Watch my live smoke session

[TmanEater]

http://bbq.tonylyne.com


I'm cooking spare ribs today. I'm using the food probe for the smoker temp monitoring since I don't have the smoker thermocouple mods ready yet. At least this shows the ups and downs of the smoke realtime!  :-)

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[old sarge]

Well, that was certainly interesting. For some insane reason, I expected to see a video from a snake cam pushed through the exhaust.  However, the chart did look interesting and reflects some hard work on your part.  Thanks for sharing.

[TmanEater]

Not much hard work... but fun nonetheless. Interesting to see box temp oscillations plotted live.  Shows the analog controller performance for now. Hopefully a few more weeks I'll start getting ready for PID control operations.

[DivotMaker]

Now that's pretty cool!  I expected something different, too, Dave!

[TmanEater]

I just modified with some pics to the original post of this thread. I'm also running it on batteries as a test.

[DivotMaker]

I notice the temp swings are about +/- 25°; any way to fix that?  Is this unit tunable?  Might as well use the stock controller for that accuracy!

[TmanEater]

Tony - I'm still on the analog stock controller. I haven't modified the smoker yet for PID control with the HM. I'm waiting a few weeks for some warmer weather and making sure I have all the parts I'll need to get it going. I'll be sure to post a follow-up of PID control when I get it all done. I'll also provide the pics of the smoker mods I make.

This was just a first presentation of watching the smoke from the comfort of my warm house. It was like 10º outside. My goals of this test run were to see how the battery pack (8 - AA's) performed while powering my HM controller feeding sensor inputs to a live webpage being continuously monitored during the smoke.

Here's my preliminary battery analysis:
I ordered the 2.1x5.5mm Plug Batteries Case Box w Cover for 8 x 1.5V AA Battery and did a HM battery test today. I smoked spare ribs and kept the HM on battery power ~7.2 hours (outside temp ~10ºF). I only had one probe hooked up to monitor the the internal smoker temp. I had 8 brand new AA NiMH batteries (Powerex 2700mah/2500mah minimum). I broke the batteries in with my MH-C9000 charger before the test and measured the charge capacity on each battery before the test. I will use the same charger to report how much capacity they accept on a follow-up recharge.

I should note I had LCD backlight at 3% for ~5 hours and 50% ~2 hours. Had client(s) connected to web interface almost 100% of the time to monitor.

Start (8-pack) combined voltage = 11.03V
Battery 1 capacity = 2553 mAh
Battery 2 capacity = 2529 mAh
Battery 3 capacity = 2522 mAh
Battery 4 capacity = 2484 mAh
Battery 5 capacity = 2532 mAh
Battery 6 capacity = 2528 mAh
Battery 7 capacity = 2552 mAh
Battery 8 capacity = 2508 mAh

Finish (8-pack) combined voltage = 10.36V
(recharged at 1300mAh via MH-C9000)
Battery 1 capacity accepted via recharge = 834 mAh
Battery 2 capacity accepted via recharge = 895 mAh
Battery 3 capacity accepted via recharge = 909 mAh
Battery 4 capacity accepted via recharge = 868 mAh
Battery 5 capacity accepted via recharge = 772 mAh
Battery 6 capacity accepted via recharge = 826 mAh
Battery 7 capacity accepted via recharge = 840 mAh
Battery 8 capacity accepted via recharge = 804 mAh

Overall I think the battery pack worked pretty good. It sat nicely on my smoker as follows:

[BedouinBob]

Cool rig Tony! I can't wait to see how the PID version comes out!

[Pork Belly]

Nice work. I think that image that clearly shows the swings and rhythm of the heating cycle should be posted in a separate thread in the beginner section. All to often new owners are freaking out because their unit in not perfectly at the set temp.

[swthorpe]

+1  great suggestion.

[DivotMaker]

Good to hear about the progress, Tony!  I thought the graph was HM stats - sorry.

[1stlink]

I'm a day late for the show but very impressed Tony. I'll be watching for your updates.. 

[TmanEater]

My inaugural run is underway and the PID controls are just starting to kick into action.


http://bbq.tonylyne.com