East oak smoker PID question

[Hawkeye smoker]

Hello, my MES quit working a couple of months ago and I replaced it with a 30 inch East Oak smoker. The East Oak is fine for pork butt and the like, but the temps are all over the place when I need lower temps for snack sticks. So I'm thinking about adding an Aubry PID. I reached out to Aubrey to see what I'd need to do to my smoker to make their PID work with it. They sent a tutorial about how to modify a MES to use their PID. Seems like all you have to do is jump the two wires going into the controller relay together. Here's a pic of the back of my smoker. Is the relay in the upper right hand corner? Thanks guys.

 

[normanaj]

This may very much be of interest to you:

MES Rewire Simple Guide - No Back Removal Needed!!!

Lately I've seen a number of posts about guys wanting to rewire their MES. I had wanted to post a quick and simple guide for those out there that are curious or those that simply need to rewire but need a little assistance. Well here goes. Disclaimer: When messing with electrical equipment...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

If you have any questions tallbm is the person to ask first.
PS. The Simple Rewire and an Auber PID would've brought that MES back to life.

 

[mike243]

The round dohitchy is a limit for high temps

 

[tallbm]

Hello, my MES quit working a couple of months ago and I replaced it with a 30 inch East Oak smoker. The East Oak is fine for pork butt and the like, but the temps are all over the place when I need lower temps for snack sticks. So I'mView attachment 704868 thinking about adding an Aubry PID. I reached out to Aubrey to see what I'd need to do to my smoker to make their PID work with it. They sent a tutorial about how to modify a MES to use their PID. Seems like all you have to do is jump the two wires going into the controller relay together. Here's a pic of the back of my smoker. Is the relay in the upper right hand corner? Thanks guys.

That's an interesting looking situation.

The rewire at the relay and lower circuit board is in a panel on the UNDER side of your MES.

Is this picture the panel to your heating element by any chance?
Is your MES a fancy one with like a top broiler heating element and/or a wood chip heating element?

 

[Hawkeye smoker]

That picture is the back panel of my East Oak smoker. I believe the relay I need to get to is on the bottom of the smoker, just haven't gotten around to removing the cover to have a look.

 

[radioguy]

Looks like the 2 wires at the bottom go to the heating element. The wire going to the top is most likely going to the relay. Can't tell without more pics information.

RG