Successful MES brain transplant! Plug and Play replacement controller = Full PID + Cellular contro

[jr_ece]

J jr_ece thanks for clarifying the order.

The 4 pin controller has no LIGHT button.

I'm still trying to get my head around the STOVE-T signal. When you say thermostat above, do you mean the (high temp cut-off) thermal switch? And by probe, do you mean the temp sensor on the back wall, or the meat probe (my smoker has both). I read somewhere that the power to the element was wired through that switch, but maybe it's different on this model?

It's still not clear to me how controller gets the temperature reading from the temp probe on the back wall.

I made my own simple controller with an Arduino and a thermocouple/max6675 board. No PID control, I need a bit of fluctuation to get smoke.

MM2021,
Ah, so the light is the missing line.

Yes, STOVE-T is the label on the Power Board (see one of my post above for pic) that runs through out and through the high temp cut-off. I've had both the Power Board and Controller on the bench to troubleshoot. It's a 5V signal that is sent through the cut off and then to the control board from what I could determine.

My unit also has the temperature sensor on the back wall and meat probe hanging inside. I've done nothing with the meat probe to this point since I have a Maverick 4 probe unit to measure temps. It's a good question. There are few options here it seems, but I believe the 2 wire connector would have to be the back wall sensor although I have not confirmed it.

 

[MM2021]

The two wire connector is from the meat probe. I pulled it out so I could install my own sensor inside the smoker. I may switch back to using the probe on the back wall if I can figure out how to read it.

 

[jr_ece]

The two wire connector is from the meat probe. I pulled it out so I could install my own sensor inside the smoker. I may switch back to using the probe on the back wall if I can figure out how to read it.

Interesting. I'll have to look at the info I captured for my smoker to see if I can figure out where the back wall temp sensor is tied in. With you confirming the 2 wire is the meat probe then STOVE-T would have to be the input to the controller, right?

Hmm. This would also mean that my thermostat has also failed shorted since it went well over 300 degs when my Power Board failed. Will need to do some further testing and tracing signals now that is appears I missed this when repairing the Power Board.

 

[jr_ece]

I wanted to follow up with an answer for anyone following this thread. The STOVE-T has 5V applied by the power board (shown above) that then runs through the thermostat and finally routed up to the control panel where it monitors this signal for open/close. From a quick test, the control panel beeps and kicks off the heating element relay when 5V is present indicating the thermostat closed due to an overheating condition. You can see the 2 pin header that runs out to the thermostat. By looking at the back of the power board one can see the STOVE-T and +5V signals (shown in pic above) are simply routed from/to the 5 pin header that routes to the control panel.

Hope this helps someone.

Quick update. Based on MM2021s work, my earlier post is not accurate at least for his unit which I believe is very close to mine except no light in his model. So, in this case the thermostat must be wired inline to the AC line running to the heating element. I don't recall why but originally thought this was not the case with my unit. It makes sense now that it must be that way as others confirmed for similar models.

 

[MM2021]

Actually I've got a mismatch of parts: the smoker itself has five + two pins. The original controller failed and I ended up with four pin controller that I haven't figured out how to connect.

 

[jr_ece]

Actually I've got a mismatch of parts: the smoker itself has five + two pins. The original controller failed and I ended up with four pin controller that I haven't figured out how to connect.

I probably didn't state things as clearly as I should have, but mainly wanted to correct my post so I don't trip someone in the future.

 

[jr_ece]

J jr_ece thanks for clarifying the order.
I made my own simple controller with an Arduino and a thermocouple/max6675 board. No PID control, I need a bit of fluctuation to get smoke.

I am really thinking about putting together an Arduino controller or following Tiros Esp8266 micro controller setup. I've also thought about looking into a PID (Inkbird on Amazon?) that would work with the built in Power Board. But, if it takes circuitry to make it work with everything then I might as well go the custom controller route and keep it low cost.

This is mainly due to the display failing on my controller. I can count button pushes/beeps and get close to what I want, but it gets old after awhile.

 

[jr_ece]

Actually I've got a mismatch of parts: the smoker itself has five + two pins. The original controller failed and I ended up with four pin controller that I haven't figured out how to connect.

Based on what I learned from a power board that mates with a 4 pin controller the pin ordering is the same minus the light signal. This could mean the actual pin numbers are renumbered from my 5 pin controller. Regardless, here are how the pins are labeled and ordered on the power board:

Power Board connectors
4 pin connector - connects to controller
-- +5V (to controller)
-- TEMP (back wall temp probe -- sends varying amount of voltage to controller based on temperature?)
-- GND (to controller)
-- HEAT (+5V from controller closes relay on power board, turns on 120VAC element)

2 pin connector - connects to back wall temperature probe <-- concluded in thread above
-- TEMP (back wall temp probe -- returns varying amount of voltage to power board based on temperature?)
-- +5V (out to back wall temp probe)

As mentioned previously, the power board (the copper trace can be seen) simply ties TEMP to TEMP and +5V to +5V between the 2 pin connector and 5 pin connector on the 5 pin power board. This is assumed to be the same for the 4 pin since they are nearly identical designs.

NOTE: My assumption for the back wall temp probe (or sensor) is based on our discussion above that TEMP (or STOVE-T on 5 pin) is the back wall temperature probe (not the AC thermal cutoff switch). I am going to see if I can make time to characterize this signal a bit while in operation at different temperatures.

Conclusion, I think you can wire the 4 pins directly to the the 5 pin connector (minus light signal) as long as the back wall temp probes are the same specs or at least very close.