Heat question - MES analog 30

[vegascowboy]

Hello all. I'm new to smoking and have a question on my smoker that I'm hoping someone can answer. I'm attempting to smoke some ribs today. Before I put in the meat, I got the temp up to 225. Now that the meat is in, the temp won't rise above 180. The smoker has been running for over 2 hours.

I'm not using an extension cord, and I've verified the temp with both analog and digital temps.

I suspect it is due to the meat absorbing the heat. I'm getting smoke, but I'm wondering whether this is normal, and if so, how much longer do I need to cook the meat?

 

[geerock]

I believe that the analog mes is un-insulated but if this thing can't recover over a 2 hour period for some ribs then somethings wrong.