Autotune question

[Bassachusetts]

Hella All,

I finally got my PID built and set up with my new OBS. I decided to run autotune during the seasoning process to get the hang of it. I think something is wrong however. How long does autotune typically take, and what does the display on the Auber show when it's done? I set the temp to 175, and when it got close, I set autotune, but it's been shooting the temp up and down, from 173 to 180 for almost an hour now, with AT flashing on the bottom. I should also say that I used the TC wire from an Auber as the connection from the Omega panel jack to the PID. I'm also using the Omega TC. I'm pretty sure it's  the same guage...any help would be great.

Thanks,

Rob

[car54]

Bassachusetts,

I built my PID from Ebay parts so I do not know what make it is. It has an auto tune feature which I do not use. I just set the temperature and forget about it. Does yours work properly without the auto tune?

Brad

[Mr Walleye]

Rob

There is a thread on the forum here somewhere about problems with sing different wire. When I did mine I took the plug off my Omega TC a sniped a piece of wire to use.

The auto tune can take anywhere from 1/2 to 1 hour depending on the load in the tower. Which brings up another point, I would run the auto tune while there is some sort of load in it. It makes a difference to the response time if there is a load in it. Some have used bricks to simulate a load. I wasn't happy with my tune until one day I was doing a butt and thought, what the he11 and did another auto tune. It worked great.

Mike

[Bassachusetts]

Thanks for the replies; it finally tuned in after an hour. With regard to a load in the tower, do you mean pucks or a load in the smoker itself. Also, when preheating do you start the prehaet with pucks burning, or wait until ot reaches the desired temp and then start the smoking? Thanks again and Happy Holidays to all.

Rob

[Mr Walleye]

I mean a load in the tower as opposed to having the tower empty. Something that will absorb some heat to simulate the real thing or you can do like I did and run the auto tune while your doing a butt or something.

When you preheat, preheat both the tower and the smoke generator. Don't put any pucks in it because that would just be a waste. By preheating the smoke generator the puck burner portion will be hot and start to produce smoke quicker. This way you shouldn't end up with a half burnt puck because it wasn't hot enough when you started.

Mike

[Bassachusetts]

Thank you Mike.