OK, you're nuts. There, it needed said.
As stated, the stock MES temperature sensor can be all over the map.
And don't rack your brain at this. 100 probes can show 100 different temperatures.
They are never high precision at this level of temperature control. If you want accuracy, you need to go industrial.
And I guess you've never put a stapler to steel before. Chuckle. You learn real fast that won't work, hopefully without any embedded in you.
The repeat accuracy just does not exist at this price point. Not even at 10 times this price point.
The over-run of temperature is not unusual. What you see as the element is only a part of what is there. There is a Ni-chrome wire inside, surrounded by insulation.
I bought a separate temperature controller for below 100° use. With my MES 30 operating with the
Inkbird external controller at a 1 degree differential range, there is still a drift below the set point of ~2 degrees
after the controller turns on the element. Then, the controller shuts off the element at the set point as the temperature is rising.
You are expecting the rise to stop there, it does not. The current stops, but there is heat that needs to dissipate from the inside of the element. And that residual heat will push the temperature 6 degrees over the set point in my experience.
Observations of a Cold Smoke overnight session.
It looks like this,
set point 65°:
Oven has been operating for hours by this time, so the internal temperature is stable.
As the temperature is dropping and hits 65°, at 64° the power turns on to the element. But because it takes time for the heat to become apparent in the space of the smoker oven, the temperature reading continues to lower until the temperature is rising in the Smoker. In my tests, 2 degrees, or 62-63° at the turn around.
While the temperature rises there is electrical current still heating the element until it reaches the set point of 65°, at which point the current is shut off by the controller. But the heat is still emanating from the element internally. It takes time for the element to shed it's heat, so the temperature coasts above the set point (in this case, 65°).
For me, at my set point, and the ambient temperature at the time, I was observing about 9 degrees of swing Total. With a 1 degree controller differential setting. I was very pleased with the repeat accuracy of the controller.
Some things that might help you is to pre-heat your smoker. That allows the wide swings to stabilize before you begin "cooking". Just like pre-heating the oven in the house, you need to give the MES time to prepare itself.
Learn your Smoker. Because your smoker is going to operate a bit different than anybody else's on here. You will need to find where yours runs with external temperature monitors you find you can believe. And those are going to have tolerances as well. +/- a percentage of scale.
Often 2% is acceptable in industrial controllers or timers. 2% can be 2° above, or 2° below, the set point. So if looking at 275°, that could be 269.5°, or 280.5°, actual temperature and be within tolerance. (Using MES's controller as a temperature example.)
But these are not industrial devices, these are consumer grade devices. More of a hobbiest sort of accuracy.
To try and help you get a grip on this, Lets be generous and say the MES control has a 10% tolerance. 10% of 275° puts it +/- 27.5°. Whoa! That puts you at 247.5°, or at 302.5°
Starting to see why your MES and my MES won't be comparable in actual temperature comparison?
It's kind of like pointing a shotgun at a barn. You'll hit the barn, but kind of all over the place. :(;)
My example was with my Inkbird temperature probe mid-oven, near my meat being smoked (Flounder).
If I was to locate the Inkbird TP down nearer the element, it would probably tighten up the temperature swing considerably.
OK, your homework is to take your stapler out and try driving a staple in a steel fence post.
You will quickly find out that doesn't work either.
Keep your probes mobile. :)
