Hi Guys,
First, I think I should mention that this smoker, along with the mods and several accessories is my Wife's Christmas present...
Quick summary of the mods I am incorporating into this new OBS:
- Auberins SYL-2352 PID, will mount into the smoke generator
- Fan from smokeandstuff
- 900 watt heating element, Tempco CSF00131 from drillspot
So far this afternoon, I have installed the fan and the heating element:
This is a pic with the fan installed and the original element taken apart:

Pic with the new element installed:

Another pic with the new element installed:

pic of the element attached to the reflector:

Another pic of the element attached to the reflector:

So far so good.
I can plug the fan into the mains and it runs just fine. You can hold your hand in front of it and feel a gentle breeze.
I can plug the cabinet and consequently the element, into the mains and sure enough, the light in the front comes on and the element heats up. The rheostat slider was all the way onto full on and I did not attempt to adjust it.
Question. I am concerned about the slide control and its ability, or lack of ability to handle 900 watts and besides, I think it is now redundant since I will be using a PID.
What do I do? Do I disconnect it entirely (though I do like the light coming on at the front), and if so, how do I do that?
The following pic shows the bottom off and the wires:

Here the bottom front of the cabinet is to the top of the picture and there are 3 wires which appear to run to the slider control. A blue, A white and a red.
Can anyone give any suggestions on how to disconnect the slider? An added plus would be to disconnect the slider while allowing the light to come on.
Thanks for all help
Phil