Disable or Bypass the "Digital" Bisquette Burner/Puck Advance

[ExpatCanadian]

I know some of you out there have made mods that involve getting dirty under the hood of the smoke generator, so here's one for you:

Anyone know if it would be possible to disconnect the digital controls from the bisquette burner and advance mechanism, and in effect turn the DBS into a OBS?  I'm now using the dual-probe Auber PID on all my smokes... so I'm already bypassing the heater element control.....  but this PID can also be used to control the puck advance on an OBS so I am losing out on some of the functionality by having the DBS.  I'd like to be able to delay the smoke start by an hour or 2 when smoking sausage and salmon....

I wonder if I could add a bypass switch into the wiring somehow, so that in one position it works as the normal DBS, and in the other it bypasses the digital controls and goes into "OBS" mode  ???

[CalSmoke]

Come on folks. Someone must know how to modify the DBS Burner/Puck Advance electronics into simulating the OBS.  With more people purchasing the Auber, the DBS owners  are certainly missing out on some of the Auber's great functions.

Thanks.

CalSmoke

[pensrock]

Without seeing a wiring diagram it would be difficult to say off hand. I really do not see the benefit of letting the Auber control the puck pusher over the DBS.  ??? If you do not want to start smoking right away you can just wait to load the pucks. I know there is a little motor that controls the puck pusher, you probably would have to disconnect it from the DBS and wire it into the Auber. But then you still have to decide how you are going to control the puck burner. It may be a better question answered by Auber. Hope you get it worked out.  :)

[beefmann]

agrees  with pens, though with some looking it should not be to hard to figure out, my thoughts  would be wire the power leads to the burner and  leave the advance mechanism along , as far as i know it  has its own timer built in...

So on one part of the pid is used for the smoke generator, and the  other  part is used for the heater... look into it and you  should be able to find the  power the  power to both

[CalSmoke]

Okay.  Here is the advantage.  With the Auber, you could set the smoker to turn on 1 or 2 hours after you turn on the heater element.  This would allow your sausage to dry without smoke.  Then after say 1 to 2 hours at 110 degrees, the Auber could turn on the smoker for 2 hours and increase the heater element temp up to say 130 degrees.  At the end of that 2 hour period, the Auber would shut the smoke off, and then increase the heater element temp to say 150 degrees with no smoke.  Then the Auber could increase the temp of the heater element to 170 degrees and shut the unit completely off when the sausages reached say 145 - 152 degrees, whatever you choose.

The advantage of turning the smoker on and off is lost with the DBS, and one of the advantages of the Auber is to make it so you do not have to "baby sit" the Bradley.  Right now, I have to watch my clock and after 1 - 2 hours go out and manually turn on the smoker and set the smoke time to get it working.

Much easier to let the Auber do all the work.

Thanks Folks.

CalSmoke

[CalSmoke]

Alright, I just disassembled the DBS Controller unit and here is what I found.  The puck pusher is nothing more than a 110v ac motor connected up to the digital electronics.  No problem there.  Just get a timer relay and wire it in.  About 35 bucks.  Also needed will be a push button switch to advance the pucks when starting up.  Of course you could manually load them each time and then you would not need the advance puck push switch.

Wire the puck heater element straight into the 110v.  I am guessing that the heater element is 110v ac also, but will need to put a volt ohm meter on it to be sure.  I did not see any transformers for it so it is a good logical conclusion that it is 110v also. 

The electronics inside the DBS box would all need to be disconnected, which is quite easy also.  This mod is not for the faint of heart, and unless you know how to solder, use a VOM and work with electrical components, forget it.  After the mod, the unit could be put back into service if you ever decided to sell the unit and obtain another. 

Not sure if it is worth doing just to save the unattended "dry" time for sausages.  Since I have several other projects in the fire, including a fermenting cabinet made out of an old server rack, I will probably just put this one back together and pass.  The refrigeration on the server cabinet is challenging, but I have almost got it completed.  Will post many pics on that one in the immediate future as soon as it is complete.

Have fun folks.

CalSmoke

[OU812]

I have a PID and a BDS and have cooked on it for years and


I just go out and push the botton. ;D

[Smokin Soon]

I have a PID and a BDS and have cooked on it for years and I just go out and push the botton. 

Same here, works for me.

[KyNola]

When I start using my PID with my BDS I guarantee you all I will be doing is going out and pushing the button too! :D

[ghost9mm]

When I start using my PID with my BDS I guarantee you all I will be doing is going out and pushing the button too! :D

X 2

[RSilva]

As luck would have it, I found that if I load sausage into the smoker, set the smoke generator on 3 hours 20 minutes, I can walk away from it.  It takes 3 puck advances (or an hour) for the first puck to land on the heating element, so that allows me one hour of drying time, and smoke gen element heat up time.  Then two hours of smoke, followed by 20 so the last puck pushes off and one of my home made aluminum pucks to sit out on the element.  During all of this, the Dual Auber is controlling chamber temp.  If I needed more than an hour of drying time, I would have to get it all ready, then wait the total amount drying time less one hour before I went out and hit the button (ie. 3 hours of drying time minus my one hour warm up means I would wait 2 hours from the time I put the links in and then go hit the button).

I guess if you are going to allow the Auber to control the puck delivery, you need to account for some heat up time as well.

[OU812]

As luck would have it, I found that if I load sausage into the smoker, set the smoke generator on 3 hours 20 minutes, I can walk away from it.  It takes 3 puck advances (or an hour) for the first puck to land on the heating element, so that allows me one hour of drying time, and smoke gen element heat up time.  Then two hours of smoke, followed by 20 so the last puck pushes off and one of my home made aluminum pucks to sit out on the element.  During all of this, the Dual Auber is controlling chamber temp.  If I needed more than an hour of drying time, I would have to get it all ready, then wait the total amount drying time less one hour before I went out and hit the button (ie. 3 hours of drying time minus my one hour warm up means I would wait 2 hours from the time I put the links in and then go hit the button).

I guess if you are going to allow the Auber to control the puck delivery, you need to account for some heat up time as well.

I couldnt have said it better my self.  ;D