Rewiring MES40 help?

[wimpy]

I don't think it does . One keeps the circuit flow as intended on a schematic , but it all ends up at the element . My white was on the relay . I went white / neutral to braided black that was on the spade terminal .
Braided black on the relay to the smooth black / hot .

Look at the no back thread . He talks about that in the first post , starts at comment 8 . Read through that .

Thank you

 

[Timber II]

You’re gonna like the PID! These guys helped me set mine up a year or so ago!

 

[tallbm]

Mine was on the bottom as well and a bit more going on than expected. PCB mounted inside a plastic case. Took a few more screws to get it off and apart. Will wrap up next day or so. On the my 30 I simply cut and stripped the wires and used wire nuts. I have waterproof butt joints but wire nuts held up just fine on the 30. I disconnected the 3 wire harnesses and connectors. Power cord and braided lines to element easy to see. I will be doing smooth black (hot) to red braided and smooth white (neutral) to braided black. Looks like this will bypassing limit switch? tallbm

View attachment 717095

What you describe with your rewire will KEEP the safety limit switch in the mix.

Also, I'm a little late to the game but sent Wimpy a direct message and things should be good to go. In short, wire smooth to braided and it's all good.
Can then toss out everything else in that lower compartment since it is bypassed.

Can't wait to see how both you guys come along with the new rewired PID controlled smokers :D

 

[normanaj]

Love reading these threads!

Rewiring and adding a PID is transformational to a MES.It really is a game changer and the first time you use it this way you always ask yourself why you took so long to do it.

 

[tallbm]

Love reading these threads!

Rewiring and adding a PID is transformational to a MES.It really is a game changer and the first time you use it this way you always ask yourself why you took so long to do it.

Exactly!!!

 

[wimpy]

Sorry to bother folks again here, but another problem popped up. Continuity check? Continuity only when touching braid black to braided black, but not either braided black to either smooth black or smooth white. Just put on Supco T1111 Quick Disconnects on the element wires. Cleaned everything up inside. removed the board from inside the bottom access panel.... even clipped the the board back to the plug ins. Stupid question? should I use a wire to each prong of the the plug to bridge that part of the curcuit? Obviously I'm not going to plug it into the outlet, lol

 

[dr k]

Sorry to bother folks again here, but another problem popped up. Continuity check? Continuity only when touching braid black to braided black, but not either braided black to either smooth black or smooth white. Just put on Supco T1111 Quick Disconnects on the element wires. Cleaned everything up inside. removed the board from inside the bottom access panel.... even clipped the the board back to the plug ins. Stupid question? should I use a wire to each prong of the the plug to bridge that part of the curcuit? Obviously I'm not going to plug it into the outlet, lol

I used the Supco T1111 since they are 90* vs vertical and more of braised them with a torch lighter after tinning the exposed wire with 100% resin core tin solder. I tinned the braided wires so it stuck out the opposite end of the barrel 1/2" and heated that tined end and added more solder. So that's good to 400*F adding solder as it could take it. When the power cord white at the PCB is terminated to a braided and the power cord black is terminated to the other braided you should have continuity from one power cord blade to the other and not from either blade to the ground prong and chassis, then continuity from the ground prong to anywhere on the chassis. The neutral usually has the thermal safety snap disk switch so if that has failed the the circuit is open and you need to direct wire or replace the switch if not having continuity from power cord blade to blade.

 

[wimpy]

I used the Supco T1111 since they are 90* vs vertical and more of braised them with a torch lighter after tinning the exposed wire with 100% resin core tin solder. I tinned the braided wires so it stuck out the opposite end of the barrel 1/2" and heated that tined end and added more solder. So that's good to 400*F adding solder as it could take it. When the power cord white at the PCB is terminated to a braided and the power cord black is terminated to the other braided you should have continuity from one power cord blade to the other and not from either blade to the ground prong and chassis, then continuity from the ground prong to anywhere on the chassis. The neutral usually has the thermal safety snap disk switch so if that has failed the the circuit is open and you need to direct wire or replace the switch if not having continuity from power cord blade to blade.

Thank you, I'll go check it! Where is the location of the thermal safety snap disk switch? Is it part of the temperature probe extending into the middle of the cabinet?

 

[chopsaw]

Thank you, I'll go check it! Where is the location of the thermal safety snap disk switch? Is it part of the temperature probe extending into the middle of the cabinet?

The second picture in your original post is the back of the limit switch .

 

[dr k]

Thank you, I'll go check it! Where is the location of the thermal safety snap disk switch? Is it part of the temperature probe extending into the middle of the cabinet?

It's the flat dime sized sensor to the left of the cabinet. I tapped on it to find where it was on the back of the smoker with my other hand and made a mark with a sharpie and cut the back 4"X4" along the rivets and the back with a dremel cut off wheel in 30 seconds with my model. Just save the very bottom cut for last to not nick wires coming up from the bottom. Put the piece of metal back in place and seal with aluminum jacketing tape. Some smokers have an access like for the element some don't. It's nice to have an access if one wasn't installed with your model so you can wire nut the wires if it fails during a smoke. During Covid 19 I got this Mes 30 for free after directly wiring the heating element and it heated so I made an access and wire nutted for the fix after I discover this disintegrated lug. Check element lugs to if having continuity issues. You can see the wasted lug in the junction box.

 

[zwiller]

Taking the back off is actually pretty easy, might be easier than cutting the access panel. Drill out rivets/self tap it back on. I put a high temp limit in my 30. I have a bunch of high temp ones if anyone wants one. Also, they are not a permanent limit but the type that go back to working once temps come down. There's a name for that but it eludes me.

 

[chopsaw]

Just to be clear . Looks like he has the access panel for the limit switch .

 

[tallbm]

Sorry to bother folks again here, but another problem popped up. Continuity check? Continuity only when touching braid black to braided black, but not either braided black to either smooth black or smooth white. Just put on Supco T1111 Quick Disconnects on the element wires. Cleaned everything up inside. removed the board from inside the bottom access panel.... even clipped the the board back to the plug ins. Stupid question? should I use a wire to each prong of the the plug to bridge that part of the curcuit? Obviously I'm not going to plug it into the outlet, lol

Sorry for the late reply, you have this all figured out by now. Here's a picture for the 1,000 words it helps explain:

So to explain this with a few more words. When doing the continuity check you will first unplug all of these 1-6.
Then check that 1. goes to to prong 7. or 8. on the plug. When you find it then you should confirm that 4. connects to the other prong on the plug.
Next you check that 2. goes wire end 5. or 6. in the heating element compartment. When you find which wire end it connects to then you should confirm that 3. connects to the other wire end there in the heating element compartment.

This would confirm that you have no breaks in continuity on the important wires.
If you have no breaks then wiring smooth to braided should give you no issues and things should heat up when rewired and power is fed to the MES plug.
If you did have a continuity break then it is likely at your are hi temp safety limit switch. That is probably the most common failure point in all the wiring and components. The switch itself is cheap plastic junk and the connectors that MES uses all around are junk so you have junk connected to junk at that one point hahahha.

So the final rewire would be 1 to 2 and 3 to 4 to get the job done :D

I hope this helps!

 

[wimpy]

Sorry for the late reply, you have this all figured out by now. Here's a picture for the 1,000 words it helps explain:
View attachment 717317

So to explain this with a few more words. When doing the continuity check you will first unplug all of these 1-6.
Then check that 1. goes to to prong 7. or 8. on the plug. When you find it then you should confirm that 4. connects to the other prong on the plug.
Next you check that 2. goes wire end 5. or 6. in the heating element compartment. When you find which wire end it connects to then you should confirm that 3. connects to the other wire end there in the heating element compartment.

This would confirm that you have no breaks in continuity on the important wires.
If you have no breaks then wiring smooth to braided should give you no issues and things should heat up when rewired and power is fed to the MES plug.
If you did have a continuity break then it is likely at your are hi temp safety limit switch. That is probably the most common failure point in all the wiring and components. The switch itself is cheap plastic junk and the connectors that MES uses all around are junk so you have junk connected to junk at that one point hahahha.

So the final rewire would be 1 to 2 and 3 to 4 to get the job done :D

I hope this helps!

Well... looks like I take it back apart again! Checking continuity as I was going along, I got continuity with 1 connected to 3 and 2 connected to 4 when checking at 5 to 6 and 7 to 8. Thought all was good and put it back together with a quick plug in with element getting hot (damn, it gets hot fast, lol) So.... back apart it is

 

[dsk]

This is what you are trying to accomplish.

 

[tallbm]

Well... looks like I take it back apart again! Checking continuity as I was going along, I got continuity with 1 connected to 3 and 2 connected to 4 when checking at 5 to 6 and 7 to 8. Thought all was good and put it back together with a quick plug in with element getting hot (damn, it gets hot fast, lol) So.... back apart it is

Oh you are good to go. If you connected 1 to 3 and 2 to 4 and it heated up then all is good. As long as it is smooth wire to braided wire you are fine.

The continuity checks are the evidence before connecting that what you connect will be fine. You already connected it and the heating element heated up so you are good to go. No need to pull it apart again to verify what you have proven works (proven by the element heating up).

You can now focus on the PID tuning settings and smoking up some good grub!!!! :D

 

[zwiller]

ITS ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

OMG my 30 is a complete piece of junk compared this 40. Tilt wheels and handle for moving are the icing on the cake.

 

[wimpy]

ITS ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

OMG my 30 is a complete piece of junk compared this 40. Tilt wheels and handle for moving are the icing on the cake.

View attachment 717521

How long did it take you to set up the auber? I haven't started mine yet

 

[tallbm]

ITS ALIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

OMG my 30 is a complete piece of junk compared this 40. Tilt wheels and handle for moving are the icing on the cake.

View attachment 717521

Welcome to PID life!!!

 

[zwiller]

How long did it take you to set up the auber? I haven't started mine yet

It wasn't too bad. Have the app installed? I would play around with it. You will have some "fun". Wifi only works on 2.4Ghz band so you might have to disable 5G. Also make sure you have decent wifi strength at smoker location. Old router was weak and needed a repeater. Current one (came with the fiber) works fine as is. I did the vast majority of setup and programming without it connected to smoker. Do not leave it powered up a long time as the Auber does expect a load connected. I kept it to less than 30m.

Welcome to PID life!!!

Been PID a few years now but on a 30. Got that 40 for $100 on FB marketplace. Thanks for all the help with the tutorials and advice.