Humo18/et al - Yes sir, I did purchase SmokeDaddy's PID controller. Since I could not confirm the specs of the
Camp Chef OEM components (nor could
Camp Chef rep), I purchased the "Complete Upgrade Kit", retail $249.99 because the controller has some specific requirements pertaining to the auger motor. As it turned out, the Fan Motor is identical to the OEM motor, but the Auger Motor is definitely larger than the OEM. Conversion was straight forward, unless you don't know the difference in a phillips screwdriver and a socket wrench. I'm still not sure what difference a 9 hole pot vs a 7 hole pot makes, but it has a bottom in it, so the ash cleanout trap door no longer serves a purpose. For those not familiar with the
Camp Chef, the OEM burn pot has no bottom and a sliding "trap door" serves as the bottom, making it easy to dump the ash after use.
Once conversion was made it was time to test it so a 4 1/2 lb beef brisket was used along with
Camp Chef brand pellets. After 3 1/2 hrs, I was miffed. Temp swings were better than with the OEM controller, the CC replacement controller, and the CC replacement pellet bin/auger/controller/ everything except the barrel. Yes -
Camp Chef replaced everything except the barrel, grates, and wheels ! How is that for customer service ???!!! Sorry .... back to the PID controller. Of course it did not take much to improve temp control when the best OEM /replacement OEM equipment produced a +50/-45 temp swings. Unfortunately the SD PID gave +28/-21 temp swings which is far from advertised +/-10 degree swings.
Dennis was a bit miffed also and suggested propping the lid open some to see if that would help settle things down. Doing so seemed like setting the house HVAC controller to 76 then opening the front door to keep the inside temps below 96 to me, but ok; I tried it. No help, in fact the temp swings became unpredictable.
Mean time, Rural King Farm Supply has a sale on Lumber Jack brand pellets @ $7.25/20 lb - so I stock up and decide I want to smoke some ribs using LJ Char/Hickory pellets. Hoping that the ribs would not just be totally screwed due to temp swings, on they went. Watching with great interest in expectation of calling Dennis again to give him the WTH speech, a transformation came over the little
Camp Chef smoker. The controller fairy was making the temps hang within +/- 5 degrees F. During the 6 hr cooking process the SID controller performed exactly as advertised !! After 4 more times in the past 6 weeks or so, it continues to maintain +/- 6 degrees F using LJ pellets. Not so with
Camp Chef pellets.
Dennis confirmed that pellets are not all equal, he was/is aware some burn hotter and he was working on new firmware so his PID controller could better handle the hotter burning pellets. I need to talk to him again and determine if that firmware is now available. Dennis is a man of few words, but he delivers as promised.