PID sale?

[tallbm]

Does anyone sell "adult" juice boxes for beach use? If not, they're missing out on a great market, IMO!

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I'm in the do it yourself camp, but unless you have the chops to do a safe build, I'd advise buying a complete solution. A fire, injury, or death will cost you a LOT more than $150.

And it really is true that a properly modified smoker will be worth a lot more to you than what it might have been right out of the box.

HAhaha, the adult juice boxes for TX beaches are mostly made by Franzia :P
Yeah I'm with you. If not knowing or capable of building a PID the $150 plus the simple rewire makes the MES a whole new machine!

Um yeah. You do need to have “basic” knowledge for wiring. Put it this way, if you don’t know how to check oil on you car, don’t buy one of these. If your on a low budget and “think” you could do it, download a video on this install. There are several on YouTube.

I'm in agreement. I think the average Joe would be best off just buying a plug and play unit and then tackle the simple rewire of the MES themselves.

I bought a thermomart pid with time and temperature control and a built in 30amp relay for $50 off amazon. Used a new thermister from my thermoworks smoke kit. This PID does not use a thermocouple. Just gutted out all the masterbuilt electronics and rewired it with the pid. Nothing to it really. A couple of runs of high temp appliance wire and remove the masterbuilt temp sensors and replace with the new ones. Mount the controller in a plastic box and install it with the same screws that held the masterbuilt controller in place.

Now my PID controller and thermoworks smoke agree on temperature within a few degrees depending on where in the smoker i place the smoke sensor. Set it on 225 and it goes from 221 to 228 for a complete 12 hr smoking cycle

Hi there and welcome!
Cool little unit, I just looked it up. Does it have a heat sink built in as well?

 

[Wakulla]

HAhaha, the adult juice boxes for TX beaches are mostly made by Franzia :P
Yeah I'm with you. If not knowing or capable of building a PID the $150 plus the simple rewire makes the MES a whole new machine!



I'm in agreement. I think the average Joe would be best off just buying a plug and play unit and then tackle the simple rewire of the MES themselves.



Hi there and welcome!
Cool little unit, I just looked it up. Does it have a heat sink built in as well?

I have no clue. Have it in a vented plastic box. If it burns out i will get a different one next time. Just an experiment to see if i could get those temperature fluctuations under control. I know now it is possible.

 

[chopsaw]

I'm all for what ever someone wants to do or works for them , but the thing that gets over looked with the cost of the plug and play Aubers is the features and settings it's able to do . I take full advantage of mine .

 

[sm0kin]

HAhaha, the adult juice boxes for TX beaches are mostly made by Franzia :P
Yeah I'm with you. If not knowing or capable of building a PID the $150 plus the simple rewire makes the MES a whole new machine!



I'm in agreement. I think the average Joe would be best off just buying a plug and play unit and then tackle the simple rewire of the MES themselves.



Hi there and welcome!
Cool little unit, I just looked it up. Does it have a heat sink built in as well?

I have an extra one of those units in a project box I’d let go for $50 shipped if anyone is interested

 

[sm0kin]

Duplicate deleted

 

[Wakulla]

I'm all for what ever someone wants to do or works for them , but the thing that gets over looked with the cost of the plug and play Aubers is the features and settings it's able to do . I take full advantage of mine .

I agree with you completely. You get what you pay for. I just didn't want to spend basicly what i spent on the smoker until i knew that a PID could really tame this smoker. Now i know. It works. I had fun doing it and if/when this cheap controller dies then the Auber will be on the short list.

But reality is all these electronic parts are cheap if you know where to get them. I bet they are all manufactured next door to each other in some chinese factory.

 

[normanaj]

I'm all for what ever someone wants to do or works for them , but the thing that gets over looked with the cost of the plug and play Aubers is the features and settings it's able to do . I take full advantage of mine .

I'm starting to lean that way myself.I've had the $69 MES30 for a year and still have another year on the Wallyworld warranty and am really wanting to the PID thing.Once the warranty is up it will be time but until then I'm doing pretty good with the crushed pellets and AMNTS u-bolt mod.

 

[sigmo]

This whole smoking thing is a hobby for most of us. And as with any hobby, hot-rodding, modification, experimentation, etc., is a big part of the fun.

Even if someone sold a perfect smoker that came with a fan aspirated mailbox, smoke condensing-cooling heat exchanger, AMNPS, circulating fan, PID temperature controller, four compartment probes and a couple of meat probes, WiFi connection and control/logging apps for Android and IPhone, a Windows PC program as well as Linux and Mac versions....

We'd all be modifying the darn thing anyhow!

 

[fivetricks]

I keep wanting to jump into the PID pool, but the more research I get, the farther away from a solution I keep feeling lol.

I have a MES and a UDS. I'd love one for both.

 

[kmbelt81]

I made one from an InkBird also after seeing what Steve H did. Haven't had a chance to use it yet though. Might have cost me $50 at most. I always keep random junk around.

 

[JC in GB]

If you are handy with electronics, you can craft your own unit for under $50.

This is where I get most of my electronic parts. Slow delivery but can't beat the pricing.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...d=SB_20190507100722&SearchText=PID+controller

 

[tallbm]

I keep wanting to jump into the PID pool, but the more research I get, the farther away from a solution I keep feeling lol.

I have a MES and a UDS. I'd love one for both.

For the MES you would need a PID controller that uses a Solid State Relay (which likely needs a Heat Sink).
For the UDS you could use a PID controller that hooks up to a blower fan. As the temp drops the blower fan kicks on to stoke the coals/wood to keep your temp :)

I haven't ever used the blower fan setup but that is what smokers like the Big Green Egg and others use to control their smokes. Hopefully someone with 1st hand experience will chime in on the blower fan controller setups :)

 

[Wakulla]

If you are handy with electronics, you can craft your own unit for under $50.

This is where I get most of my electronic parts. Slow delivery but can't beat the pricing.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesal...d=SB_20190507100722&SearchText=PID+controller

As i expected parts are really cheap. Just wonder if some are better than others. From what i have read pid's are very simple electronics. Sure is fun figuring all this stuff out. Who knew barbeque could be so much fun.

 

[sigmo]

And I'm curious as to what all is controlled in, for example, a pit Boss series 5 or 7 pellet burner.

I briefly examined one at a store here, and it has a motorized corkscrew pellet feeder, electrical heating element to ignite pellets (perhaps only at start-up), and a blower.

The controller could control both the blower speed and the pellet feed. But it may only control the pellet feed. Beats me!

I really like the precise control you have with an "all-electric" smoker. But unless you go to a 220V system, you are limited in power, and therefore the size of your smoker.

 

[Wakulla]

And I'm curious as to what all is controlled in, for example, a pit Boss series 5 or 7 pellet burner.

I briefly examined one at a store here, and it has a motorized corkscrew pellet feeder, electrical heating element to ignite pellets (perhaps only at start-up), and a blower.

The controller could control both the blower speed and the pellet feed. But it may only control the pellet feed. Beats me!

I really like the precise control you have with an "all-electric" smoker. But unless you go to a 220V system, you are limited in power, and therefore the size of your smoker.

I believe you could get an electric heating element for as big a smoker as you want to build. They melt steel, aluminum and glass and just about anything else with electricity.

 

[sigmo]

The problem for a manufacturer of smokers for sale at retail stores is that they would not sell many of a model that requires a 220V outlet to use. Most people would not have a convenient 220 outlet near their porch or deck, so they'd need to have one installed.

A normal 120V outlet is on a 20 Amp circuit. To get a 120V appliance UL listed, it won't be over about 1800 Watts. So that's the practical limit for power that a manufacturer will face.

Thus, the bigger smokers are going to be gas or pellet fired, or charcoal, I guess.

Sure, you can build a 5,000 Watt smoker. But the market will be limited because of the expense to have a special outlet installed for it. It won't be "plug and play" for most people.

 

[Mark Krenn]

I have all 3. Pellet, 120 and 240 never can have too many

 

[sigmo]

I can wire up my own 220 outlet with GFCI double pole breaker to be right next to the man-door leading to the deck where we do the smoking. So I could buy, but may well build my own 220V - powered larger smoker at some point.

But I'd be curious to hear your reviews of your pellet burner and your 220V smoker.

The pre-built Pit Boss pellet burner I saw impressed me for its size, shape, upper temperature ability, and adjustable shelves.

I am tempted to buy one and try it out as designed by the manufacturer and see what I think.

Because it heats by combustion, it could produce the smoke ring style results associated with burning wood as the heat source, and with the temperature control that a microprocessor controlling the pellet feed and combustion blower can give me.

So that is intriguing.

And if I don't like the way it works as designed, it seems like a good "carcass" to start with to add a high-wattage electric element, the AMNPS, and use my PAC system to control it all.

Or I could keep it as a pellet burner but improve (if necessary) the control of the blower and the pellet feeder.

The hobbyist smoker nerd toy potential is fantastic!

 

[Wakulla]

I can wire up my own 220 outlet with GFCI double pole breaker to be right next to the man-door leading to the deck where we do the smoking. So I could buy, but may well build my own 220V - powered larger smoker at some point.

But I'd be curious to hear your reviews of your pellet burner and your 220V smoker.

The pre-built Pit Boss pellet burner I saw impressed me for its size, shape, upper temperature ability, and adjustable shelves.

I am tempted to buy one and try it out as designed by the manufacturer and see what I think.

Because it heats by combustion, it could produce the smoke ring style results associated with burning wood as the heat source, and with the temperature control that a microprocessor controlling the pellet feed and combustion blower can give me.

So that is intriguing.

And if I don't like the way it works as designed, it seems like a good "carcass" to start with to add a high-wattage electric element, the AMNPS, and use my PAC system to control it all.

Or I could keep it as a pellet burner but improve (if necessary) the control of the blower and the pellet feeder.

The hobbyist smoker nerd toy potential is fantastic!

Well if you need bigger then the fast Eddie 240 is for you.

Or for electric the cookshack amerique might be just the ticket.

 

[scarfa211]

WSD-1500H-W is on sale now for 10 bucks off. 249.99