Temp controller

[broz]

Hello I am bulding a small smoker And in need of a Temp controller and found this one. And was hoping some one has some good or bad info on this one.Temperature Controller with Timer up to 572°F Buzzer Alarm 30Amp Output with L Shape Sensor for BBQ GRILL SMOKER OVEN STOVE BAKING COOKING CHARCOAL BURNING CAJUN. Thank you http://www.thermomart.com/index.php…

 

[TulsaJeff]

 
Hello I am bulding a small smoker And in need of a Temp controller and found this one. And was hoping some one has some good or bad info on this one.Temperature Controller with Timer up to 572°F Buzzer Alarm 30Amp Output with L Shape Sensor for BBQ GRILL SMOKER OVEN STOVE BAKING COOKING CHARCOAL BURNING CAJUN. Thank you http://www.thermomart.com/index.php…

I am not familiar with this.. what do you connect it to in order to control the temperature? A heating element of some sort I assume?

Whatever the heating device is, you would need to do some calculations to make sure it could handle the size of the box you are placing it in.

Other than that the price doesn't seem outrageous if it does what it says it will do.

 

[broz]

this is where I seen it    http://www.cooklikeaman.com/bbq/make-electric-bbq-smoker-controller/

 

[gary s]

Cool

Gary

 

[dward51]

It looks interesting for the price, but with certain caveats....

1) it does not appear to be a true PID controller & has no auto tune setting that I saw

2) output is analog relay switching not SSR

3) relatively unknown brand so quality and longevity may be an issue (but it's inexpensive).

I would be concerned about the constant switching of an analog relay (dry contact relay).  They do wear our and can be prone to sticking with higher amperage loads.  If the relay sticks in the 'ON' position, you have a full on heat with no end run-a-way situation.   In most commercial process control setups that used analog relays (old method - replaced by SSR's), there was some other over temp protection added to the circuit to avoid this.

May or may not be an issue, but just be aware of this, especially if you are going to be running a fairly high amperage element.