a weekend of frustrating smoking.....got questions

bears fan · December 12, 2010, 07:36:01 PM

Let me start by saying the temperature outside when I was trying to smoke was in the single digits and down to zero overnight, so maybe this led to some of my problems.

First of all, I plug the Auber in and I get this error (-H-) accompanied by an annoying beeping sound. I think I may have this figured out. I believe it is two bad probes I may have because I can wiggle the plug and then the error goes away. Can anyone confirm that this is the case?

Second thing that happened was the smoke generator turned off after plugged into the Auber after a few minutes. Yes, I had it plugged in correctly and it was working for a while. At first I thought something was wrong with the smoke generator; however, I disconnected the Auber and then the SG worked fine. I'm doing tests now with the Auber plugged back in and it turned the SG off after a few minutes again, so I have no idea what is going on with it. Anybody have any ideas?

The third thing that happened was the SG was not advancing the pucks and I had to manually go and do this. Again, I'm testing this now and it seems to be working. Not sure if this could've been related to the cold weather. I am doing the testing in the warmer garage now. This seemed to be working; however, keep reading.

After going out and checking my tests, I have found the OBS is blinking on and off when the output light on the Auber turns on and the SG is completely off. The output light blinks on and off every second.

I'm thinking all my problems may be related to both of the probes being bad. What does everyone think? ???

Brisket Lover · December 12, 2010, 07:40:43 PM

SG going off could be the program that the PID is running. My light on my OBS blinks on and off after the set temp has been met. The PID does this to regulate the set temp. Not sure about the pucks not advancing other than the SG not on.

FLBentRider · December 13, 2010, 08:45:16 PM

The auber won't work if the probes register less than 32F. try warming them in your hand.

Tenpoint5 · December 14, 2010, 07:10:29 AM

There's a thread somewhere about the Auber not liking the cold. As FLB mentioned warm up the probes and it should work right for you

KyNola · December 14, 2010, 07:14:19 AM

The super cold air temp could also have caused your SG to not advance pucks. Mine did that a couple times and I all I had to do was bring it in the house and let it warm up. Next time you're going to smoke outside in those temps, bring the SG in your house and let it warm up. Test it inside just to make sure it will cycle. Don't use any pucks unless you want a smokey house! If it is cycling correctly, take it straight outside, hook it up to the tower and turn it on so it begins to generate it's own heat. Should work OK after that.

classicrockgriller · December 14, 2010, 07:32:12 AM

I'm with everyone here. What you have stated sounds weather related. (too cold)

Someone posted the other day to run your cabinet (pre-heat) before you turn on

your smoke gen as that will warm it up.

I feel for ya Bear!

bears fan · December 14, 2010, 05:41:21 PM

I'll do some more testing in the garage after I turn the heat on to warm it up a bit. I may be back with more questions after that.

bears fan · December 18, 2010, 08:04:19 PM

It seemed to work normally in a warm garage. Not sure why the cold affected everything so much, but probably like everything else when you put it in the really cold temps, things just don't seem to operate like the should.

I didn't have this problem last winter; however, I never tried smoking in that cold of temperatures either.