Auber WS-1510ELPM & MES 30

[jrsdws]

Had some issues with my front controller last week and called Masterbuilt for replacement as it's under warranty. I also ordered the Auber because I'm so used to less temp fluctuations using my GMG Pellet model.

I bought the WS-1510ELPM because it's "plug and play", but keep reading so many posts about wiring modifications on the smoker.

So what's the real skinny? Can I plug the MES into it, turn it on and let the Auber take over?

 

[chopsaw]

So what's the real skinny? Can I plug the MES into it, turn it on and let the Auber take over?

I would like to know the answer to that myself .

 

[dr k]

The digital Mes has to be set to temp and time then it turns on. If you lose power it stays off till you set everything again unlike the analog MB smokers with a dial set to max and the PID flashes on and off without keeping it permanently off (nothing to reset. ) So the digital Mes bypass allows the smoker when plugged in to the recepticle to be on and unplugged off so the PID can flash on/off many times a minute to hold temps tight.

 

[johnnyb54]

jrsdws, If I’m not mistaken I don’t think you want to just plug your Masterbuilt into the Auber controller. The reason for this is the Masterbuilt controller will try to regulate itself at the same time as the Auber. I’m guessing if you want to do a cook at the low end (125-225 degrees) you could set the Masterbuilt controller for a temp of 275 or higher and the Auber for the temp you want. I do think there may be issues doing this but again I’m not sure. I wanted to avoid any issue so I did rewire mine and I’m sure TallBM will also touch base with you as he did some nice work on his Masterbuilt. The posts for my Masterbuilt mods can be found below. I hope they help you.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...-hybrid-the-frankenbuilt.260975/#post-1741490

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...auber-masterbuilt-hybrid.265741/#post-1732995

 

[Nutshell]

You will need to bypass the internal control relay on the MES. From there, yes. You plug your MES into the Auber. Super easy mod that was just detailed out on a post here last week. Takes about 10 minutes

 

[jrsdws]

You will need to bypass the internal control relay on the MES. From there, yes. You plug your MES into the Auber. Super easy mod that was just detailed out on a post here last week. Takes about 10 minutes

This one?

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/looking-for-wiring-assistance-mes-30-20071317.276826/

 

[ts383]

jrsdws,

Could be. That was my post, where my wiring didn't quite match the pictures provided here:

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/mes-rewire-simple-guide-no-back-removal-needed.267069/

Take a look at the bottom of your smoker. If the panel on the bottom is riveted, you likely can follow the instructions in the linked post.

If it's got a plastic cover with some removable screws, when you open it up you should see the same wiring that was in my post (the "looking for wiring assistance").

 

[jrsdws]

Took a quick picture of the back of mine. All sheet metal with screws. Gotta travel for work the rest of the week but at least it's easy to open up.

 

[Braz]

Not sure what version of Masterbuilt you have but on mine, and on the two shown in the links above, the access panel for the wiring mod is on the bottom, not on the back.

 

[jrsdws]

The bottom shot.

 

[normanaj]

No Auber PID is plug/play with the MES,You'll have to rewire.Its my understanding that Auber is only plug/play with the Bradley.

 

[Nutshell]

This is how I did mine.

Wire nut the black and red together. That’s it.

 

[tallbm]

The bottom shot.

Hi there and welcome!

To sum up what has been said, you will need to do a simple rewire on your MES30 for it to work with the Auber PID.

Looking at your smoker I think I know what you will see/encounter. I rewired an MES30 a couple of weeks ago that looked just like yours from the pics so far.

The work you need to do is in the bottom panel on the left side of the image.
When you pull that bottom panel off you will likely see a black plastic box in there.

IMPORTANT: The screws to pull the cover off that box have some weird "Y" shaped slots! You can use a super tiny flat head (what I did) to undo the screws OR just drill them out. I removed the whole box and just taped/fastened the left over wires back in the compartment after I spliced the wires.
When you get the top off that black box it should look something like the following image but might not have such colorful braided wires (pic via sonny):

Once you get the top unscrewed from the black plastic box you should see everything you need to rewire and it is a simple cut and splice job. See the image below for some instruction:

The simplest way to go about it is to splice a Braided wire to a Non-Braided wire and then repeat with the left over braided and non braided wire.
So 1 to 4 and 2 to 3, OR
- 1 to 3 and 2 to 4
Doing so will keep the safety switch in the mix which is desirable.

Once you do the splice you have completed the bypass of all MES electronics.
Your smoker will now do one thing when plugged into the wall, that is Heat up! You unplug to stop the heat, very simple.

NOW, with your Auber PID things should work in the following manner:

• With this rewire job you plug the MES into the PID controller (PID controller is plugged into the wall).
• You enter a set temp like 225F into the PID controller.
• The PID has a temp probe you put inside the MES.
• Now the PID will read the temp inside the MES and if below the set temp (225F in this case) the PID will feed power to the MES until the MES hits the set temp, then the PID will cut off power to the MES.
• The PID will then continuously cut power off/on to the MES to keep within about +-2 degrees of the set temp.

Let me know if this info helps or if I have thoroughly confused everyone :D

 

[jrsdws]

Mod completed thanks to all. I'm doing a quick test run now and will put it through it's paces this weekend when I return.

Instead of splicing, I simply made jumpers with flat spade connectors so I can put it back to stock if desired.

It appears to warming right up!!

 

[tallbm]

Mod completed thanks to all. I'm doing a quick test run now and will put it through it's paces this weekend when I return.

Instead of splicing, I simply made jumpers with flat spade connectors so I can put it back to stock if desired.

It appears to warming right up!!

That's another way to skin that cat :)
I hope it works out well for you!

Also just know that the next likely failure point will be the connectors on the heating element and/or the safety rollout limit switch.

If you get the Supco t1111 hi temp spade connectors the will do the job over the crappy cheap connectors masterbuilt uses.

Here is a link to some replacement safety rollout limit switches, this exact one is the one to get as others might have a disconnected metal flap which does no good. It is easy to damage these things so if you decide to replace the connectors on your existing one then having some backups is basically mandatory. If you make the tabs wiggle on the existing one then it will soon melt down due to electrical resistance... I've gone through 3 of them that way before I learned better lol

 

[Nutshell]

Get some meat in her!!

 

[jrsdws]

You guys are the best. This is going to be awesome when making summer sausage. That's when the temp swings really bothered me.

 

[tallbm]

You guys are the best. This is going to be awesome when making summer sausage. That's when the temp swings really bothered me.

Oh one more thing, you will need to use an A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS, tray or tube) to generate smoke from now on. The PID should not keep the heating element on long enough to heat chips.
This is no big deal as like 99% of MES owners use an AMNPS. With my tray I get between 9-12 hours of smoke with little to no hassle :)
That is why us MES users all use the AMNPS no matter what :)

 

[Nutshell]

AMNPS is great!! Don’t run your MES without one.

 

[jrsdws]

Already running AMNPS in mailbox mod and loving it!!

The details of these mods should be put together and made a sticky.