My Latest Project.........

[outlander]

hey all,,alls good up here in cold lake. just moved onto a small acrage out in the country.

walleye,,, the alarms are programable in the function set up. at least in the 30 step function controler that i got.i used the step function to actvate the alarm to turn on the smoker through a relay.used some bannana clips to jumper from controler box to the smoke gen.will have to sort through the old computer to find the pics that i had. in the end, i could set the temp,then turn on smoke for X # hours's, turn off smoke gen after a set time frame, and set the temp up or down as needed with out having to sit around the smoker to drink beer when i could be out fishing and rinking the beer. works great for  bacon or sasuges.

outlander
will try to find some pics to repost for you.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4884.msg43836#msg43836

above link should bring up some old pics

[Mr Walleye]

Outlander

Thanks for digging up the photos. By the sounds of it I think you have the ramp feature on your PID.
The PID I have does not have a ramp feature.


Patience

It sounds like your PID also has the ramp feature because you have the ability to run for a certain period of time, then ramp the temp up, giving you the ability to use the alarms to turn on the generator at a specific temp. That way it sort of works like a timer.

I didn't put any insulation in the frame tubes. I only had access to the vertical tubes, I guess I could have stuffed them but the rest if the frame was inaccessible. The way the unit is built, the only part that's not insulated is in the very corner because you have 2 insulated walls meeting there. It came from the factory without insulation in there, in fact it had the wiring in the vertical tubes.

I am making my top vent similar to the one on the Bradley but the hole will be 4 inch diameter. I wasn't planning on any addition vents on the bottom other than through the smoke generator. My setup in my garage has a range hood over it. With a piece of 5 inch PVC you can focus the draw of the range hood directly over the top vent in the smoker. Sort of a power assist to the vent. I plan on setting this unit up in the garage as well. Here's a link to my setup with the Bradley in my garage.

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=6075.0

Mike

[Mr Walleye]

I finally got all my parts in and got this thing put together. I did a test run with a 40 lb batch of sausage and it worked very well. I think I could comfortably do 80 lbs of sausage in this thing. Here's some pictures.


This shows the wiring in the main control box. I used heat sinks under the SSRs and a 30 CFM blower for cooling.











This shows the 130 CFM blower I used to circulate air over the 1100 watt finned strip heaters.




Sausage waiting for smoke...




This shows how I mounted the strip heaters and the air intake for the blower. I may add a deflector between the intake and the heaters. So far it works good as is so I will just monitor it.




Close up of the control panel. I added indicator lights for each circuit so you can easily see if you have a power problem with either circuit.




This picture shows how I connected both smokers to my rangehood vent.




Mike

[Habanero Smoker]

Congradulations. That a real nice job.

[pensrock]

Nice job. So where are the free samples?  ;) ;D ;D

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Mr. Walleye,

Very nice. Those are some long sausages....   :o :o :o

Arcs_n_Sparks

[Mr Walleye]

Thanks guys.

Arcs, they were a little too  long, a couple of them pulled apart. I just wanted to see if I could do it that way. I had some linked and some just really long. In the future I will hang an upper row and a lower row to avoid them self destructing. They turned out great though!  ;)

Mike

[FLBentRider]

Nice looking job Mike!

When do you want to come down here and built mine ?

;D ;D ;D

[Mr Walleye]

Nice looking job Mike!

When do you want to come down here and built mine ?

;D ;D ;D

Hey! I work for beer! You couldn't afford me!  ;D

It was a fun project. The only frustrating thing was constantly waiting for parts. Over all I'm real happy with it.

Mike

[Wildcat]

Nice job Mike!

[Patience]

Great job.  Let us know about the big load you do, I bet 80lbs wouldn't be too much!  Think about it, it takes the SAME amount of clean up time of the grinding, mixing and stuffing equipment whether you do 5lbs of sausage, or 80lbs.  Opt for the more!

I have a question though.  The Bradley sight lists the Smoke Generator w/adapter as such:

Power: 120 V 50 - 60 Hz , - 5.5 Amps (240 Volt Model also Available)
ETL & CE Listed

I noticed earlier in your post you calculated 1.25 amps.  I'm assuming the 150Watt puck burner/ 110-120v??  The puck advance motor draws zilch, so yea, I agree with you're math skills.  So...where does Bradley come up with 5.5amps???

The reason I'm asking, is the alarm output on my PID will handle 3amps at 120volts.  If indeed the Smoke generator is rated less than this, I can use the alarm relay to run 110v power to the smoke generator and turn it on when I need it and off when I don't.  My cabinet does not need the heat produced from the puck burner like the B.S. does to maintain temps.

So where does the 5.5amp rating come from? 

[Mr Walleye]

I noticed earlier in your post you calculated 1.25 amps.  I'm assuming the 150Watt puck burner/ 110-120v??  The puck advance motor draws zilch, so yea, I agree with you're math skills.  So...where does Bradley come up with 5.5amps???

Patience

Your assumption on my calculations are correct, or at least in my line of thinking. Where Bradley gets 5.5 amps from... I don't have a clue. I agree the advance motor would use so little I never even used it in the calculation. I would send Bradley am email and ask for an explaination. I can't imagine that the 5.5 is correct... it just doesn't make sense.

Mike

[Mr Walleye]

Patience

I went and had a look at Bradley's site. What they have done is they have copied the same information from the Bradley Original to the Smoke Generator Adaptor Specs. The only thing they removed was the 500 watt main heater in their specs. If you calculate the 500 watts + 125 watts/ 120 volts you get 5 amps and some change. They rounded it to 5.5 amps.

Here is the link to the Bradley Original specs.
http://www.bradleysmoker.com/bradley-original-smoker.asp

Here is the  link to the Smoke Generator & Adaptor specs.
http://www.bradleysmoker.com/smoke-generator-with-adaptor.asp

Clearly the 5.5 amp rating on the generator only is incorrect.

Mike

[Patience]

Good enough for me, thanks for the leg work.  ;D  I'm gonna give the alarm control of the generator a go and see how it goes. 

What did you seal your door with, if anything?  high temp?

[Mr Walleye]

Good enough for me, thanks for the leg work.  ;D  I'm gonna give the alarm control of the generator a go and see how it goes. 

What did you seal your door with, if anything?  high temp?

No problem, I knew the numbers didn't look right.

I used the rope gasket for a woodstove door. It's available from fireplace/woodstove stores by the foot. It comes in all different sizes as well. I used high temp silicone to attach it. I also used 4 screws in the corners to hold it in place till it dried.

Mike