stoker on wsm?


 
J

Jacob Samarin

TVWBB Member
i did a search and found several topics about stokers on the wsm,i know it works,but i still have a few questions.

it looks like you install it into one of the bottom vents.although on rocs site the blower looks square.do you need to do any cutting/drilling to get it to fit correctly?
and is the controller box wireless?
 
Hey Jacob -

When you order, make sure you let them know you have a WSM, and they'll send along the appropriate adaptor to fit over the round weber vents. I've had the WSM/Stoker combo for about 9 months now and I *love* it.

Enjoy!
-Erik
 
Here are some PICTURES of the install.

I too love my Stoker. Using it right now for a butt smoke. If you get one be sure to download Ken and Amir's programs.
 
Originally posted by Erik Anderson:
When you order, make sure you let them know you have a WSM, and they'll send along the appropriate adaptor to fit over the round weber vents.
Click to expand...

Wait a second... Did you get your adapter for free?

When I ordered my kit, I ordered my adapter in the same order, but I think I had to pay a $9 or so for it.

Yes - the Stoker is worth every penny. I'd recommend getting one of the starter kits that includes at least 1 meat probe and 1 pit probe to get started. The meat probe isn't necessary to have the stoker control your cooker - but it's very convenient. (Plus, the Stoker has a very LOUD alarm to let you, and anyone in a 500 foot radius, know when it is done)
 
and is the controller box wireless?
Click to expand...

It's not wireless but it does have an ethernet port; you'll need to purchase a wireless bridge to connect it to your wireless network. Here's a PICTURE of my setup. It's a bit messy but I was trying to keep everything out of the rain (wind was blowing it sideways).

I'm actually in the middle of a butt smoke using my stoker right now. Put her on around 5:00 p.m. set her to send me status reports while I was out running errands and each one came in dead on where I set my temp. Now I'm sitting here watching a movie and monitoring my cook
from my laptop. You'll love your Stoker!

EDIT - It's now 8:40 a.m. and I wanted to mention one more thing for you regarding the Stoker; this may sound odd but I love being able to get up in the morning, look at my laptop and review what happened during my cook overnight. Of course nothing all that interesting happened other than the blower coming on and turning off and my meat temp rising but it's interesting to see the fan activity and temps as you burn through your charcoal and watching your meat temp slowly rise, hit the plateau and then slowly come out of it. for instance, I hit 160 at 3:58 this a.m. and I'm currently sitting at 169 . . . one long plateau. I think I need more excitement in my life if this is what I look forward too
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Jacob, here's what I like the most about my STOKER

I just finished my 22 + hour butt smoke and now I can go back and review my graph. Started my cook around 4:45 p.m. and had to reboot my laptop around 10:00 p.m. that's why you don't see anything prior to then. Outside of the issue with my laptop and how long this took it was a perfect smoke. Went about my business, ran my errands, went to the neighbors for Easter breakfast, took my car to get it washed etc. and all the while stayed in touch with my Stoker via the Internet . . . too easy.
 
Originally posted by jacob samarin:
i did a search and found several topics about stokers on the wsm,i know it works,but i still have a few questions.

it looks like you install it into one of the bottom vents.although on rocs site the blower looks square.do you need to do any cutting/drilling to get it to fit correctly?
and is the controller box wireless?
Click to expand...

I guess if you're handy you could make your own adapter out of a stainless steel doggie water dish...
icon_biggrin.gif
 
That looks really cool. So how do you attach the adapter to the vents? Do you close all the other vents accept for the top vent when using it? and if I have a wireless router up in my second floor office how would I get the stoker to talk to it and get the info to my laptop?
 
Originally posted by Paul Balzotti:
That looks really cool. So how do you attach the adapter to the vents? Do you close all the other vents accept for the top vent when using it? and if I have a wireless router up in my second floor office how would I get the stoker to talk to it and get the info to my laptop?
Click to expand...

The adapter has a long, thin bolt that attaches in one of the 3 holes of the vent you mount it on, then you use a nut and washer to attach the adapter to that bolt, so that it covers the enter vent area. So the air is blown through two of the holes. Yes, you shut the other two bottom vents completely. To get the Stoker to talk to your router on the second floor, you'll need a wireless bridge. The stoker connects to the bridge, and the bridge allows it to communicate to the router. But it isn't quite as simple as it sounds - getting the router to talk to the bridge, and then to the Stoker, can be tricky depending on the exact hardware you're using.
 
The adapter has a long, thin bolt that attaches in one of the 3 holes of the vent you mount it on, then you use a nut and washer to attach the adapter to that bolt, so that it covers the enter vent area.
Click to expand...

Heres a PICTURE of how it mounts.

I was very lucky and once I figured out how to get my laptop to speak to my wireless bridge to set the bridge up (I bought my wireless bridge on eBay for $32 but it didn't come with a install disk so that part was a bit of a challenge) everything else went pretty smoothly for me in terms of setting up my stoker/wireless bridge/router all talking. I don't know if it makes a difference that both my bridge and router are Linksys products or not.

Stokerlog and Stoker Timers really make using the Stoker a joy.
 
Hey all - lemme just throw another option in here. You don't actually *need* to introduce the complexity of the wireless bridge into this setup if you don't want to. I put together a homemade 50 ft extension cable to connect from my Stoker (which stays zip-tied to my network rack in the basement) to the WSM out on my back porch. I just purchased 3-conductor (No. 24 or so) cable from HD and standard .25" stereo ends to terminate the cable. It works *great*, and the cost was probably $10 or so.

I just make the one long run out to the stoker with my homemade cable and then use a few splitters outside depending on how many "devices" (fans, sensors, etc.) I need for that BBQ session. This setup works great. The stoker is able to stay inside nice and dry, and I didn't need to deal with either the cost, complexity, or instability that the wireless bridge would have caused.

...just something to think about :)

-Erik
 
BBQ computer Genius...
Click to expand...

One might think so, however, I'm far from a computer genius. I'd say some basic computer skills and home networking knowledge and you should be golden . . . oh, and a setup disk for your wireless bridge helps too.

Also, the Stoker runs well just stand alone without the networking, web interface or Stokerlog. It's pretty much set your temps. and walk away. All the other bells and whistles just make it more fun
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This does look like a great product but other than planning cooking times on nice sunny days. What are the precautions/your plans for keeping these units dry if a sudden rain shower comes up? I know "Erik Anderson" said he manufactured a long cord to keep the control unit out of the elements. What about the fan on the smoker itself?
 
What are the precautions/your plans for keeping these units dry if a sudden rain shower comes up?
Click to expand...

Well, I've only had bad weather once during a smoke so here's what I FASHIONED. Smoker was under my covered patio but there was quite a bit of wind blowing rain onto the patio. It's crude but worked. BTW - this was not my idea, someone on this site shared this with me.

Luckily where I live not much rain (or other bad weather), I can only think of one smoke where I had bad weather so this hasn't been much of an issue. The tote was also for that bad weather smoke. I've kept it as it's easy for keeping everything together. Holes are cut in the sides for power and probe cables.
 
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