Bradley PID.. Headaches..

[manderson2228]

So i went with the original bradley and the auber plug and play PID. Also bought a maverick.. I thought i'd be all setup for the automated sit back and watch TV smoking.. I've been trying to get the temp stabilized in my unit now for hours.. Messing with the settings, and doing the auto tune. I have hickory pucks in it, and i am trying to get it to 150 degree. I set it to 150.. but somehow it keeps ended up climbing to 160. the PID reads 160 and so does the maverick. The two are pretty close in temp, it's just not holding the temp very well at 150. I am letting auto tune finish fot the third time. I originally started off with the 70/600/150 settings, now doing auto tune. What the heck am I doing wrong? Or do I have a bad unit somewhere?

[GusRobin]

Since your setting the PID at 150 and you are getting temps of 160, the PID should not be turning your element on at all. Is it?  What is you outside temp?

[devo]

Like Gus said what is your outside temp? Sometimes when its warm out mine will over shoot but than it settles in. Also where are you placing the probe?

[manderson2228]

Hanging the probes right next to each other through the vent.. It's cool out here. 48 degrees.

[GusRobin]

is the 160* constant?

[GusRobin]

Also, try it without the PID and see what temp you can get just using the temp slider.

[TedEbear]

You said you have hickory pucks loaded while doing the auto tune.  You don't need any pucks to tune the PID, although it won't matter.  It's just a waste of money

Do you have something loaded in the cooking chamber when running the auto tune to simulate a load of meat? They say to wrap two bricks in foil and place each on a different rack.

I have the Auber SG box version of the PID.  When I set mine up I did the brick wrap, started the auto tune and sat back and let it complete the full tuning process.  Be sure you're letting it get all the way through before turning it off - maybe that's the problem.

[manderson2228]

It's still auto tuning.. will let it finish and then report back.

[manderson2228]

I will say that it's been auto tuning for well over an hour now.. Seems like a long time.

[TedEbear]

I've never messed with the plug and play version of the Auber PID.  On mine, after I initially ran the auto-tune it set a parameter that would not let me start the auto-tuning the same way a second time, although I could still run it again but I had to initiate it differently.

Did yours come with an instruction manual or did you go to the Auberins website and d/l the PDF version of it?  That'll give some detailed info on some of the finer points of the auto-tune process to perhaps see if something isn't right.

[manderson2228]

Yea I have the PDF. I've been through all the settings, i've reset to how it came from the factory, and started auto tune now. Like I said it's been running for a few hours...

[TedEbear]

After it finishes this last auto-tune if it still won't maintain the set-point you might post the parameters the PID has set for itself and see how close they come to what others on here are using.  I'll be glad to try and help you out but it'll have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.  I have to get up for work in 5 1/2 hours. 

Do you have a second element in your OBS or is everything factory stock except for the PID? Also, when it shoots past the 150 degree SP does the PID cycle the heating element off and try to come back down to 150 or just maintain the higher temp?

[manderson2228]

No just one element. It's stock right out of the box.. I am heading to bed too, its still tuning.

[GusRobin]

the auber pid is factory set for the OBS. I would reset all the settings to the original and figure out why you aren't getting below 160 before I would worry about autotuning,

[muebe]

Now I just caught this but is your smoke generator on? The smoke generator heating element could be keeping the temp from dropping below 160F