Ahhhhh I get it now. Basically turning it into an on off circuit with a limit switch and kicking off the controller. It was cool to have the stock functionality, but the pid controls look so much more reliable and accurate. The Auber is a nice unit, little pricey right now during this virus climate, but that seems to be the right idea. Read up on cheapies from ebay noooo way.
Looked at the posted transformers, definitely from China, but they need a minimum of 30k orders LOL!
With the basket and chips I was thinking about getting a fan on the side vent and leaving the top vent to circulate smoke and air or is that a little much?
I think u are getting it. With the rewire I posted and using an Auber PID you plug it all up, enter the set temp on the pid, and put the temp probe into the MES (I use an alligator clip probe so i can move it if/as needed), and you are ready to rock!
After the rewire chips willy likely NOT work at all in the chip basket even with a fan. Once the PID gets the smoker up to temp it will then tightly control and hold the temp which means that the heating element will NOT be on long enough to really burn up your chips. The stock behavior of the MES controller is to "overshoot" the set temp specifically to get enough heat on the chips to burn them. With the PID you don't get that behavior.
Don't worry though, there is an approach that is 100X better for producing smoke. It produces better smoke for longer AND for less money :D
If you use the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker tray (or tube) with wood pellets you get perfect hassle free smoke for up to 12 hours! (3hrs if u use the tube)
Home Depot also sells it.
You use wood pellets like these (Lumberjack is 100% of the wood on label unless its a blend, which it clearly calls out):
You can roll with the tray and pellets directly in the MES like some guys or you can build a "Mailbox Mod" like other guys do (I do this).
Either way u can separate heat and smoke production so u get the best bbq results possible and your MES will finally be able to do everything like truley cold smoke bacon/cheese/salmon lox, hot smoke bacon, sausage, and ground sandwich meats cause you can tightly control temps to avoid melting fats, etc. etc.
I hope all this info helps!
My bad. Need the Solid State Relay and cooling fins.
Thinking goes like this:
1. Hardwire the heat element as described elsewhere
2. Install new thermocouple into the smoker somewhere (ideas?)
3. Install PID into new housing.
4. Install SSR and connect heater element
5. Connect PID to the SSR
6. Connect PID to the thermocouple
7. Plug in and good to go.
Looks like about $100 worth of parts
Thansk guys! Love this place..........
Hi there and welcome Watson!
If you are going to build a PID you would need all that stuff.
You may not need a fan for the SSR but would need a heat sink that is exposed to the outside air or something like that to drop the heat off efficiently.
If you can build a PID for $100 and have the tools, supplies, and know how then go for it.
What I have found is that the Auber Plug and Play PIDs are a little bit cheaper than building one from scratch if you don't have tools, supplies, and extra parts to make building cheaper. I looked at this in details a number of times.
Honestly the most expensive and annoying part is finding a suitable housing that will fit everything, allow you to ground the wiring if need be, AND allow for simpler tools (dremel, etc.) to easily work the box into shape for everything u plan to hook into/inside/outside of it.
To answer your thermocouple question, I found that simply going with an alligator cliped probe and just running it through the vent has been the best approach for me. It allows for maximum flexibility in placing it to get your system dialed in super well.
Everything else you list sounds good just MAKE SURE you get an SSR that can easily handle the amperage (25A is a good one) as well as switches and fuses that are not cheap chinese crap that burn up no matter their ratings. I finally got pissed off at my rocker switches from China and bought a 100A marine boat breaker switch as my on off switch for my built PID unit so I knew it would not burn up hahaha.
Let us know how u decide to go and I'm sure a number of us can give you our 2 cents and our lessons learned so u can skip over some problems you don't need to run into :)
