Noob Quetion Help Me impress


 
J

Jon Zoss

New member
Well.. I am 98% sure I am going to build one of these.. They look awesome. I have decided to go HeaterMeter instead of the Stoker. Also my 2 buddies who also have the BGE bought the Stoker, so I need to make then jealous.


So.. a few questions.

1. What is Servo Mode, and do I want it?
2. I would love to make it water proof. Any suggestions?
3. Anyone know of killer features HeaterMeter has over the Stoker? I hear the Stoker interface is wicked slow.
4. Is the Fan powered of the RCA cable?
5. I hear talk of the Auber Blower Fan is that worth it?

Thanks
 
Servo mode supports a setup where you use a servo motor to open/close a damper on the smoker to control the temp, as opposed to using a blower.

As for nice looking and functional water proof, haven't conquered that yet. At this point I am still running my HM without a case, so I put it inside a disposable tupperware container, poked a hole in the back/bottom to let the leads out. I keep the hole facing down and it is pretty much water proof, but NOT pretty....

I have no experience with the Stoker, but the interface of the HM with the Raspberry Pi is nice and fast.

The standard fan setup is indeed an RCA jack/cable. If you don't like that you can put whatever kind of jack on the board you want.

IDK anything about the Auber Blower Fan, but it sounds expensive. The blower that is on the BOM for the HM is inexpensive, it's pretty small, but it blows plenty hard to stoke a fire in most any pit. If you have a monster pit you might want to look at a bigger fan, otherwise the little blower on the HM BOM should serve you just fine.

IDK what a Stoker with an Auber Blower will set you back, but I'm guessing it's quite a bit more than the HM + rPi.... I think that should be on the top of your list of talking points to make them jealous!
 
I have both a Stoker and a Heatermeter. They both work great. Only "killer feature" of heater meter over Stoker is the interface. To get the same interface, which is Stokerlog, you have to have Stokerlog running on a computer receiving data from beginning to end of cook. The Stoker is a first class piece of equipment in all respects, metal case, high quality probes, quality blower, multiple pits etc... It has worked flawlessly for me for 4 years. That being said, after only a few cooks on my heatermeter, I think I will try to sell my Stoker this fall as I am a backyard BBQer so I only need 1 ATC and I REALLY like the heatermeter. The Heatermeter interface is perfect in my opinion plus the fact I can say I built it myself.
 
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