Masterbuilt Power Failure

[carolinacasey]

Good evening all,

I got a Masterbuilt Sportsman Elite 30" as a gift a couple of years ago, and have used it, along with recipes and temp recommendations from this forum, with great success. Yesterday I picked up some pork chops, from a local small farm. Very fatty, from a pig breed called Kune Kune, apparently known for high fat content. I'd hoped to smoke them today, but when I pulled out my smoker and plugged it in, I got a single beep from the control panel, and then nothing. I tried basic things like unplugging and replugging, different outlets, etc., to no avail. When power is initially supplied, the control unit beeps once, but the panel remains dark. Nothing I did seems to have any affect. I did take the control panel off, in case I might see something obvious, but the panel is basically sealed, with to groups of control wires coming out, to where the plug into wires going down into the unit itself.

I'm ok with basic problems, but am not an electrician. Anyone know what might cause something like this, or if it might be an easy fix? It lives outside, but is on the porch, under cover of the roof, and it has a cover over the smoker itself, so I don't think weather has affected it. Spiders occasionally get inside and spin webs if it sits for more than a week or two, but I don't see how that would affect the sealed electronics.

I've really been enjoying the smoked meat life, and am at a loss. Grateful for any ideas of what might be going on, and how to correct the issue and get us back up and smoking again.

Thanks!

Casey

 

[old sarge]

Tough break.. There have been similar problems reported in the past. Hopefully some owners of the unit like yours will be along with some help. In the meantime, use the search feature. You might find your answer there. Good luck!

 

[diythinker]

Mine short to ground and tripped the breaker. It wouldnt even power up. i know my issue is a little different than yours, but who knows, maybe its the same. The heat element shorted with a few kohms, enough to trip the breaker and not power up. I also removed the back panel and drew out the wiring, see my video below. hope it helps:

 

[GaryHibbert]

It sounds like your control panel has died. If that's the case, you can either order a new one from Masterbuilt or rewire your MES to bypass the control panel. If you do that, you'll have to get a PID controller and plug the MES into that.
tallbm has written several articles about this process. Here's the link to his post:

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

It sounds very intimidating to somebody not electrically inclined, but with some help (some????) from tallbm, I rewired my MES 30. Once he explained the process in words I could actually understand, it was really a pretty simple job.

Gary

 

[tallbm]

Good evening all,

I got a Masterbuilt Sportsman Elite 30" as a gift a couple of years ago, and have used it, along with recipes and temp recommendations from this forum, with great success. Yesterday I picked up some pork chops, from a local small farm. Very fatty, from a pig breed called Kune Kune, apparently known for high fat content. I'd hoped to smoke them today, but when I pulled out my smoker and plugged it in, I got a single beep from the control panel, and then nothing. I tried basic things like unplugging and replugging, different outlets, etc., to no avail. When power is initially supplied, the control unit beeps once, but the panel remains dark. Nothing I did seems to have any affect. I did take the control panel off, in case I might see something obvious, but the panel is basically sealed, with to groups of control wires coming out, to where the plug into wires going down into the unit itself.

I'm ok with basic problems, but am not an electrician. Anyone know what might cause something like this, or if it might be an easy fix? It lives outside, but is on the porch, under cover of the roof, and it has a cover over the smoker itself, so I don't think weather has affected it. Spiders occasionally get inside and spin webs if it sits for more than a week or two, but I don't see how that would affect the sealed electronics.

I've really been enjoying the smoked meat life, and am at a loss. Grateful for any ideas of what might be going on, and how to correct the issue and get us back up and smoking again.

Thanks!

Casey

Hi there and welcome Casey!!!

Yeah it sounds like a any one (or more) of few things could be happening. Your control panel may have bit the dust. Often if you contact masterbuilt support they will just send one out to you as this is like one of the two most common areas of failure on the MES. The other area is with the female spade electrical connectors that are on the wires and connect to the tabs of the heating element and also at the safety rollout limit switch.

If you want to wait and fool around with Masterbuilt support they may send you a new control panel and that may do the trick.
If you want to move on from the masterbuilt part and use a 3rd party PID controller/control unit then a simple rewire can be done and you can use the Auber Plug and Play PID controller. The Auber PID will cost a little money but with the rewire and the auber controller you basically will be able to keep your smoking running through pretty much any issues it may have in the future.
Just know one MAJOR advantage of using a PID controller is MUCH MUCH better and tighter temperature control. No crazy temp swings like the MES controller causes and you can do low temps or even higher temps than normal (but I don't recommend going much over 315F for an extended period of time since the insulation may not like it).
One "kind of" negative effect is that you will no longer be able to burn chips inside the MES and will have to turn to use one of the A-Maze-N products to burn pellets... which is a superior way to produce smoke and most of us MES owners do this even without a rewire job and a PID hahaha. With an MES30 I think you would need to use the A-Mazen-Pellet Smoker Tube or my recommendation would be to use the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker tray (AMNPS) and build a mailbox mod since it seems the MES30's don't like having the AMNPS doesn't like being inside the MES30 to produce smoke. Using the AMNPS is really not a negative but is actually a vast improvement since the tray will burn pellets for up to 12 hours unattended :)

Having seen how prone to corrosion the MES electrical connectors are I wouldn't doubt if the other electronics are cheaply made and the same occurs within the controller/control panel.

Let us know what you want to do and I'm sure we can get you fixed up even if you have little to no electrical experience and want to go the PID route :)

Mine short to ground and tripped the breaker. It wouldnt even power up. i know my issue is a little different than yours, but who knows, maybe its the same. The heat element shorted with a few kohms, enough to trip the breaker and not power up. I also removed the back panel and drew out the wiring, see my video below. hope it helps:

Hi there and welcome!

Hey nice video! It shows a lot of the pieces that people would have to fool with whether it is replacing a heating element like in your case or having to do a rewire for using a Plug and Play PID Controller!

It sounds like your control panel has died. If that's the case, you can either order a new one from Masterbuilt or rewire your MES to bypass the control panel. If you do that, you'll have to get a PID controller and plug the MES into that.
tallbm has written several articles about this process. Here's the link to his post:

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

It sounds very intimidating to somebody not electrically inclined, but with some help (some????) from tallbm, I rewired my MES 30. Once he explained the process in words I could actually understand, it was really a pretty simple job.

Gary

Thanks for the steering him to some good info :D
I hope everything has been running well with the rewired smoker and the PID controller. It is so much better than the masterbuilt stuff the smoker comes with :)

 

[GaryHibbert]

Thanks for the steering him to some good info :D
I hope everything has been running well with the rewired smoker and the PID controller. It is so much better than the masterbuilt stuff the smoker comes with :)

I'm really loving the PID!! The temp stays constant within 1 degree of set. I'm still playing around with it, learning the needed temp settings for different rack locations, but haven't had a single bad cook with it.
Thanks to you, my MES performs perfectly these days.
Gary

 

[tallbm]

I'm really loving the PID!! The temp stays constant within 1 degree of set. I'm still playing around with it, learning the needed temp settings for different rack locations, but haven't had a single bad cook with it.
Thanks to you, my MES performs perfectly these days.
Gary

Hey u made it I just threw in a little assist :)
I so wish I could get some time to smoke some food here! Between the never ending rain the past 2 months and a million other things popping up I've done like 3 smokes in maybe the past 3 months :(

 

[diythinker]

Thanks, i started out drilling the back cover thinking something internally was damaged. I traced all wires and found the heat element was short to ground... in hindsight, i wouldnt have needed to take the back off... but it is what it is, and now i have access to the smoker if i want to modify it.

Hi there and welcome Casey!!!
Hi there and welcome!
Hey nice video! It shows a lot of the pieces that people would have to fool with whether it is replacing a heating element like in your case or having to do a rewire for using a Plug and Play PID Controller!
:)

 

[tallbm]

Thanks, i started out drilling the back cover thinking something internally was damaged. I traced all wires and found the heat element was short to ground... in hindsight, i wouldnt have needed to take the back off... but it is what it is, and now i have access to the smoker if i want to modify it.

On my Gen1 I cut a panel to the safety rollout limit switch and used a piece of sheet metal to cover the hole with sheet metal screws so I could always get back to it. During my rewire adventures I have replaced 3 safety limit switches due to knocking the tabs a little loose so that they wiggled (then they eventually overheat and burn up the switch) so having the compartment was very handing as I discovered the delicate nature of those safety rollout limit switch tabs :)

Short of my MES burning down I can keep it running for a looooooong time. The heating element and any components in my custom controller box are the next likely to fail and I think the heating element is the least likely of all of it :)

 

[carolinacasey]

Wow! Thanks for all the responses and advice.

I like the idea of the seperate controller, but when I looked at prices, it's just not something I can swing right now. However, Masterbuilt will send me a replacement controller for $30, so I guess I'll be going that route.

I have had some trouble getting my chips to smolder and smoke well, so I've been thinking of getting one of the A-Maz-N products for more consistent smoke. I think after I get the replacement controller, I'll look at getting a tray, and maybe trying the mailbox mod that seems so popular. My wife wants me to cold smoke some cheeses and such, so an offset smoke box that doesn't heat the chamber would definitely be a plus.

Perhaps my search skills aren't what they could be, or I'm using the wrong terms, but has someone done a tutorial on the offset mailbox for the MES? I'd love to see it broken down, and maybe start accumulating the parts and pieces I'll need.

Thanks again everyone!!

Casey

 

[gmc2003]

There are plenty of them out there. Here's one that might help

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/mes-mailbox-mod-for-use-with-amnps.127770/

Chris