Proportional or Linear PID control of electric smoker

[river100]

I'm just throwing this out there for those that have asked about this before, or those who like to try new things.

When you add a PID controller to an electric smoker the PID sends pulses to the SSR. Some PID controllers give you a little control over those pulses but they are still digital. To lower the output of the heating element the pulses are spaced out but each pulse is 100% on.
With linear control the output is proportional, similar to a light dimmer. In this setup the PID controller sends a linear signal to a power controller that varies the power to the heating element.
In this configuration the heating element gets constant power, the higher the temp setting the more power the element gets. The PID will send 100% power to the element to ramp up the temp and slowly lower the output as the temp gets close to the setpoint. At one point the power output stabilizes at a percentage and the element just coasts along until you open the door LOL

Power controllers that can do this have been pretty expensive in the past. The one I use for "open air" heating elements at work run $ 170.00 and they were on the low side, most commercial power controllers are considerably more expensive.
Which is one of the reasons I haven't tried it. You would also need a PID controller with a 4-20ma output. The cheaper ones people buy on Amazon usually don't have that option but you can find them for around $ 50.00 or more. Auber sells one for $ 62.00.

I was browsing around on the Auber website and ran across a very inexpensive linear power controller today.
Their power controller runs $ 50.00 and can handle up to 40 amps.
To build a linear heater control you would need the controller and a PID controller with a 4-20ma output.
The power controller model # is SSVR40A-LIN, and their compatible 1/16 DIN Pid controller model is the SYL-2381-mA.
The connections are just as simple as an SSR connection. The power controller takes the place of the SSR.

What are the benefits? I'm not sure if it would cost less to run a smoker this way but there is a certain novelty to it for some.

 

[JC in GB]

From my experience, the thermal time constant of the heating element itself makes pulsed versus phased control nearly identical. In short, phased control is simply not worth the extra money for this type of application. My $0.02.

JC

 

[river100]

From my experience, the thermal time constant of the heating element itself makes pulsed versus phased control nearly identical. In short, phased control is simply not worth the extra money for this type of application. My $0.02.

JC

I agree, another reason that I dropped it.
But I still see people asking about it so I threw it out there.

From my experience, the thermal time constant of the heating element itself makes pulsed versus phased control nearly identical. In short, phased control is simply not worth the extra money for this type of application. My $0.02.

JC

I agree, the element buffers the PID output so to say.
Another reason I didn't go with it.

I actually bought a used power controller a cpl of years ago for pennies. Decided on a standard SSR and a 1/16 PID over the linear control because I felt like the pulsed SSR would use less electricity.