Who uses the Guru 12V adapter?


 
R

r tapia

TVWBB Member
And what do you use to power it? Cigarette lighter in the truck? Car battery? Marine battery? One of those rechargable jump start things?

I have the 25cfm blower, 1 pit probe, and 1 food probe and I need a 12V source to power it long enough to cook briskets. I am leaning toward one of the rechargable jump starters, assuming it will work. At least that way I get a secondary use out of it.

** Edited the title and changed Stoker to Guru.
 
I don't have the 12v adapter, but I would imagine that the jump starter would work fine. The Stoker controller would draw very little power by itself. the blower would be the main draw but also very small. I would think the jumpstarter would more than last for the entire cook.
If I was to get the adapter that is what I would use.
But if it runs out of power half way through the cook please don't blame me.
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but I can't see that there would be a problem.
 
If I get around to getting the 12v adaptor I would use an analyzer like this to determine what capacity (Amp/hour) battery would be needed. http://www.powerwerx.com/product.asp?ProdID=3809&CtgID=3575

It would be connected between the regular power supply and the stoker for similar cooks and it would show actual usage - Total Amp/hours used (also total watts, voltage, and peak amps) during a cook.

Then would purchase a 12v Sealed Gell Cell of the capacity needed for long cooks.

You do not want to discharge that battery below 60-70% total capacity or it will greatly reduce it's life.
 
I ordered the 12v when I got my Stoker, because I run my Competitor now off a small (7AH) battery.

I was surprised that was came was a small power inverter (12v to 120V) designed to go into a car, and then an adaptor to allow that inverter to connect to a battery.

This seems like a lot of extra cables and work just to connect a 5v source (the stoker) to a 12v battery.

I'd like to find a small power adaptor that would allow me to use a 12v battery for my Stoker with less fuss, but I haven't found one yet.
 
I realize that I said Stoker in the original post. I meant to say Guru.

I have now added a second 25 cfm blower. What is the minimum amp-hour battery that I should consider using that would last me long enough to cook briskets? Unfortunately I won't have the opportunity to measure the current draw before I will need to buy a jumps tarter.
 
I did a search in this forum - guru battery -

result

Two of them say they can do 3 cooks on one of those rechargeable things before recharging. Of course YMMV - your mileage may vary.
 
Here's the latest pic, from an overnight cook on the 4th. I use the cig adapter. I can easily go 3 overnighters on one charge. I use a little 300 AMP portable car jumper pack from WalMart. I do have a bigger 450 AMP one also, but never used that one yet . My guess is that it would run for atleast 48 hrs or more, non stop, on one charge. I've never run it completely dead in the 3+ years I've been using this setup. I also use a rubber band around the cord right at the base of the cig adapter and I clip it on the back of the jumper pack, to make sure it stays in. Tends to pop out of the socket some.
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Yes, I am using a Clark Jumpstart right now to cook some split chicken on my cooker. It works great. I think I paid like 50 bucks for my unit. It is the heavy duty kind. I doubt I will ever run it down at a competition. I do keep it charged though!@
 
You really don't need anything else from the BBQ Guru folks. Go to walmart and get you one of those cigar converters that has a 110 on the end of it. Plug your guru power supply into it and then the adapter into the jumpstart. You got power then. It is running at 110. That is my setup. I paid like 5 bucks for the adapter off of ebay.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by derek_d:
Did you guys buy your cigarette adapter from Guru.com, or did you use one from some other device? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I got mine at the BBQ Guru.
 
My setup is the same as BryanS. I bought the car jumper from K-Mart. It has two 12V plug-ins on top. I run two DigiQ-II's at the same time. I bought the plugs from the BBQ Guru people. They are real helpful if you have any questions.

MikeZ
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Go to walmart and get you one of those cigar converters that has a 110 on the end of it. Plug your guru power supply into it and then the adapter into the jumpstart. You got power then. It is running at 110. That is my setup. I paid like 5 bucks for the adapter off of ebay. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've not seen one of these. Do you have a picture or a weblink that shows one? I have a power inverter similar to this, but it cost a lot more than $5.

power_inverter_VEC024_tn_travel_accessory.jpg
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Buster Davis:
You really don't need anything else from the BBQ Guru folks. Go to walmart and get you one of those cigar converters that has a 110 on the end of it. Plug your guru power supply into it and then the adapter into the jumpstart. You got power then. It is running at 110. That is my setup. I paid like 5 bucks for the adapter off of ebay. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
But that's one more device that you have to protect from the weather/rain, and carry out and one more thing to go wrong. Cig adapter from the Guru straight into the jumper pack, done. Easy peasy JMO
 
What about something like this?

VEC026BD

It has the inverter built in, so I wouldn't need to purchase an additional adapter from Rock's BBQ. Plus, it could charge a cell phone or power the wireless bridge.

Do you suppose this unit would have enough power for a stoker with 2 fans and 3 or 4 temp probes - for say 18 hours?

I don't mind buying a little bit more since contests have been charging up to $50 for electric lately.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Pat McCreight:
Do you suppose this unit would have enough power for a stoker with 2 fans and 3 or 4 temp probes - for say 18 hours?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
At least double that Pat. My little 300AMP goes forever it seems.
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Thanks Bryan. The unit has 2 cigarette plugs and 2 regular plugs served by an internal inverter.

Here's my question - Do you think the stoker would pull the same amount of juice from the battery running on the 12 v adapter versus running off the normal power cord connected to the included inverter? Seems to me that the inverter would add another step in the equation and maybe provide less power over time? Does that make sense? I'd prefer not to buy the stoker adapter and just plug the ac pack into the power supply.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Pat McCreight:
Seems to me that the inverter would add another step in the equation and maybe provide less power over time? Does that make sense? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Pat, makes sense to me. Seems to me that it could use more power going through the inverter, but an electrician I'm not
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An inverter has about 85-90% efficiency. The switching power supply in stoker has about the same. So in rough numbers, if you use a 12 volt battery+inverter as shown plus stoker power supply, you are in 70% power conversion efficiency range.

On the other hand, the typical solution for a 12 volt to 5 volt is a linear voltage regulator. With such a huge voltage drop, it will be very inefficient (much less than 50%). More efficient switching regulators exist but they tend to be more expensive.

So as non-intuitive as it may sound, the inverter solution may work better!
 
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