ThermPro TempSpike XR Not Charging Properly and No Support

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Hi All,

Back in October 24, in part based on the experiences documented here in the forum, I bought a ThermPro TempSpike XR meat thermometer. I bought it because it's completely wireless and ideal for monitoring box and meat temperatures when rotisserie cooking. I used it once last Thanksgiving and it worked great. Then, last July, I went to use it again and the batteries were dead in the probes. I charged the base unit with the probes inserted for several hours. At that point, the base unit seemed fully charged but the the probes were still charging, according to the indicator. I went ahead and used it anyway and, sure enough, the battery went dead in one of the probes and I had to mess around with other thermometers to finish my cook.

I wrote to ThermPro right away at their email address seeking their assistance and I'm still waiting for a response. So, I tried sending a text message to their support group tonight to see if I could get any response. Nothing so far but it's only been three hours.

I'm planning to rotisserie cook/smoke a turkey next week for Thanksgiving. Last Thanksgiving, the TempSpike worked flawlessly and the turkey turned out great. I was hoping I could get the unit working again, but I can't seem to. I've re-set it, re-paired the probes, and no joy.

Has anyone experienced a similar problem? Were you able to fix it? Did you have any luck contacting ThermPro support?

If I can't get this thing working in the next day or two, I'll buy a new one if I can find something to work with my rotisserie. In that case, one thing is certain: I won't buy another ThermPro product.

Thanks for any help.

 

[912smoker]

Hate to hear you're having an issue.
I did a warranty claim but can't remember for certain if I called or emailed them on their warranty page. They did call me and verified the model number and probably and sent another hand held that arrived in 2 days. Excellent service from the was my experience.

Keith

 

[normanaj]

I own several of their products and all have worked flawlessly. My only experience with their CS was for replacement probes for my wired units and that was taken care of immediately.

I have two TempSpike Plus units. One gets used on a weekly basis now for almost a year with no issues. I will say this you need to use the charging cable that came with the unit, other cables may or may not work and I found this out the hard way. Other than that I would wait a little longer on their CS to contact you.

 

[Parshooter]

I have that model. Takes FOREVER to charge. That's the only gripe I have.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I had been swapping in different cables and charging "bricks" to see if doing so charged the probes. Last night I switched back to the cable that came with the unit together with a brick from one of my old cell phones. I left it connected to the unit for about 8 hours and, finally, the probes indicated fully charged. For good measure, I left it on the charger overnight. It's still showing fully charged. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with my choice of cable, but I won't argue with success. Thanks for the suggestion!

I got a couple automated blips linking useless information from their support group last night, but I'll wait awhile longer to see if they reply. It may be "normal" for unit to take a very long time to charge the base and probes. I've read the manual a couple times, and I don't recall seeing anything about how long it takes to charge.

I'll post up if I get any additional information.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I have that model. Takes FOREVER to charge. That's the only gripe I have.

Aha! Thank you!

Does it discharge while sitting in the box between cooks? I could be wrong, but it seems like mine does.

 

[Parshooter]

Aha! Thank you!

Does it discharge while sitting in the box between cooks? I could be wrong, but it seems like mine does.

I really don't know. I don't smoke every weekend. Sometimes it's a couple weeks between smokes. It's never died during use. Last smoke was about 13 hours long and it worked the entire time. I don't remember if I smoked the weekend before that or not. I'll try to remember to plug it in to check the charge status before my next smoke.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I really don't know. I don't smoke every weekend. Sometimes it's a couple weeks between smokes. It's never died during use. Last smoke was about 13 hours long and it worked the entire time. I don't remember if I smoked the weekend before that or not. I'll try to remember to plug it in to check the charge status before my next smoke.

I went 6 months between cooks with mine (I only use it when I rotisserie cook). I think I charged the batteries before I put it up in November '24 after using it for only about 3 hours, and they were all dead (base plus probes) when I went to use it again in July '25. That's when I tried to charge it and it never completely charged, maybe because I didn't let it go along enough.

I've got one of ThermPro's support staff interested, finally, and I'll ask what the charge time expectation should be. I think they're willing to replace the unit, but if it's performing to spec, I'll just keep it and remember to charge if overnight before attempting to use it.

 

[chopsaw]

Does it discharge while sitting in the box between cooks?

I don't have that exact therm , but I would say they all do . Need to get them out a couple days ahead and get them charged up to be ready to use .
Another thing is most of the higher end therms I have say to use the charging cable and plug that came with the unit . No old cell phone chargers , as the output voltages are different .
Use what came with it , and let it go until it shows full charge .

Just for reference , I have a signals , wired and air probe 2 and a temp spike wireless .
They all need an overnight charge before using them on long smokes .

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I don't have that exact therm , but I would say they all do . Need to get them out a couple days ahead and get them charged up to be ready to use .
Another thing is most of the higher end therms I have say to use the charging cable and plug that came with the unit . No old cell phone chargers , as the output voltages are different .
Use what came with it , and let it go until it shows full charge .

Just for reference , I have a signals , wired and air probe 2 and a temp spike wireless .
They all need an overnight charge before using them on long smokes .

I was finally able to chat with one of their support folks and he or she said that 8 hours was not an unreasonable charge time. I've decided to keep the unit and do as you suggest -- charge it overnight before using it.

Just a couple quick further notes on this model: It comes with a cable with USB-A on one end and USB-C on the other. USB-C fits into the base unit and USB-A is meant to plug in to "any USB charger" (with a USB-A port). I guess the thermometer is smart enough to manage whatever wattage (?) is delivered to it by whatever charger you use. Also, the probes are charged by the base unit, and evidently will charge (and discharge the base unit) when you finish using it and store the probes in the base unit. So, I guess it will continue to charge the probes until they're fully charged or until the base unit completely discharges when you've stored it away.

 

[dr k]

My XR Tempspike white probe just kept scrolling 24 hours so I called them and they sent me a new unit through Amazon like the one I originally received. Both units, the base and probes were dead when I received them, but were paired so make sure they are paired before the probe drain or no charging with unpaired probes which is why they send the whole unit vs just a replacement probe. The original base lasts 3 months but had the defective white probe that would drain the base, continuously scrolling. I paired it to the other base since the first base lasts longer and just let it drain so I have the black in the 2nd base only and the dead white in a drawer as a back up which I'll probably never use again but is paired. I optimized the best lasting base with the best lasting black and white probes. I use these for chxn pieces, being shorter and the Thermomaven G2 is like the RFX Thermoworks 5 sensors in the stem but has a sixth sensor for ambient temp. It's a stand alone display sub 1Ghz to the base like RFX or with the phenomenal or Wifi. All three going at the same time with wifi. It goes by the lowest temp of the five in the stem and has an algorithm of the lowest stem temp and the ambient temp to give you an estimated time, a 5 minute alert you can customize, a pull alert and a rest time to carry over to your doneness temp. You can turn all that off from a Smart cook to manual to just be alerted to a set temp, but the smart mode can be set to just a set temp like maual or also an extensive list of species and preset temps/doneness. The ambient temp will always be lower than actual cooker temp, being in close proximity to the meat, evaporative cooling of surface meat and conductive absorption of heat being in meat as a heat sink with any spike therms. That's why Therrmoworks never bothered with an ambient sensor and has an independent cabled one connected to the base which I don't want to leave outside with spike technology. That's the point with spikes, cables. 2 minute spike charge in the base = 2 hour run charge up to 40 hours per spike and base is 24 hour fully charged or keep it plugged in to go longer running/charging. Thermomaven is a Typhur product that Thermoworks compared to their RFX with an older non comparible model. Thermomaven's fixed one second transmission to the receiver for sub 1 Ghz rf Bluetooth 40 hour spike or wifi app vs setting RFX Thermoworks to minute intervals and not getting the 50 hour proclaimed duration. I love both my spike therms. It's all about the built in Lith Ion batteries and how long they can charge and discharge after the warranty expires. You have to bury the stems to the minimum lines on the stem to use the meat as a heat sink to protect the battery and PCB in the stem so chops and chxn pieces with the Thermopro XR shorter stem and the Thermomaven longer 5 sensor stem smart cook with turkey breast, roasts and steaks. Call Themopro regarding the XR. Go to Amazon and look up the orange border Thermomaven G2 not the red border original P2 that has the shorter range maybe from not being sub 1Ghz rf. I love my Thermopro XR but isn't close to the G2 Thermo = greek for temp and Maven = expert in their field. Stupid name, brilliant product and the price is right unlike the RFX with alkaline batteries. I've been a tester of therms for a couple of decades and just recently bought the Thermapen One, being $69.00 this black Friday month because it's not close to the 2 second and less 10 year old Lava Tools Thermowand now Javalin lifetime warranty compared to the Thermapen that isn't made by Thermoworks and by Electronic Temperature instruments, Ltd. in Worthing, UK. I just added it to my testing collection. There's a lot of BS out there so you have to do your discovery work to find the truth which I'm continuously doing with testing. The one's around the longest have been lying the longest and are being beat and don't reflect their value on warranty/price. There's a reason Thermoworks has a recalibration department on their Thermapen Classic models thermocouple vs thermistors. My favorite value instant read therm that has all the features of the Thermapen One is the Inkbird IHT-1S which is $16.99 for black Friday deals. I'd rather scatter five of these around for the price of a Thermapen One.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Quick update: ThermoPro insists on replacing my XR, so although it took awhile for me to make effective contact with them, I have to give them props for their support.

Unless they require me to send my "old" unit back to them, I'll use it for Thanksgiving assuming it needs at least 8 hours to charge beforehand. I do suspect, though, that at least one of my probes is defective, which is causing the battery in the base to discharge rapidly while not in use.

As I said, I do like this unit for rotisserie cooking. Now I can also say that I'm pleased with ThermoPro's support.