Reviving a MES 30 --> PID

[smotrs]

So a buddy gave me this 30 that he got from a friend.

Cleaned it up and started checking it out. Control panel is shot, no buttons and display screen is all sun cracked. Lights up but you can't see anything to navigate. So I had to figure out which buttons were which and see if I could get it to heat.

No go. Got it powered on. Hit Set Temp, + several times to simulate setting temp, followed by Set Temp again to lock it in. Waited about 10 min, opened and feel no heat.

So. Started the search for a control panel. Nope. Came across this group talking about PID's and started reading on those. Interesting. Also came across a number of posts from tallbm about rewiring, bypassing, etc. so started reading those and investigating that based on his posts and others experiences.

So, pulled the back panels, one being the safety shut off switch mentioned a lot. Everything looks good there from what I can see.

Then flipped it to check the bottom panels.

Ones just the power feed,

The other appears to be the honey pot,

By the looks of it, I can combine the connector for the 2 thick reds to the connector for the black and white to bypass it, per several posts and threads I've seen and by looking at it.

But what about all the other little wires?
Can I just unplug and remove that plastic brick after bypassing?

Also looked at all the wires and connectors I can see, and don't see anything burnt or broken. The circuit board/components all look good.

Starting to wonder if it's just the heating element that may be bad. So I'm looking to see how to test that now.

Edit: Fixed wording for which connectors/wires to connect to each other as I butchered it a bit on the original wording.

 

[schlotz]

Definitely could be the element but also replacing the controller with a good PID will give you a good system.

 

[smotrs]

Definitely could be the element but also replacing the controller with a good PID will give you a good system.

Yeah, from what I can tell, even the oem controller was meh.

So I ordered the WiFi Auber one. Happened to be on sale for Labor Day weekend also. Basically saved shipping cost. But I'll be able to control it much like I do my pellet grill as well.

I'm the meantime, putting it back together. Flipping it, then getting my multi meter out to test where the element wires attach in the back wall behind the other panel.

 

[chopsaw]

Starting to wonder if it's just the heating element that may be bad. So I'm looking to see how to test that now.

It should ohm out around 18 ohms . Also check one lug to the cabinet , then do the other .

 

[smotrs]

It should ohm out around 18 ohms . Also check one lug to the cabinet , then do the other .

Good to know, I read up on it, but no mention of the wall part. Will do that. Thanks.

 

[dsk]

I don't have this model of smoker, so take any information I provie at your own risk. I'm very sure if you connect the black and white wires together that you simply create a short circuit, which is bad. What you want to do, providing you are putting a PID between your smoker and the wall outlet, is to create a circuit as follows.

You want the black wire from the plug to be connected to the thermal overload switch. The other terminal of the overload switch goes to one side of the heater element. The other side of the heating element goes to the white wire of the plug. Again, this assumes you plug the smoker into a PID, not into an outlet.

 

[chopsaw]

no mention of the wall part. Will do that.

One lug on the element to the side of the cabinet shows leaking to ground if it registers a reading .
No reading is what you want to see .

But what about all the other little wires?
Can I just unplug and remove that plastic brick after bypassing?

Look at post 327 in the thread . I think you have the model that allows you to bypass the feed by connecting the 2 white plugs together . the limit switch will stay in the circuit .
Maybe tallbm can take a look .

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

Your the man! I appreciate your help. I have a weber smokey mountain with a bbq guru digi q that can hold 225 for like 15 hours solid that does all my smoking. This mes 40 is only for summer sausage, snack sticks, 170 degrees and lower stuff only. I had a deer knocked down Monday and tried to...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[normanaj]

Also look at post 165 in that same thread.Mine as simple as plugging one clip into the other and done.

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

Hi there and welcome! Wow it looks like they might have made it easy to bypass their circuit board with the new clips. In short all ou need to do is connect the Black and White wire clip from the plug to the double braided Red Wire clip that runs up into the unit, NOT the clip for the red wires...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Also post 26 in the thread where I did mine.

Auber WS-1211H SCORE!!!

Norm , you in the bottom or the back ? That looks like the back . You need to be in the bottom . That's the lower panel on the back.When it stops raining I'll have to take a look at the bottom. Was able to take a couple quick pics of the bottom between rain drops.Looks like this may have to...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[tallbm]

So a buddy gave me this 30 that he got from a friend.
View attachment 703579
Cleaned it up and started checking it out. Control panel is shot, no buttons and display screen is all sun cracked. Lights up but you can't see anything to navigate. So I had to figure out which buttons were which and see if I could get it to heat.

No go. Got it powered on. Hit Set Temp, + several times to simulate setting temp, followed by Set Temp again to lock it in. Waited about 10 min, opened and feel no heat.

So. Started the search for a control panel. Nope. Came across this group talking about PID's and started reading on those. Interesting. Also came across a number of posts from tallbm about rewiring, bypassing, etc. so started reading those and investigating that based on his posts and others experiences.

So, pulled the back panels, one being the safety shut off switch mentioned a lot. Everything looks good there from what I can see.
View attachment 703580

Then flipped it to check the bottom panels.

Ones just the power feed,
View attachment 703581

The other appears to be the honey pot,
View attachment 703582View attachment 703583

By the looks of it, I can combine the 2 thick reds to each other and combine the black and white to each other to bypass it per several posts and threads I've seen and by looking at it.

But what about all the other little wires?
Can I just unplug and remove that plastic brick after bypassing?

Also looked at all the wires and connectors I can see, and don't see anything burnt or broken. The circuit board/components all look good.
View attachment 703584View attachment 703585

Starting to wonder if it's just the heating element that may be bad. So I'm looking to see how to test that now.

Hi there and welcome!

Looks like you are well on your way and the guys have provided great info for you.

A simple test to see if the heating element and unit is working without a controller is to just to unhook these white clips and then connect the reds to the black and white (only compatible clips will match).
Then your smoker will be wired to feed heat from the MES plug to the heating element.
So plug it in but DO NOT leave it unattended, and the heating element should start getting hot after a few minutes. That lets you know that the heating element is good AND you are already rewired for use with an Auber PID. You just killed 2 birds with 2 stone :D

You will be up and running in no time.

Now it no longer matters but I have a sneaky suspicion that if the sock display worked, the issue with heating up would be the fact that the smoker time setting was at 0 hr 0 min. The stock MES has to have some time put into it to heat up. With no display and unable to navigate buttons this would be hard to verify, but it feels very much like an issue you might have IF the controller is actually in working condition :D

 

[smotrs]

I don't have this model of smoker, so take any information I provie at your own risk. I'm very sure if you connect the black and white wires together that you simply create a short circuit, which is bad. What you want to do, providing you are putting a PID between your smoker and the wall outlet, is to create a circuit as follows.

You want the black wire from the plug to be connected to the thermal overload switch. The other terminal of the overload switch goes to one side of the heater element. The other side of the heating element goes to the white wire of the plug. Again, this assumes you plug the smoker into a PID, not into an outlet.

You are correct. I totally misworded that. My apologies for the confusion.

 

[smotrs]

Hi there and welcome!

Looks like you are well on your way and the guys have provided great info for you.

A simple test to see if the heating element and unit is working without a controller is to just to unhook these white clips and then connect the reds to the black and white (only compatible clips will match).
Then your smoker will be wired to feed heat from the MES plug to the heating element.
So plug it in but DO NOT leave it unattended, and the heating element should start getting hot after a few minutes. That lets you know that the heating element is good AND you are already rewired for use with an Auber PID. You just killed 2 birds with 2 stone :D

You will be up and running in no time.

Now it no longer matters but I have a sneaky suspicion that if the sock display worked, the issue with heating up would be the fact that the smoker time setting was at 0 hr 0 min. The stock MES has to have some time put into it to heat up. With no display and unable to navigate buttons this would be hard to verify, but it feels very much like an issue you might have IF the controller is actually in working condition :D

I will check that out as well when I get home from work and have a chance to play with it some more. I didn't think of adding time to it, thought I could just try to set a temp and see if it worked/heated.

But will definitely give this a look.

 

[smotrs]

One lug on the element to the side of the cabinet shows leaking to ground if it registers a reading .
No reading is what you want to see .


Look at post 327 in the thread . I think you have the model that allows you to bypass the feed by connecting the 2 white plugs together . the limit switch will stay in the circuit .
Maybe tallbm can take a look .

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

Your the man! I appreciate your help. I have a weber smokey mountain with a bbq guru digi q that can hold 225 for like 15 hours solid that does all my smoking. This mes 40 is only for summer sausage, snack sticks, 170 degrees and lower stuff only. I had a deer knocked down Monday and tried to...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Gonna go back and re-read to be absolutely sure before making any cuts. Can count on it.

 

[smotrs]

Wi

Also look at post 165 in that same thread.Mine as simple as plugging one clip into the other and done.

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

Hi there and welcome! Wow it looks like they might have made it easy to bypass their circuit board with the new clips. In short all ou need to do is connect the Black and White wire clip from the plug to the double braided Red Wire clip that runs up into the unit, NOT the clip for the red wires...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Also post 26 in the thread where I did mine.

Auber WS-1211H SCORE!!!

Norm , you in the bottom or the back ? That looks like the back . You need to be in the bottom . That's the lower panel on the back.When it stops raining I'll have to take a look at the bottom. Was able to take a couple quick pics of the bottom between rain drops.Looks like this may have to...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Will check that out, thanks.

 

[chopsaw]

before making any cuts.

No cuts needed .

Will check that out,

You unplug the 2 , and plug the " Business end into each other .
Read through that , and ask before you do anything . Once you get it done you will see how simple it is . Norm normanaj did his like that .

 

[smotrs]

No cuts needed .

You unplug the 2 , and plug the " Business end into each other .
Read through that , and ask before you do anything . Once you get it done you will see how simple it is . Norm normanaj did his like that .

I see that now. Have not made any cuts but I can see how those 2 connectors can be plugged into each other. I also noticed tallbm 's post earlier about how the element needs a time set to actually run. So, I put it back together (temporarily) only a couple screws here and there to hold that circuit board box in place. Flipped it over and tried to power it up again by setting a temp and a time. Although I have no idea what temp and time I set as the display is illegible. However, the Heat light lit up so I went to grab my laser temp reader. Maybe 2minutes tops. The shield above the element was reading about 116F and bending lower the actual element was reading about 500F. Satisfied it was heating, I turned it back off.

So, that said, gonna let it cool down, flip it back over and pull the few screws I reinserted and swap those connectors after I re-read what normanaj & tallbm said about them. My Auber will be here tomorrow according to FedEx.

 

[jchad]

Hey! I’m having problems with my smoker and we’ve narrowed it down to a bad board. (Thanks to the help of these fine people on this site!) looking at my pictures and yours, it appears to be the same board. What are your plans with your board? If you’re willing and able to part with it I’d love to chat!

 

[smotrs]

Hey! I’m having problems with my smoker and we’ve narrowed it down to a bad board. (Thanks to the help of these fine people on this site!) looking at my pictures and yours, it appears to be the same board. What are your plans with your board? If you’re willing and able to part with it I’d love to chat!

Right now, no plans at all. After re-reading and double checking, I just unplugged that plastic box the board is in, pulled the brown wire connector and the white/black wire connector to the side and connected the other 2 remaining connectors to each other. Just to get it out of the way I plugged the 2 connectors from that plastic box into each other so they were easier to manage as I repacked it.

Are you needing that circuit board that is in the plastic box?

Assuming I don't have to do any special/weird wiring to remove it ( tallbm chopsaw ), I think I can just unplug all the other connectors from that board and I'm good?

I'd be more then happy to help you out if you cover the shipping. Let's see if those gentleman concur with my thoughts so I know what I'm doing there.

Next thing I'm looking at is getting that default meat probe out. Then a 3D printed plug to replace the top control panel so it doesn't look the way mine does.

 

[tallbm]

I see that now. Have not made any cuts but I can see how those 2 connectors can be plugged into each other. I also noticed tallbm 's post earlier about how the element needs a time set to actually run. So, I put it back together (temporarily) only a couple screws here and there to hold that circuit board box in place. Flipped it over and tried to power it up again by setting a temp and a time. Although I have no idea what temp and time I set as the display is illegible. However, the Heat light lit up so I went to grab my laser temp reader. Maybe 2minutes tops. The shield above the element was reading about 116F and bending lower the actual element was reading about 500F. Satisfied it was heating, I turned it back off.
View attachment 703749So, that said, gonna let it cool down, flip it back over and pull the few screws I reinserted and swap those connectors after I re-read what normanaj & tallbm said about them. My Auber will be here tomorrow according to FedEx.

Nice!!! You now know everything that is going on and that all the main parts work. You are going to LOVE how much better your smoker is once rewired and running with a PID. If you need to know some good P-I-D values and how to use an Auber PID (the manual is confusing) check out this page:

Setting Auber PID Temp, Time, and Other Values

This has come up numerous times so I figured I would try and write a simple "how to" for doing Auber PID time, temp, and P-I-D settings. Auber makes a great PID, however their documentation and instructions are technical and also likely written by someone that isn't very strong with organized...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

You're almost there! :D

 

[smotrs]

Nice!!! You now know everything that is going on and that all the main parts work. You are going to LOVE how much better your smoker is once rewired and running with a PID. If you need to know some good P-I-D values and how to use an Auber PID (the manual is confusing) check out this page:

Setting Auber PID Temp, Time, and Other Values

This has come up numerous times so I figured I would try and write a simple "how to" for doing Auber PID time, temp, and P-I-D settings. Auber makes a great PID, however their documentation and instructions are technical and also likely written by someone that isn't very strong with organized...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

You're almost there! :D

Thanks for that additional link, will definitely check it out. Just found out my PID arrived a few moments ago.

Opened and everything is there so will be able to test maybe during lunch.

 

[jchad]

Right now, no plans at all. After re-reading and double checking, I just unplugged that plastic box the board is in, pulled the brown wire connector and the white/black wire connector to the side and connected the other 2 remaining connectors to each other. Just to get it out of the way I plugged the 2 connectors from that plastic box into each other so they were easier to manage as I repacked it.

Are you needing that circuit board that is in the plastic box?

Assuming I don't have to do any special/weird wiring to remove it ( tallbm chopsaw ), I think I can just unplug all the other connectors from that board and I'm good?

I'd be more then happy to help you out if you cover the shipping. Let's see if those gentleman concur with my thoughts so I know what I'm doing there.

Next thing I'm looking at is getting that default meat probe out. Then a 3D printed plug to replace the top control panel so it doesn't look the way mine does.

That would be a life saver! If you don’t need it and whenever you’re comfortable getting rid of it, send me a message. I have a chicken wing competition the end of this month and I’m freaking out trying to get this thing to work in time, with my limited amount of knowledge!