Wifi smoker controllers

[gersus]

Has anyone used one of the temp controllers that use a wifi signal so you can control the settings from a PC or smartphone? Like bbqguru sells.
The techy side of me thinks it would be really cool to be able to check temps and alter settings from my phone while I'm at work or wherever :)
I'd use it in my smokehouse running a 1500w electric burner for smokin up bacon and sausage. Never anything above 170F.
Thanks, looking forward to hearing others experiences.

 

[pops6927]

Haven't heard about it myself, but it doesn't sound like a bad idea!  Keep us posted!

 

[billandkids]

I have a bcs 460 i use for brewing beer. It might be more than you need, but it works great. http://www.embeddedcontrolconcepts.com/ They have a ipad app for use with a phone, but i like using my laptop better.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[hexis]

I'm a big fan of my Stoker.  It's not the WiFi model, but it has wired ethernet (so I ran a cable out to it). The current model has a WiFi interface as well.

For remote access I run a web app called StokerWeb on my desktop which gives me historical graphing an user auth (so friends can see a read-only interface).  The StokerWeb web interface is all HTML5 so it works well on my iOS devices (iPhone/iPad).  I also poked a hole in the firewall to allow access from the outside world so I can get at it if I'm out and about.  It also does some nice logging for post cook analysis.

The Stoker is a nice expandable controller.  I wired up a "blower" output to a relay and have been able to control a heating element for water bath for sous vide cooking with very good accuracy.  Since the stoker can handle multiple inputs and outputs I can run the BGE and Sous Vide bath at the same time.  I also have a whole mess of monitor probes, so I can individually monitor many pieces (or even multiple positions in the meat).  It's not super cheap, but it's very flexible.

My primary complaint (other than cost) is that interacting with the Stoker itself is excruciatingly slow.  The native web interface is utterly simplistic, no historical data, nothing complex to render.  Despite it's simplicity, it's super slow.  StokerWeb (which has to run on an external computer) helps a lot since it's just logging data from the stoker and rendering it on the external machine.