Heatermeter on battery success!


 
A

Aaron Morris

TVWBB Member
Well, I wish I took some pictures. This weekend I took my freshly built Mini WSM, Heatermeter and Rotodamper out camping to my autocross event. At about 5:30 AM, I fired up the coals, got the HM running, and put a 9.5lb shoulder on at 6AM. I set the temp to 250 degrees. The HM was running off one of the harbor freight Jumper power packs that's like $40, and has a 17aH SLA battery. At noon, I foiled it up since the shoulder was at 160 degrees, and dinner was at 6pm. It actually took until about 6PM to get up to 208 degrees, so I took it off because of about 25 hungry people. The meat pulled perfectly, and everything performed wonderfully. I expect more friends to want Heatermeters now.

Thanks to all the people involved in this project!
 
Nice!

I just finished making my portable HeaterMeter / USB power adapter today. I have 5 of these 18v Li-Ion batteries. Perfect for when the power goes out to charge up the phones or if I'm doing a shorter cook and don't want to break out the extension cord.

32u20sCl.jpg
 
Last edited:
It's a battery tester that slips on top of the ryobi batteries. It's got some room inside, so I added the pigtails to it. Some people have added a usb port right onto it, but I figured this gives me the most flexibility.
 
It's this one. I got it at home depot, but it doesn't look like they sell them anymore.

Update: There's a guy in Calgary selling them for $2.99 on eBay. Search eBay for item 231700669756
 
Last edited:
Hmm cool. Only issue I'd see is that those batteries don't have a whole lot of Amp hours, so you probably wouldn't be able to do a 12 hour cook. I'm probably going to end up building a 18Ah SLA battery box.
 
I've run a HeaterMeter off a small UPS battery (12V 8Ah) for 14 hours just to try it. 18Ah would probably be way overkill. The HeaterMeter only pulls like 250mA from a 13V source with the blower going full.
 
My battery solution consists of a "dead" tractor batter (one that would no longer start the tractor), a 12v cig lighter socket with alligator clamps and a fuse, and a 12v 2A cig lighter power adapter. Works like a charm. Longest cook so far: 8 hours
 
Good to know about the smaller batteries. We have about 8 older 18ah UPS batteries that are being recycled, so I'm going to test and take a few good ones. I'm thinking of just building a nice little portable box with a cig. lighter, inverter, some USB sockets, a voltmeter, and maybe even a solar panel with controller for charging it. Just a universal battery system for all my camping/HM needs. (which is why I wanted 18Ah)
 
I'm in the process of designing a 3D printed connector for my Dewalt 18V XRP tool batteries. The connector will house 5V USB ports and 2.1mm 12V ports for my heatermeters. I'll let you guys know how it goes.
 
Aaron Morris said:
Good to know about the smaller batteries. We have about 8 older 18ah UPS batteries that are being recycled, so I'm going to test and take a few good ones. I'm thinking of just building a nice little portable box with a cig. lighter, inverter, some USB sockets, a voltmeter, and maybe even a solar panel with controller for charging it. Just a universal battery system for all my camping/HM needs. (which is why I wanted 18Ah)
Click to expand...

Is something like this a viable option for powering a HM using the heat from your cooker? I’m not an engineer, just a guy that wonders about efficiency in all things. Aaron’s universal battery post got me thinking about other forms of harnessing energy. You obviously couldn’t have power until your pit is already going. But maybe if Aaron’s battery dies mid-cook and the sun is down with no outlets nearby, he could slap this on/in his cooker and keep it going? Not looking for it, just a thought for the group.

http://tecteg.com/
 
Last edited:
Kinda interesting, but it looks like the highest power output is around 15W and the best voltage under load is about 5-6V. So that's not much power from one module, and multiple modules would be kinda pricey. I do like the idea of using energy we have already, the wasted energy we have is air movement and heat, both could probably be taken advantage of one way or another to generate power. Tiny wind turbines and steam generators? Zero point energy device? LOL

It would be an interesting project to attempt a self sustaining HM but it would be a lot of effort to solve a little problem. I good battery or batteries with a solar charger, or car/wall charger, would be an easier route to go.
 
Jas E said:
I'm in the process of designing a 3D printed connector for my Dewalt 18V XRP tool batteries. The connector will house 5V USB ports and 2.1mm 12V ports for my heatermeters. I'll let you guys know how it goes.
Click to expand...

I used the 12v battery from my Dewalt drill the other day to power the HM for a cook, I had hoped it would have lasted longer, no way I could pull off a whole low and slow with one battery. The battery model is DW9071, Dewalt doesn't list specs but I think its 2000mAh. They do charge quick though, so if you had access to nearby electricity and a spare battery it would work... but a much larger battery pack that can handle a whole cook on one charge would be nice.

You will probably have better luck with that 18V battery, it probably has better capacity too... but it would probably be a good idea to make a port to plug in a second battery to your device in parallel with the first one, this way you can swap batteries without interrupting power to the HM
 
The problem with a TEC is that one side of it needs to be as hot as possible (at fire level) and the other side needs to be outside the grill. This would be difficult to to achieve in a smoker without cutting a hole in the side. If you put it at the outlet vent, then the temperature difference is only going to be 150 degrees over ambient which I think won't even be enough to power the fan you're going to need to put on the cold side heatsink.

I say we put a windmill in the outlet vent that's a generator then spin that using the blower on the bottom, endless free energy because it powers itself!
 
Ah, the hot/cold thing would be an issue... Except on an offset smoker where you could set the modules on top of the fire box, that setup would suite the modules well. But an offset smoker is gonna need more air flow which needs more energy, and covering the top of a firebox with enough 15W modules to run the pit would cost a pretty penny.

The air movement is a good source, but if you look at how the big boys generate energy, be it coal, nuke, whatever, they make steam to turn generators. I bet there are some pretty nifty mini-steam generator designs out there on the internet already just waiting to be adapted. Some kind of fluid filled bulb that can sit down in the fire with a tube that comes out to turn a tiny generator perhaps?
 
RalphTrimble said:
...it would probably be a good idea to make a port to plug in a second battery to your device in parallel with the first one, this way you can swap batteries without interrupting power to the HM
Click to expand...

The Dewalt 18V XRP batteries are rated at 2.2AH. Thanks for the tip. I'm gonna do that to prevent powering down the unit!
 
For those looking for potential battery options. This one is on sale right now, $24.99 plus $6 off with code: N259Y7P8 making it $18.99. Pick up a couple of filler items to get free shipping.

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00S0OHKII/

10400mAH and can output 12V @ 1.35A

It's pretty compact but pretty heavy for it's size.
 
Melvin C said:
For those looking for potential battery options. This one is on sale right now, $24.99 plus $6 off with code: N259Y7P8 making it $18.99. Pick up a couple of filler items to get free shipping.

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00S0OHKII/

10400mAH and can output 12V @ 1.35A

It's pretty compact but pretty heavy for it's size.
Click to expand...

As mentioned previously, I use a rather inelegant solution for battery power. I've noticed these higher capacity phone chargers, but it's not clear to me how you'd power the HM using a USB cable when the power input is a standard DC pin.

Thanks,
Don
 
Yeah you'd need some sort of dongle in between that would tell the charger to output 12V instead of the default 5V (emulating the quickcharge handshake) and also convert it to the DC barrel jack. Also 10400mAH is at 3.7V so multiply that by 3.7/12 * 80% step up efficiency and you've got 2565mAH at 12V. That will run the HeaterMeter for a little while but I don't think you'd get a full 12 hours.

I did my last 14 hour cook with a sealed lead acid UPS battery, the 12V 8Ah kind there was no problem at all. The cost is about the same (although you'll need a way to charge it, I just plug it into my bench power supply).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top