Stoker questions

I've been looking at some temp. control devices for my WSM, and I'm leaning towards the stoker, but I've got a few questions I'd like answered before I pull the trigger. I've read the review at the Naked Whiz (here), but I'd like a few things clarified, mainly to the internet control abiliites of the Stoker.

First off, can I have it connect to the internet wirelessly? My WSM is on my back porch, but my cable modem is two floors away and at the front of my house. I'm not going to run an ethernet cable from my front bedroom/office down to my living room or back porch for the Stoker, nor am I going to run probes from inside to outside. Can I hook it up to a wireless internet connection, or are there wireless probes that will connect with it?

The last question is: The internet control of this runs purely on the internet, correct? I have a Macintosh laptop, so if it's Windows only, there's no way I'll be getting it.

Thanks in advance for the help!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris W.:
First off, can I have it connect to the internet wirelessly? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Sure. You need a wireless adatper to go from wired interface on the stoker to wireless. Typical game adapters work as do wireless bridges. We have had a number of threads here on how to configure them, which one works better, etc.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">My WSM is on my back porch, but my cable modem is two floors away and at the front of my house. I'm not going to run an ethernet cable from my front bedroom/office down to my living room or back porch for the Stoker, nor am I going to run probes from inside to outside. Can I hook it up to a wireless internet connection, or are there wireless probes that will connect with it? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Per above, you can use a wireless adapter. Or do as I do. I use my in the front of the house so naturally, there is no Ethernet hook up. So I got a long cat-5 cable that string up for cooking and then put it away when done. You can string it through Windows, etc.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">The last question is: The internet control of this runs purely on the internet, correct? I have a Macintosh laptop, so if it's Windows only, there's no way I'll be getting it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Let's clarify things. Inside your home, you have a LAN which interconnects your PCs and your cable modem. You would normally be using this connection to talk to the stoker inside your house. There would be no reason or need to use the Internet connection. Indeed stoker will work just fine even if your internet connection is down. You simply need to connect the stoker to your home network and you are done.

Inetnet connection is useful if you want to access the stoker from outside the house. For example, from work. This is a lot more involved but there are are threads walking you through it.

As for using the MAC, that is fine too. To talk to the stoker you simply use a browser.

What you will be missing is my stokerlog program which only runs under Windows or Parallels on Mac. But stoker is usable without it.

Chris,

Yeah - what Amir said. You are confusing the terms "internet" and "network". The stoker connects up to your network which may or may not be connected to the internet. Most of them are though.

If you want to connect your stoker to your network wirelessly you'll need a wireless game adapter like this one:

http://shop.ebay.com/items/lin...ga54g?_dmd=1&_sop=12

There are alot of threads about how this is done and many different ways to do this. If you need any help we are here for you. I don't think there was a setup issue we haven't solved.

All that said - you don't need to control your stoker from another device. You can use the front panel if you want all though the web interface is a little easier to understand. You can get to the web interface on any machine connected to your network that has a web browser so that includes Macs as well as WiFi PDAs and such.

When you do get the unit post back telling us as there are 2 issues to be aware of:

- setting up probe calibration for the first time
- making sure the blower is "UP"

After that your ready for your first smoke.

-rob

Thanks guys. Despite working with computers for a living, I've never been network savvy - I almost always run into problems when I'm trying to set up a home network.

I'll post here when I get the unit. Thanks for all the help!

And one other thing -

Rock's is not big on customer service but they always pull through. If you order it on the site and ask questions via email you won't get responses. The only way to contact them is by phone. Your stuff will show up eventually - it always does.

Let us know if you need suggestions on blowers and specific mounts for your system.

BTW,
I'm a CCNA from way back in 2001 but I've been out of the networking field since then.

I use it with a mac and it works fine. If you have a mobile device, with a browser you can get it on that, too.

I use mine with an airport express connected to a Airport extreme.

The Windows stuff is only if you want to use Amir's program, which I recommend, only for the graphs. But if you have an Intel Mac, run bootcamp and install it. Or Parallels.

Enjoy the stoker. It ran my grill for over 30 hours at 200.

Rob, could you expand on these 2 issues you mentioned please?


- setting up probe calibration for the first time
- making sure the blower is "UP"

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">- setting up probe calibration for the first time
- making sure the blower is "UP" </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Probe calibration: The manual states that the Stoker comes preconfigured with the probe offset values already entered. These are those little numbers they give you for each probe. Mine was on a separate page in the manual. These values were not entered in my unit and therefore every probe was off by a significant amount. I read a post here about how to calibrate them using boiling water (I lost the paper with the calibration #'s). Now they are all spot on. Let me know if you want the thread for calibration. Basically put the probe in boiling water and adjust the number until it read 212 for a temp.

Blower Motor: There is a hinged valve in the blower assembly that "opens" when the air flows. Shake the motor and you can hear it. For the fan to work properly the motor needs to be in the up position.

-rob