Well if finally pulled the trigger and ordered the Auber Dual Probed PID. After reading and trying to digest all the information on the PID and partially driving myself nuts I decided to bite the bullet. What I have learned is to always remember that I have a 4 rack DBS and sometimes the information pertains to other models. I am going to get comfortable with the PID before venturing into upgrading/adding an element and fan. Hopefully the learning curve will be short and the additional modifications will be completed by the end of October. It is too hot to play outside now so getting my knowledge of the PID down first will be my focus.
It is cold here in SD during the late fall and winter and I want to make sure the recover/cooking times can be kept to a minimum. Actually there are only 2 seasons in the upper mid-west... winter and construction ;D
I plan to post my questions and adventures in this thread so as to keep a log for me.
I well posting soon.
John
Congrats! And keep us posted on how u like it.
I'm on the fence on purchasing one so hope to hear great things!
When you get it, you might say what the heck.......how do I program this sucker. There are a lot of good people here to help you get started. I have a bookmark for this very reason and I would post it but I,m on my son iPad. I will try to post the link later. It goes in depth on how to program it. Very good read for the first timers of a pid.
Ahh here ya go......this should help when you get it
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=18346.0
After reading the many posts on the advantages of a PID, I've decided to get the Auber dual probe - I noticed that it is on special at the Auber site - $14.80 off regular price.
EDIT: I just bit the bullet and made the purchase. Thank for the instrux link devo; that should be very helpful the next time I smoke salmon.
Quote from: devo on July 16, 2013, 05:54:52 PM
Ahh here ya go......this should help when you get it
Thanks Devo, I had found that post and continue to review the information. Kind of reminds me of a quote about great people think alike. 8)
Quote from: JohnM70 on July 17, 2013, 06:29:09 AM
Quote from: devo on July 16, 2013, 05:54:52 PM
Ahh here ya go......this should help when you get it
Thanks Devo, I had found that post and continue to review the information. Kind of reminds me of a quote about great people think alike. 8)
That post took me out of the Auber PID wilderness, and made it all clear for me. Now PID programming is like riding a bike. The good thing is that having a PID is pretty much a requirement for an element upgrade (dual or 900w). The Bradley is a completely different machine with an element upgrade.
Quote from: JohnM70 on July 16, 2013, 04:08:41 PM
Well if finally pulled the trigger and ordered the Auber Dual Probed PID. After reading and trying to digest all the information on the PID and partially driving myself nuts I decided to bite the bullet. What I have learned is to always remember that I have a 4 rack DBS and sometimes the information pertains to other models. I am going to get comfortable with the PID before venturing into upgrading/adding an element and fan. Hopefully the learning curve will be short and the additional modifications will be completed by the end of October. It is too hot to play outside now so getting my knowledge of the PID down first will be my focus.
It is cold here in SD during the late fall and winter and I want to make sure the recover/cooking times can be kept to a minimum. Actually there are only 2 seasons in the upper mid-west... winter and construction ;D
I plan to post my questions and adventures in this thread so as to keep a log for me.
I well posting soon.
John
congrats on the duel probe, do the auto tune when you get it , and use it for a while, when you do the upgrade/s do them all at once and run the auto tune again to adjust to the new upgrades
I found no need to auto tune the plug and play model. Works right out of the box, even after I did the mods to my smoker there was no need to auto tune.
Quote from: devo on July 18, 2013, 02:28:06 PM
I found no need to auto tune the plug and play model. Works right out of the box, even after I did the mods to my smoker there was no need to auto tune.
According to word I got from Suyi at Auber, for the dual element all you really need to do is change the P value from 70 to 140 - but autotune is much more fun ;)
All I did on mine was change the P value as above. I have absolutely no complaints on how this thing works, it just works like it should
rexster, you have some hardware there, you must have a large contingent of family and friends... O I just noticed you are from Texas. ;D
So far FedEx is scheduled to deliver the PID on Saturday. I will have a couple of days to figure things out. Monday I am smoking some spareribs for the grand children.
I am going to use the 3-2-1 method for cooking. during the 2 and 1 cycles is there a way to put the PID on hold so that the foil wrap and unwrap can happen without needing to adjust the times? Or should I just add 5 minutes to the times and set a reminder/alarm?
I should wait and read the manual then ask but I wanted a head start.
John
JohnM70
I'm sure the 3-2-1 method is not all that critical that you have to stick to those exact times ;)
After the foil you might find them done sooner or may take a bit longer. So for the five or ten minutes that you are foiling them its not going to matter
Quote from: JohnM70 on July 19, 2013, 08:27:07 AM
rexster, you have some hardware there, you must have a large contingent of family and friends... O I just noticed you are from Texas. ;D
John
Thanks for the comments. The big pit I have is over 20 yrs old, I'm on my 3rd firebox for it. One burns out, it gets cut out and another one welded on. Doctors and mechanics need specialized tools, so do outside bbq'ers!
I usually just program my 3 and 2 stages to 3.5 and 2.5. Gives me up to 30 minutes to put on my brown sugar/honey/butter and foil wrap with a little apple juice for stage 2, and unwrap and sauce for stage 3. If it doesn't take that long (and it never has), I put the meat back in the smoker and change the time parameter on the PID to match the current time and the next cycle kicks in. I use the count down timer on my cell phone (could do the same with the Maverick) to count 2 hrs, and again for the 1 hr.
Thanks Tony, I was in the process of writing my plan when your post came in. I was going to use all 6 steps with C03 and C05 to do the wrap and unwrap. This seems a lot easier I can set my Maverick to count down as you suggested.
The spare ribs are not due until Monday, so I will just practice a little.
Thanks again.
John
I am just a little frustrated! >:( I figured out the programming, I think, I follow all the steps and actually understand them. The PID will not heat the tower. I reset the cables, re-entered the program more times than I care to count. reconnected the DBS to the regular configuration and the element heats up. I then checked voltage beginning with the wall receptacle (119V) checked the end of the cable (from the receptacle) and got 119Vs. Check the output of the PID a number of times and got 5 to 6 volts. I am not sure what to do except call on Monday.
An interesting note you need a different power cord to connect the SG to wall receptacle. ::) Fortunately I had extra cables from when I returned the SG in November, long story.
Now I must spent Monday watching the tower temp when I smoke ribs!
John
I re-checked the instructions and found I had a little error. I corrected the error and tried again.
This time I had 56 volts coming out of the PID. Well the temp started to rise it got to about 100F so I decided to help by turning the SG on, the temp started to rise then stalled. However, the element is not red. So I am not sure if anything is working correctly. I just shut the SG off and the temp is dropping.
My error was that I put 225F for the internal temp thinking it was the top end of the range. C01 is set for 3 hrs now. But still no rise in temp!
Thought I had found something but not!
John
Well I thought I knew what I was doing. ::) I now have a lot of egg on my face. :-[ I called Suyi Liu and he promptly replied with an e-mail (in less than 10 min); subsequent e-mails pointed out the error of my ways. Damn UPSIDE DOWN 'F'! >:( I remember reading about this in a couple of tutorials. I must commend Suyi for his quick response and patience. In about an hour I will start a rack of spareribs. They are on the table coming up to room temp.
John
No worries, now you know, and now I know what to watch out for if I purchase one. One mans errors teaches another. Now start smoking! ;D