bbq smoker experiment

[hifonic200]

Hi, Im new to the board...forgive me for some of my questions...Im a fabricator and mech engineer with a little electrical knowlege...Im not so good with the software part of it
Im intrested in rigging my bbq smoker with a temperture control unit, I will be using a small fan to fuel a wood fire...I originally found the 7100 on ebay and that looked to be what i need, but after surfing this forum it seems everone is using the jld612, what makes that unit so popular?

im assuming I would need in addition to the controller is a relay and a :k: type thermocouple, and a fan of course but is there anything else circuit wise I would need?

also, im assuming the dual display shows the target temp and the current temp

thank you in advance to your insight, im looking forward to your suggestions

[richiem]

The 612 cones with a K thermocouple. A smallish, say 10 amp, solid state relay (SSR) will work well to control the small fan you'll be using and offers better overall control than a mechanical relay. The 612 drives an SSR directly, which makes it the controller of choice for a lot of us.

Yes, the display shows the target temp and the actual temp measured by the thermocouple. If you've been reading the posts here, you'll know that the 612 is set for using a platinum RTD sensor as default, even though it comes with a K thermocouple, so you will have to change settings before using it.

I think you have a tricky control situation given the heat source. Good luck.

[hifonic200]

yea I figured it will take ALOT of adjusting once i get it hooked up
I didnt realize that the 612 came with a thermocouple....thats good news

[hifonic200]

is the size of this unit correct? 48mmx48mm? thats way smaller than it looks in the picture....thats like 1.88"x1.88"

[Tech_Marco]

ha..ha.. it's 48mm... may be I should charge more for it's compact size

Marco

[hifonic200]

haha, no price is good

Is there anyway to hook this thing up to an external display? sure would like a bigger display so I dont have to get right up on it to see the temperture

ha..ha.. it's 48mm... may be I should charge more for it's compact size

Marco

[Tech_Marco]

Not at this time. But I'm going to ask my engineer to desgin an interface card so that it may be able to disply both setting on a LCD display with back light. LED is good for indoor or at night, but under daylight, you can't see it. However, LCD don't have that problem as long as backlight installed.

Coming year, I'll launch a lot of LCD (dot matric) product, from volt meter, current meter to power meter. Plus, I'm planning to desgin a power meter with KW-Hr function and all done on a dot matric display or a 3.5" LCD. It should looks cool!

Need more support from your guys. Buy more and let me save some money to start new projects. Some buyers on eBay try to squaze my price to $25 for the JLD612. If so, I'm not only having trouble with getting enough funds for the products but I may need to file BK They may not known that brand name PID controller cost $180~200 each!

[richiem]

I have found the display to be highly readable from up to 20' away, but I have mine shaded from direct sunlight. Shouldn't be too hard to keep it visible with a shade or a neutral density (gray) filter -- it's plenty bright.

[Tech_Marco]

Rich:

You must got a super eyes. (ha..ha..) I donet laser surgery on my eyes but I can't see that far! Hmm... I must talk to my Dr. and asked him to give me 10/10 opr 5/5

Happy New Year

Marco