StokerLog Version 4.0 Preview

OK, I am getting bored testing this by myself . So I thought I let you all go after it. http://la.gg/upl/StokerLogV4.msi

Lots of refinements in this version. Here is a quick list. Be sure to browse the help file as some of the same items may work different now. Let me know what you think.

------
Final refinement to the architecture of the program. Gone now is the interval setting. The program automatically fetches the data from stoker at the right rate, without the need for the user to specify anything. Update rate is now increased also (to roughly one probe/second). And the application no longer hangs from time to time, letting you update its parameters at will.



There have also been a lot of bug fixes across the board. Auto Lid detection is fixed once more. And there have been a number of fixes in how Alarms were handled. The user interface has been cleaned up with some of the advanced parameters now under the menu for Settings.



There are now default alarm music files. Give them a try and see what you think of them. Much thanks to Dan on my team at Microsoft for creating them (and giving me a detailed list of bugs to fix). Alarms also loop for 5 times. That way, if your music file is short and you are away from your computer, you won’t miss them. I have also added an “HTTP” alarm. Any URL address which you specify, will be called if any of the alarms go off. You may be able to use this to send text or email messages to yourself.



Assuming you have the latest firmware for stoker (beyond 2.0), the blower indicator becomes far more accurate. The old measure simply did not tell you the current status of the blower but some bias factor as to probability of the blower coming on. The new firmware sends firm messages as to whether the fan was on or not during the last second. Since the message is now “binary” (on or off), the graph for the blower only goes up to step 1. This is nice because it does not clutter the graph.


The graph also has a new check box that lets you completely remove any notes from the graph. That way, they don’t obscure anything. You can get all of them back by simply checking the box again.
----

Amir

In regards to reference above to newer version of Stoker firmware, here is where you get it: http://www.kaytat.com/

Note that this is a test release. But with it, you get real-time blower data through my program. When the fan is on, the program shows it that way. Without it, you get the current graph which is very inaccurate.

I am running this firmware on my stoker and have already done a cook with no problems. But you may want to look at the warnings before trying .

What happened to version 3.5 ??????

Dang! Now I have to go out and buy some more meat to cook this weekend . . .

I think that I'll wait for Kaytat to move the new firmware from Alpha to Beta code before doing another flash updata though.

Thanks Amir,

-- Barry

Perfect timing. I have 3 racks in the fridge and I am going to throw them on the cooker at lunch. I plan on monitoring the cook from work and will let you know how it goes. I won't be updating the firmware prior to starting the cook because I'm at work, maybe I'll update later tonight.

Have I said how much I appreciate your effort?

I'm sweating bullets now. Just got back to work after setting everything up at home. I checked Stoker status online using the web interface, fired up version 4 it logged on to the stoker then gave me an error. Now I can't access the Stoker at all. I sure hope the fan isn't running full on.

Originally posted by joe thomas:
I'm sweating bullets now. Just got back to work after setting everything up at home. I checked Stoker status online using the web interface, fired up version 4 it logged on to the stoker then gave me an error. Now I can't access the Stoker at all. I sure hope the fan isn't running full on.

Click to expand...

Just power cycle it. I restart it in debug mode and sometimes that fails. Hitting stop/start logging again also fixes it. The mechanism is not robust enough.

But again, a power cycle always gets you to where you started as there is no permanent change.

Oh, didn't realize you are at work and can't power cycle it. Again, just restart my program or logging.

If that doesn't work, let me know and I can offer other hints.

Originally posted by Amir:
Oh, didn't realize you are at work and can't power cycle it. Again, just restart my program or logging.

If that doesn't work, let me know and I can offer other hints.

Click to expand...

Thanks Amir. Fortunately I work for a small company and a quick run home is not a big deal. I ran home and found that all was in order with the Stoker and that my bridge decided to quit talking to my router. Impeccable timing on the part of the bridge. A quick power cycle of the bridge and all is back in order. I am back at work and running V4.0 without a hitch.

Sorry for crying wolf.

I am glad it was a false alarm. I felt so bad that I had put you in that spot. I mean, folks have been killed in the name of good barbeque!

Originally posted by Amir:
I am glad it was a false alarm. I felt so bad that I had put you in that spot. I mean, folks have been killed in the name of good barbeque!

Click to expand...

LOL, I was doing 80 at times on my drive home. When I couldn't connect I envisioned the fan running full speed on my BGE for the next 3 1/2 hrs. We have a friend from out of town staying with us and I wanted to treat him to some good BBQ tonight. After spending a little time last night going on about BBQ I was imagining trying to explain ribs cooked at 700 deg for 3 1/2 hrs. at dinner tonight then decided a quick run home was in order.

Funny thing is that people at the office check the status of my cooks almost as much as I do.

BTW, would be good to get feedback/testing on the keep-warm feature. It is different now. Check out the help file and let me know if the new system is good or not. What was there was fancy but not accurate as it relied on ETA which is not something that always works.

Also, there is a feature I put in which may not be in the help file. Once your fire reaches the target temp, I keep track of the variations from target, and output that under the ETA colomn. Then I rate it from excellent to poor. Let me know what you see in your cooks and whether you agree with the wording I am using here.

I thought if the above is accurate, you can use it to fine tune your vent for example. I did this in my last cook when I opened the vent just a bit and got better stability (and fan stayed off more often).

I am happy to report that I upgraded my Stoker to the new 2.1.287 Alpha build successfully and the Stoker didn't loose my probe names or calibration. I also loaded up version 4.0 of Amir's program and my brief tests showed everything working well!

Originally posted by Amir:
BTW, would be good to get feedback/testing on the keep-warm feature. It is different now. Check out the help file and let me know if the new system is good or not. What was there was fancy but not accurate as it relied on ETA which is not something that always works.

Also, there is a feature I put in which may not be in the help file. Once your fire reaches the target temp, I keep track of the variations from target, and output that under the ETA colomn. Then I rate it from excellent to poor. Let me know what you see in your cooks and whether you agree with the wording I am using here.

I thought if the above is accurate, you can use it to fine tune your vent for example. I did this in my last cook when I opened the vent just a bit and got better stability (and fan stayed off more often).

Click to expand...

I plan on making chili tomorrow with the rib tips from yesterday's cook. I'll stick a temp probe in the pot and put your program to the test while I'm cooking.

BTW your program worked great. I do have a question about the target temp rating. I had my cooker set at 225 and towards the end the temp spiked to ~270, a storm came in and it got quite windy, and your status showed a variation of 1.8% and excellent. I'm thinking the variation between 225 and 270 is a little greater than 1.8%. I wasn't able to check the lid open feature as it was storming quite bad when I got home and I was concerned about water damage to the Stoker. I will get up tomorrow and test everything more thoroughly and report back with results.

Originally posted by joe thomas:
BTW your program worked great. I do have a question about the target temp rating. I had my cooker set at 225 and towards the end the temp spiked to ~270, a storm came in and it got quite windy, and your status showed a variation of 1.8% and excellent. I'm thinking the variation between 225 and 270 is a little greater than 1.8%. I wasn't able to check the lid open feature as it was storming quite bad when I got home and I was concerned about water damage to the Stoker. I will get up tomorrow and test everything more thoroughly and report back with results.

Click to expand...

The stability is work in progress . Right now, it measures stability over the entire cook,not the recent time period. It is more difficult to have it do it that way so I have not yet tackled it. I might give it a try tonight.

So in your case, the stability was excellent for the duration of the cook. The fluctuations at the end did not materially change the overal deviation for the entire cook.

OK, I just coded the short term average. Right now, it is for about 2 minutes. What do you think it should measure? Longer period, shorter?

Originally posted by Amir:
OK, I just coded the short term average. Right now, it is for about 2 minutes. What do you think it should measure? Longer period, shorter?

Click to expand...

I personally prefer the short term average as it might help me tweak top vent adjustments, but that's just my opinion.

Good to know. So what time period should it show the average deviation over? 2 minutes, 5 mintues, 10?

I'm always curious where it stands at any given time so my vote would be for 2 minutes.

Any time you tweak the vents or make adjustements it takes at least 5 to 10 minutes to settle down. Maybe longer. My smoker takes about 6 or 7 minutes to just to recover from opening the lid.

I would rather see a short term average that has a window of about 12 to 15 minutes.

Just updated the firmware and started simmering chili on the cooker, needed an excuse to try all of the functionality of the software without compromising a cook. I can easily open and close the lid all day long without compromising the chili. At some point I'll stick a probe into the chili and test the keep warm function as well. I'll save a copy of the graph and post if you like.