New member but still smoke free

[AKTundra]

Newbie here from Soldotna AK.  I've been reading a lot of posts and trying to learn as much as possible before I get my smoker.  I should get it in about a week and a half right after I go to work, so I won't be able to use it for 3 weeks.  Answering another post,  this forum did contribute a lot to my purchase decision, as it must be an excellent product with so many happy customers.  If I hadn't have stumbled across SI, I would have ended up with a MES 40.  But I'm a glutton for quality, and if anything is worth doing its probably worth overdoing, thus the SI #3  It wouldn't be fitting for an instrument tech to use adjustable power discrete control so of course I'll be using the Auber PID electronic analog controller.  I look forward to learning how to smoke all kinds of meat from salmon, pork, jerky, and sausage, and this forum seems like an excellent place to be schooled.  Hopefully one day I'll be able to add to the knowledge base.

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[BedouinBob]

Tundra, if you are a glutton for quality you will love the smoker. Built really well.

[smokeasaurus]

There are a bunch of happy MES owners out there. However, Smokin-It is a lifetime purchase. Good move crying once 

While I would usually say "congratulations" on being smoke free......not in this case 

Hope you get to using your Smokin-It asap 

[drains]

Welcome from Texas Tundra! I did the masterbuilt thing and returned it when it died in the middle of smoking some pork butts. Ordered my #3 and haven't had any problems. You wont regret your decision.

[swthorpe]

Welcome from Delaware...you have found the right place!   Like you, I was looking around and considering different smoker options, and fell onto the smokin-in site.   Best decision I could have made, and been smoking with the #2 for now more than 2 years! 

[AKTundra]

I have never even bought a Boston, But, I'm thinking pulled pork will be my first meal.

[swthorpe]

Good choice...will give your #3 a good start!

[DivotMaker]

Welcome to Club Lazy Q, Tundra!  How about a first name, and town in AK, in your signature line?  We kinda like to know our new friends!

If you're a techy, you'll love the SI 3/Auber combination!  Not sure what you mean by Auber PID electronic analog controller, but hopefully you can educate me!  I consider it a digital controller, but correct me if I'm wrong.  Here's the way I understand the difference, and again, correct me if I'm wrong:  The stock controller, on the SI, it analog, because it uses direct conversion from one form to another, i.e., it sends the temperature sensor data to the controller and either turns it "on" or "off."  There is no "middle ground."  The Auber, on the other hand, does use analog components, but it controls them with discrete calculations, so I guess it's really more of a hybrid system than true "digital."  Because the Auber compares the P, I and D values set, and adjusts the output power accordingly, I would not consider it a analog system.  I may be totally wrong, and I hope you set me straight, if I am!  Bottom line, though?  Your Auber will hold box temps within 1-2°, whereas the stock analog controller will have 10-20° swings.  Ain't technology great??!

I look forward to great discussions from you, and wish you the best with your new #3!!

[AKTundra]

I  would like to preface this with the fact that I really just enjoy this stuff and aren’t trying to be argumentative.  I’ve been wrong before and I’ll be wrong again.

The problem is that the use of the words, digital and discrete, are sometimes interchangeable and sometimes not.  While technically the Auber may be a digital controller in that it uses microprocessors to read its input and calculate its output, and has a digital display, we can almost fully describe the type of controller without the use of the word digital, and instead use electric (as opposed to pneumatic).  Specifically in the context of the type of control being used, digital isn’t a word that helps define the type of control unless our system is using some digital communication protocol (Modbus, Hart, Profibus ect).  The important distinction is weather or not we are using discrete or analog control.  I suppose it’s a bit of semantics, but control loops (temp, press, level, flow) are usually either discrete (on / off) or analog (variable output).   Without a SI #3 wiring diagram I can’t be certain, but with the stock control we will be adjusting the current through the heating element with a rheostat depending on our desired setpoint and our temperature element in conjunction with some kind of a thermostat (switch) will either open or close the circuit to run that “set” current to the element.  Although the amount of current is adjustable via the knob (analog rheostat), the heating element being either on or off is “discrete control.”  With the Auber we continually adjust the amount of current (our analog output) being sent to the heating element based on offset (error, difference between TE value and the temp setpoint) and control parameters PID. The Proportional parameter is basically How Much temperature Range from the TE will cause the controller to go from no power output to full power output.  The Integral parameter is how often the controller repeats the calculation to update its output if there is an offset.  The Derivative parameter is where the rate of change of the temperature affects the magnitude of the controllers output .  All this to say you can have a digital or non-digital, discrete controller (the thermostat in your house) or a more advanced controller that has an analog output to vary some control element with either P PI PD or PID control.  That advanced controller may or may not be digital but that piece of information is inconsequential to the type of control its doing.

[DivotMaker]

Very interesting, Jayson!  Thanks for taking the time to educate us.  I love this stuff!  I don't have the scientific/technical background of lots of folks here, but I certainly get what you are talking about.  You'll be our new "go to" tech guy!