wouldn’t post. It seems to be working better this morning.

I've never experienced the sporadic readings you are getting. I’m not sure what the “Snap to Target feature” is. That may be a new feature he has added, or something that I am not aware of. What version number is displayed when you turn it on? Can you describe the “Snap to Target feature”? The temperatures displayed on my DigiQ II are the actual pit and meat temperatures. It wouldn't make sense for Fred to have a device that will not show the actual temperature reading. When the DigiQ II is over shooting did you notice what are the pilot lights on the raptor and the blower status light on the DigiQ II were doing?

The open lid is for charcoal/wood burning smokers, so I have it disabled. The ramp mode I also leave disable until I need it. The ramp mode comes in handy for unattended smokes when you know you will not be in the area or unavailable when you expect the meat to be done. Or if you want to use the smoker to keep your food warm, but I generally just lower the pit temperature to 140°F when I am using the smoker for that purpose.

When you enable the ramp mode it will greatly lengthen the time that it will take to cook the meat to the set meat temperature. I use it most often for overnight smokes, when it may seem that the food won’t get done until 2 or 3 AM. I will engage the ramp mode so I don’t have to get up that early to take the meat out of the smoker, and I can stay in bed until 7 AM without fear that the food will overcook. The ramp mode for the DigiQ II will hold the pit a little above the set meat temperature, so to compensate for that I will lower the meat temperature before retiring for the night or leaving the area, and if necessary I will turn it back up in the morning.

When you are calibrating the boiling point, if it is off you need to keep in mind elevation and the current barometric pressure. This site has a calculator you can use to determine your boiling point for your elevation and current barometric pressure; if you know them.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm#calibrate

[Mr Walleye]

Habs

Here is a description of the snap back feature from the review on the same site in your post.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/productreviews/digiq2/digiq4.htm

We noticed something unusual, and we bet you will too if we don't tell you about it. But we'll tell you about it and save you the trouble. When the cooker is rising towards the target temperature, it will probably rise in 1- or 2-degree increments. When the cooker gets close to your target, you may notice that it jumps by 3 degrees. This is a feature called "Snap" which "snaps" the readout to the target temperature if the reading from the cooker is within three degrees of the target. This is to eliminate having the readout going back and forth by 1 or 2 degrees when the cooker is stable. If the cooker is within 3 degrees of the target the unit will display the target temperature. You probably don't need to care about this, but certain @nal types like us notice these things and ask why.

Kinda makes me ask "why" as well! I guess I qualify as @nal

Mike

[Kane]

Thanks Mike,

thats exactly what I was gonna post to describe it. and it isnt 3 degrees as was tested in the article, the snap feature on mine is set at 5 degrees.

In calibration. Barometric pressures change constantly and with that the accuracy of the DigiQ will change as well.