Power on & test instructions


 
J

JeffLa

TVWBB Member
Hi,

I purchased and assembled my HeaterMeter 4.3 kit. So far I have not turned it on. I was looking around for some "bring-up" instructions or tutorial. I Have Raspberry Pi 3B with a 32G SD card. Found a 2.5A 12V power supply that fits the main Heatermeter board. Now what?

Jeff
 
I have a large size Big Green Egg. I want to make a damper, but don't have that yet. I bought a BBQ Guru Pit viper and an adapter for the Egg, but I'm regretting that now since I learned about the damper route. I may try to return them.

Thanks,

Jeff



WBegg said:
Try the bosses instructions. https://github.com/CapnBry/HeaterMeter/wiki/HeaterMeter-4.x-Software

What kind of smoker are you using? Have you purchased or built a fan or fan/damper?

There are plenty of people here to get you started on your settings to suit your specific smoker/setup.
Click to expand...
 
I'd go with a fan/damper if you have an egg. The advantage is you can set the HM to run damper only, and have the fan kick on if it's needed. Kamados are so efficient, it's probably overkill with a viper fan only, plus the viper has no way to exclude natural draft other than the "sliding door", but that's manual.

There are plenty of Damper/Fan designs here to investigate to include the Adapt-a-Damper, MicroDamper, RotoDamper RD3, Offset Rotary, Barrel Servo, Flat Damper .... and the list goes on.

Good luck

EDIT: Regarding PID settings, start with the stock numbers. They'll probably be fine.
If you want to try it with the Guru fan, and supposing it's the 10 CFM one, I wouldn't run it any more than 30% max. You can set this in the configuration. Just set max fan speed to 30%.

Remember to start with a small fire. I use 1/2 a lighter cube, and once burned out, let the HM bring the coals up to temp. Start with the top damper about half open, and when you get to about 50 degrees below set temp, then close to a bit more than a sliver.
 
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One question on these instructions. I am using the Raspberry Pi 3B which has an integrated WIFI adapter. Is this firmware the right one for that integrated adapter? Also I read some info on the HeaterMeter 4.3 post about the firmware not being fully ready for the Pi 3B. I also read posts that said there is software for the Pi 3B so I'm not sure about it really. Is this the right firmware for the Raspberry Pi that I have?

Thanks much!
Jeff
 
The RPi 3 has different firmware you need to download. If you download the normal image for the HM, it will not load when you plug it in for the first time.

I use the 4.3 with a Pi 3 and have had no issues, as a matter of fact, I've had less issues connecting to network than with other pi versions with a WiFi dongle attached.

Not sure where I got the image. I always get confused as to where the software is. Maybe, hopefully Steve or Brian can answer this question. Would be great to have a post with all links defined.
 
Hi,

I loaded the firmware to the SD card and also edited the WIFI settings in the config file (SSID and PSK) and powered up the virgin unit. I got a display saying: PIT: 20 F (100%) - So far so good.

However, the Raspberry Pi 3B is not connecting to my WIFI. I looked at my router and don't see it connected as a client. So ow I have connected the system through HDMI to my TV with a keyboard and mouse and was going to try to configure the WIFI, but it seems there is no GUI and none of the commands I found on the web for setting up WIFI seem to work in this image. Any ideas on how to proceed?

Also during boot, I see a warning that I should run FSCK, but that also does not seem to be present in the image.

[EDIT] - I am making some progress - I conncted to my router using Ethernet and I can talk to the HeaterMeter. Not sure how to use the interface yet to configure WIFI. Will report back.

:-(


Thanks,

Jeff
 
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OK got into the WEBUI via Ethernet and through that interface I got the WIFI to work. The radio was disabled. I can't seem to save changes though. I think when I power this thing off it will lose all the changes I've made through the WebUI.

Jeff
 
Guys,

I got everything working now as far as I can take it until I get a damper and a Thermocouple. Maybe I did something wrong, but I found that the instructions did not work for me. Editing the config file was not sufficient for getting WIFI to connect. I had to connect the HeaterMeter to my router with an Ethernet cable in order to get into the WEBUI. Once I got in, I saw that the WIFI radio was disabled. I had to enable it and then search for my network and set it up in the WEBUI before I could get it to work.

Also - the delay before the HeaterMeter shows up on http://heatermeter.com/devices/ is more like an hour than 10 minutes. There is an entry there for the Ethernet connection that is now invalid because I had initially set it up using Ethernet. Will that eventually disappear or do I need to delete something somewhere to make it go away?

Best regards,

Jeff
 
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