list of dual probe questions

[cletus t.s.]

whats up fellas,
excited about receiving my wsd-1201cph a few days ago and i have a few questions.  i'm pretty sure i know the answers but if you experts would reassure me, i would appreciate it.  suppose i should start by saying that i have an obs.
1)  there are two ways explained in the directions to hook up the obs.  one way is with control of the smoke generator, and the other way is without.  when it is connected "with control of the smoke generator"  is the pid controlling heat of hot plate that burns the pucks, or is it just used to advance the pucks? 
2)if it is used to advance the pucks, do i still need to push the puck advance on the bradley to get it going, or does it do that on it's own? 
the reason for me asking the first questions is because i programmed the pid to the famous alaskan smoked salmon recipe from "kummok" and the first temp is between 100-120 degrees f.  i programmed this step for thirty minutes and the temp stayed right at 132 degrees instead of the 120 that i specified.  the next temp i programmed was for 140 f and the pid did its job perfectly there.  the configuration i used for this first time setup was "without control of the smoke generator".  will the pid be more accurate temperature wise if i connect it with control of the smoke generator?  thank you all for your time.  i'm sure i'll have more questions soon.

[Toker]

HI cletus t.s, no the pid does not control the heat of the smoke generator. The controll is just a kind of on off timer. And no you should not have to push advance button every times, only at the beginning. But you could also just preheat the smoke generator for 1 hour. This way, you place your wood in the feeder and don't push advance at all it will take 1 hour for the 1st puck to get on the hot plate.

As far as you temp problem below 132F, i suggest you to use a cold smoke adapter because the smoke generator only can heat at 125-130F even without turning the element on. This way, you will be able to set the smoker at 100 and keep it at this temp for the required time. But if you want to controll your smoke generator with your pid, you must set an operation for the same amount of time that you wish to smoke (on your pid). That is the way the pid is working. Hope I'm clear enough if not just ask me more questions and i will answer them.

[cletus t.s.]

i think i understand but i'll make sure.  if i were to follow kummok's salmon recipe and wanted to place temperature at the top of the importance list, then i would do as follows.  please correct me if i am off.  since i can control which step the smoke generator turns on, i'm going to have the pid turn it on in step two when the temp is supposed to be 140 as per the recipe.  this way the pid has an easier time controlling the temp in step 2 at 140 as opposed to step 1 at 110.  i'll also program the pid to keep the smoke generator on for step 3 since it will be easier still to keep the temp at 175.  i guess the only question that i still have is when would i push the bisquette advance button?  would i just press it once an hour before i want the biscuts to start smoking?  thanks for the quick reply!  nevermind.  i just answered my own question doing the dry run.  i can't press it an hour before, because the pid has not turned on the smoke generator yet.  so i'll have to wait until it turns on in step 2 and press it three times to get the biscut on the burner.

[classicrockgriller]

cletus, just remember to give the smoke gen sometime to get hot before advancing the bisquettes.

set the turn on of smoke gen 20 minutes early and only hit the advance twice.

After a 20 minute warm up, it will advance the bisquette to start the smoke cycle.

[Toker]

Me, what i would do first is add a step to your pid, step 1 would be just to preheating both the the tower and the smoke generator cause if you don't preheat the smoke generator before apply the smoke, it won't be hot enough (the 1st step is in an empty smoker) Then on step 2, i would smoke for the amount of hours you desire because the colder the fish is at the smoking process, the more smoke it will retain.