Four butts, overnight smoke. Problem

[CFLJOHN512]

Me, being the nice guy I am decided to smoke 4 butts overnight so we can have a great lunch since we will be working today. They ranged from 8lbs to 4lbs. Filled up the AMZN pellet tray with hickory pellets and put some apple in the chip tray on the MES 130. Fired her up to 225 and went to bed about 11. Woke up about 1 for no reason and checked the app to see where it was sitting temp wise. It was off. Uh oh. I went out and fired it back up and it chugged along for a while and shut off again. Turned it back on and within the hour it was off again. 6:30 rolled around and I just took em and threw them in the oven at 250 to finish them up and I’ll have my gf bring them up to work.
Are these things known for controller issues? I’ve submitted a ticket with Masterbuilt already. Hoping they will get it up and running again.

 

[normanaj]

I personally have no issues with the two I own but its not unheard of.

I'm no electrician but there a few folks here who know there way around the MES and I'm pretty sure they'll chime in soon!

 

[Bearcarver]

My Goto on MES electrical problems, among others, is @tallbm .

Bear

 

[tallbm]

Me, being the nice guy I am decided to smoke 4 butts overnight so we can have a great lunch since we will be working today. They ranged from 8lbs to 4lbs. Filled up the AMZN pellet tray with hickory pellets and put some apple in the chip tray on the MES 130. Fired her up to 225 and went to bed about 11. Woke up about 1 for no reason and checked the app to see where it was sitting temp wise. It was off. Uh oh. I went out and fired it back up and it chugged along for a while and shut off again. Turned it back on and within the hour it was off again. 6:30 rolled around and I just took em and threw them in the oven at 250 to finish them up and I’ll have my gf bring them up to work.
Are these things known for controller issues? I’ve submitted a ticket with Masterbuilt already. Hoping they will get it up and running again.

Hi there and welcome!

The MES' are known to have 2 problem major areas that cause them to fail.

1. The electrical connectors on the wires rot/corrode away at the heating element and/or the safety rollout limit switch. If they fail at the safety rollout limit switch the switch can burn up cause it is partly plastic (I think this is your issue)

2. The controller simply fails causing lack of heat control, the controller to not turn on, buttons to fail, or the whole thing to shut off

You could have a failing controller, you could have a failing safety rollout limit switch cause of connectors of cause the switch melted (my money is here), or you could be having a ground out issue.

The first and easiest thing to check is the electrical wire connectors. Your MES looks like a newer model so on the back midway up there should be an access panel that leads you to the safety rollout limit switch (this switch cuts power off if the smoker gets to hot... its a safety mechanism).
The other panel is on the back towards the bottom and that leads to the heating element.

Get into both panels and inspect the wire connectors UNDER the insulation and see if they are corroding. Give them a good little wiggle and tug and if they break then or they already look horrible then that is problem #1.
If at the safety rollout limit switch the switch has shown signs of burning, melting, or scortch marks then that is problem #2 but you can just disconnect the wires and splice them together here to bpyass the switch until u can replace it (if u want to replace it).

In any case you replace the rotted female spade connectors with these hi-temp stainless steel ones here:

If you replace any connectors you may as well replace all at the element and the safety rollout limit switch.

If the limit switch is failing or you bend/wiggle the tabs on the switch know that it WILL fail at some point after cause they are fragile here is the replacement for the switch... I highly recommend you get an order of these and order the EXACT ones I am posting as there are other cheaper ones but they do not fit properly. It's good to have a few cause they are delicate and any wiggle of the tabs from the back will guarantee a failure in the future at some point.

Start there and if that isn't the issue and the fix then we can talk about your controller. Your options are to get a replacement from Masterbuilt or we start talking a simple rewire and using an Auber PID controller which makes your smoker 1000x better than what it ever was brand new haha.

Let us know what you find man and we will get you going cause the beauty is that the MES is not a super complex electrical device so we can beat it into submission so it works for you :)

 

[CFLJOHN512]

Hi there and welcome!

The MES' are known to have 2 problem major areas that cause them to fail.

1. The electrical connectors on the wires rot/corrode away at the heating element and/or the safety rollout limit switch. If they fail at the safety rollout limit switch the switch can burn up cause it is partly plastic (I think this is your issue)

2. The controller simply fails causing lack of heat control, the controller to not turn on, buttons to fail, or the whole thing to shut off

You could have a failing controller, you could have a failing safety rollout limit switch cause of connectors of cause the switch melted (my money is here), or you could be having a ground out issue.

The first and easiest thing to check is the electrical wire connectors. Your MES looks like a newer model so on the back midway up there should be an access panel that leads you to the safety rollout limit switch (this switch cuts power off if the smoker gets to hot... its a safety mechanism).
The other panel is on the back towards the bottom and that leads to the heating element.

Get into both panels and inspect the wire connectors UNDER the insulation and see if they are corroding. Give them a good little wiggle and tug and if they break then or they already look horrible then that is problem #1.
If at the safety rollout limit switch the switch has shown signs of burning, melting, or scortch marks then that is problem #2 but you can just disconnect the wires and splice them together here to bpyass the switch until u can replace it (if u want to replace it).

In any case you replace the rotted female spade connectors with these hi-temp stainless steel ones here:

If you replace any connectors you may as well replace all at the element and the safety rollout limit switch.

If the limit switch is failing or you bend/wiggle the tabs on the switch know that it WILL fail at some point after cause they are fragile here is the replacement for the switch... I highly recommend you get an order of these and order the EXACT ones I am posting as there are other cheaper ones but they do not fit properly. It's good to have a few cause they are delicate and any wiggle of the tabs from the back will guarantee a failure in the future at some point.

Start there and if that isn't the issue and the fix then we can talk about your controller. Your options are to get a replacement from Masterbuilt or we start talking a simple rewire and using an Auber PID controller which makes your smoker 1000x better than what it ever was brand new haha.

Let us know what you find man and we will get you going cause the beauty is that the MES is not a super complex electrical device so we can beat it into submission so it works for you :)

The unit is only 2 weeks old. It’s under cover and out of the elements. Corrosion shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll take the cover and check connections tomorrow after work. I appreciate the info a bunch. It seems pretty simple as far as wiring goes. I’ll post back once I find a solution. I’m just glad it got a few hours of smoke. It went over with rave reviews at work today.

 

[tallbm]

The unit is only 2 weeks old. It’s under cover and out of the elements. Corrosion shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll take the cover and check connections tomorrow after work. I appreciate the info a bunch. It seems pretty simple as far as wiring goes. I’ll post back once I find a solution. I’m just glad it got a few hours of smoke. It went over with rave reviews at work today.

Give it a check in any case. There have been reports of corrosion on connectors 1 month after opening... makes me think corrosion could have started in the warehouse in these cases.
Also a loose connector on the safety rollout limit switch can cause resistance which can melt it down since it's mostly plastic.

Let us know what you find :)

 

[Bearcarver]

Me, being the nice guy I am decided to smoke 4 butts overnight so we can have a great lunch since we will be working today. They ranged from 8lbs to 4lbs. Filled up the AMZN pellet tray with hickory pellets and put some apple in the chip tray on the MES 130. Fired her up to 225 and went to bed about 11. Woke up about 1 for no reason and checked the app to see where it was sitting temp wise. It was off. Uh oh. I went out and fired it back up and it chugged along for a while and shut off again. Turned it back on and within the hour it was off again. 6:30 rolled around and I just took em and threw them in the oven at 250 to finish them up and I’ll have my gf bring them up to work.
Are these things known for controller issues? I’ve submitted a ticket with Masterbuilt already. Hoping they will get it up and running again.

What Model is that?
I never saw one with two top vents before.
I like that.

Bear

 

[dr k]

I've had an indoor air ionizer for 30 years that has a conformal coating to seal from condensing water vapor and dust that can short it not necessarily corrode it to fail. It's used indoors to keep dust down so no humidity issues. The dust that gets attracted to it would be an electronic issue over the years.


Here's my controller from my Gen 1 40 whereby the light button started turning off the smoker!? You can see the circuit board from underneath the controller when it's assembled.


I replaced it with an Auber plug and play PID and unplug the PID controller and bring it inside in the a/c. I'd mount these stock Mes controllers on a piece of wood at an angle to easily view and bring them inside inbetween smokes. They aren't designed to even stay in a detached garage in high humidity. The BT Gen 2.5 and Gen 2 have controllers over the door so smoke and water vapor pour over them everytime you open the smoker. It's like MB wants them to fail. The over the door controllers maybe more of a hassle to figure out a quick portable setup. The top rear mounted controllers would be easier and mark the pin connectors with white out to know which sides are correct to connect at a glance because they are smaller. Many people are having a helluva time seeing the display on the longer rear mounted dual vent Mes based on their height and contact MB thinking the dim controller is defective so some mount it on wood so they can see a bright display then disconnect the pin connectors and bring it inside. Once you buy an Mes and use it to get to know it the first year under warranty then the shopping for a replacement controller has just started. Or buy a used decent conditioned Mes near your home on Marketplace and go straight to a PID because they were unfortunate to not know about SMF. After my stock controller light button started turning off the smoker MB on their FB page (best and fastest way to work with them on messenger with issues) sent me a replacement under warranty. Before this replacement fails I researched a month here and purchased my PID. I gave my daughter the same model smoker so when her controller fails she can have my good one (as far as I know and the buggy one) till she gets a PID. I just got lucky that my Mes controller still worked and I wasn't dead in the water finishing in the kitchen oven and wondering when I could get to smoking food again.