i know i know i know.... i'll dive into it soon

[frepar]

i'm still himmin and hawing over an element mod.... whether to the additional 500w or a finned 900w replacement...

would i be able to run BOTH 500w elements with my PID? so i dont have to autotune the PID when i only need one 500w element? and then autotune it again when i need to use both elements?

i'm super hesitant to do a fan mod, mostly becuase i'd rather not have a gaudy motor stickin out the back of my cabinet...   but i'd rather not autotune before every smoke, depending on the the need to use 1 or both elements

[beefmann]

if you  are  going to  use a pid, i would set it up to control any and all heating  elements this way the box its self  does not get above the desired temp. Also you  only  auto tune one time  after the box has came up to temp.


fyi. the fan does help to maintain a more  even temp through out the box faster recovery and helps prevent the meat in the back of the box from  drying  out and burning
any mods are a  personal choice ... just make an educated  decision

I  do respect you not wanting the fan sticking off the  back,

[devo]

The Mods I made are a plus and I feel are well worth it, but like beef Ann said it,s personal thing

[GusRobin]

I have the obs and dual elements with the Auber PID. I autotuned once. The man benefit of the autotune is that it learns the heat characteristics of your smoker so that it can ramp off and on to reduce temp swings. I don't see much benefit in autotuning a number of times.
If you install the dual elements I don't know of any reason why you would only want to run 1. The benefit of 2 is getting to your temp faster and then heat recovery. There was a couple of occasions where I had pid problems and had to run without the PID. Since I did not wire the second element to the temp slider (not sure it could handle it) the only way to control the second element is with the PID. So I was glad I installed the separate switch for the second element and was able to control it with that.

[Habanero Smoker]

I have the dual element with an on/off switch for the second element. I have run with a single  element on many occasions.  There are many times when I don't want to bother hooking up my DigiQ II and I can use the smoker at it was originally designed. Such as when I smoke vegetables, or want to apply some smoke to meat or poultry before transferring it to a grill.

[frepar]

Lookin to get the parts ordered this weekend, maybe dive into it next weekend.  Was hoping i could get a little bit more insight from the pros here...

can my auber pid handle 1000w?  I'd like to run both elements at once, all the time,  and not worry about the toggle on/off switch on one of them...

with that being said... i have my pid/ssr INSIDE my SG, when i did that mod, i read up on the heat sink debate and sided with someone who said that the SG box itself acts as a giant heat sink... since (hopeully) my SSR will be cycling twice the load it's used to... should i install a heat sink?  i have the ssr mounted right above the vents on the opposite side of the SG element.

would you guys be willing to post a few pics of HOW you mounted the second element?  I did some searching from a while back and found that a fella had machined two brackets that he could mount to the existing heat reflector, ( http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=19857.msg242407#msg242407 ) but i'd like a few more pics so i can see which is gonna work best for me..

This may sound absurd.... but as anyone thought of runnin wire through the hinge side of the cabinet and mounting the 2nd element on the door?  only reason i'd look at doin it that way would be to even out the heat... but i dont know if the door insulation could handle that...

And as far as terminals?  do i need a specific kind of terminal that i crimp on the end of the wires to attach to the elements?  and do i have to (or should i) jack up the fuse in the back of the SG?  TedEbear, i read that you increased the 10a to a 15a, could i get some input on that as well?

Sorry i ask too many questions, i just HATE it when i rip stuff apart, realize i dont have what i need and then it sits for a while.... i wanna buy everything up front... dig in and get it done in one sitting (with maybe an adult beverage)

thanks guys,

parker

[beefmann]

1000 / 120 = 8.3 amp ... so any auber you  order  that has at least a 10 amp relay or ssr  will beable to run the heaters, I  would  recommend at least  the 25 amp ssr if you  decide to add fans or blowers in  later

[TedEbear]

I have the Auber 25A SSR and a heat sink protruding out the back wall of the SG box.  I attached the two together with a mixture of JB weld and thermal paste at each corner.  Not too much so I can pry them apart if I have to for whatever reason someday.  I believe the Auber website recommends using a heat sink with the 25A SSR.



I added a 15A fuse in the SG and removed the inline 10A in the tower.  Everything first goes through the 15A (SG, PID, heating elements, future circulation fan) and then several things go through the original 10A fuse.

When I mounted the second element I just drilled two additional holes in the heat shield, slightly in front of the original heating element holes.  They just need to be big enough for the ceramic insulator to fit through.  I believe the holes will end up being about 9/16". 

Do not try to use a drill bit that large to make the holes.  The thin heat shield will tear.  I used a few regular drill bits until I got it to about 3/8".  Then I used a cone shaped grinding bit to enlarge the holes the rest of the way.  Grind a little, check to see if the element fits, grind some more if needed.  If you bought a second protective cage for the new element you can then drill a couple of tiny holes to hold it in place.

I removed the plastic off the wire terminals that attach to the elements.  I figured they would melt anyway.

[frepar]

I have the Auber 25A SSR and a heat sink protruding out the back wall of the SG box.  I attached the two together with a mixture of JB weld and thermal paste at each corner.  Not too much so I can pry them apart if I have to for whatever reason someday.  I believe the Auber website recommends using a heat sink with the 25A SSR.

I added a 15A fuse in the SG and removed the inline 10A in the tower.  Everything first goes through the 15A (SG, PID, heating elements, future circulation fan) and then several things go through the original 10A fuse.

When I mounted the second element I just drilled two additional holes in the heat shield, slightly in front of the original heating element holes.  They just need to be big enough for the ceramic insulator to fit through.  I believe the holes will end up being about 9/16". 

Do not try to use a drill bit that large to make the holes.  The thin heat shield will tear.  I used a few regular drill bits until I got it to about 3/8".  Then I used a cone shaped grinding bit to enlarge the holes the rest of the way.  Grind a little, check to see if the element fits, grind some more if needed.  If you bought a second protective cage for the new element you can then drill a couple of tiny holes to hold it in place.

I removed the plastic off the wire terminals that attach to the elements.  I figured they would melt anyway.

ted: on that SSR is that heat sink jb'ed TO the ssr itself?  or the outside of the SG box... the main reason for asking is cuz im hesitant to zip another hole in my SG box (mostly cuz it was a PITA with my dremel to get that PID to fit)

the back of my SG looks a little differently than yours.... do you have 2 fuses there? are they both factory?  i ended up putting my TC jack underneath my fuse and between the power in and out

is there enough room on that original heat shield for that second element?  i thought that angle would be too steep.. i'll take a gander at that.  Would a knock-out work on stainless? or would that rip that shield apart too?

[TedEbear]

ted: on that SSR is that heat sink jb'ed TO the ssr itself?  or the outside of the SG box... the main reason for asking is cuz im hesitant to zip another hole in my SG box (mostly cuz it was a PITA with my dremel to get that PID to fit)

the back of my SG looks a little differently than yours.... do you have 2 fuses there? are they both factory?  i ended up putting my TC jack underneath my fuse and between the power in and out

is there enough room on that original heat shield for that second element?  i thought that angle would be too steep.. i'll take a gander at that.  Would a knock-out work on stainless? or would that rip that shield apart too?

The heat sink on mine is mounted directly to the SSR.  Otherwise, it would not dissipate much heat.  I used thermal paste on most of the joining surfaces and the JB Weld/thermal paste at the corners and clamped them together for a day before installing.  There's more info on homemade thermal epoxy if you do a Google search. I cut a hole in the SG box similar to the one for the PID.

One of the fuses is the original 10A.  The other is the 15A that I added.

The factory heat shield has enough space for two elements.  I got the idea from some "how-to" threads on the forum where others had done it that way.  I'll take a close-up pic of mine when I get home later if you want to see it. I've never heard of anyone using a knockout to make the new holes.  I would think it would bend the thin metal but if it works let me know.

[Habanero Smoker]

Mounting the second element on the door would be extremely dangerous. Even with the element guard, you are exposing the element where it can accidently come in contact with a person's hand or other parts of the body. or clothing, setting a person on fire.

As for more pictures, have you looked at the instructions posted on the recipe site? Especially in Mike's instructions there are a couple of clear views.

Here is the link to TestRocket's instructions on adding additional heat sensor and in-line fuse.
Additional Sensor & Fuse

[TedEbear]

would you guys be willing to post a few pics of HOW you mounted the second element? 

Hmm...I don't know where my reply went but I posted several pics of my second element mounted last night.  Here they are again:

[frepar]

hey thanks guys!  i didnt think that most people who did the dual mod left the porcelain brackets in.  my fingers are gettin itchy!!!

i'll take pics so you all can tell me what i did wrong when my cabinet blows up  :)