HeaterMeter and RD3 build review


 

Larry Naylor

TVWBB Member
Recently I had bought a new grill and was looking for some way to monitor it during a 10 to 12 hour smoke. I found the HeaterMeter on line and did a lot of research on it a few emails and i had a pretty red case and a bunch of parts. I think you can get it pre assembled but i like building things. The kit is very well thought out with great instructions. Took me about 2 evenings to assemble the unit. THis is not a hard kit to assemble but be advised you will have to learn how to solder but there is a lot of online instructions, and it's not really hard . With a little practice its not overly taxing of ones ability. The only problem i had is having gray hair made my eyes somewhat strained by the small parts and solder points. But its not a big problem. Follow the instructions , take your time ,and you will have a hand built HeaterMeter. I then had to find some way yo have a blower for it and along comes RD3 it uses a fan you can get from Bryan. It's 3d printed. A first for me. The fan pops into it and it uses a cheap servo . You will have to figure out a way to attach it to your grill.Now i should state this project was not without problems. The first was finding servos for this , they can be somewhat of a crap shoot But if you look around you can find them. Then it will require some thinking to find a way to mont to your grill Ralph can help with this. Now one problem i had was one of the food probes measured way off temp wise, but Ralph worked on line with me and Bryan worked with me and we managed to troubleshoot and correct the problem. Was a glitch in the eeprom but These 2 guys guided me through the mumbo jumbo that is computer language. This stuff was way over my head. Now the only trouble i'm having is should a do a pork butt or ribs saturday; Once again Thank you Bryan and Ralph for both a great product and you help
 
Yup.
Some great people
And a wealth of knowledge and prior info about it if you read thru 7 years of post here.

Bryan does a great job putting it together and testing it for a fair price. I went that route. Even though 30 yrs ago I used to design and build some circuits to do things, including etching my own PC boards, i know how easy it is to overheat components, and trouble shooting is a PITA. That 3 hr build time can turn into 2 wks when mess up a component and have to order another.

The more i cook with mine, the more i enjoy it. I like especially the way it brings it to target temp....with no fiddling. For temps under 300 i dont even use chimney, i just light a couple random spots in coals with mapp torch, takes about a minute, then assemble and let heatermeter take over. 30 min later its there. Then give it some more time for the white smoke to die down.

You're going to love it
 
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Martin Did 2 smokes with the HM and i have been impresses with it i managed a work around on the second one do to the slight problem. I've read a lot of posts on the HM and RD3 here even managed to absorb some of the language used here. My electronic experience is with those glass tubes the glowed a really cool glow, pretty but don't touch,and voltages in the hundreds,(one of the plate voltage was 1200 volts). Learned what 3d printing is, but i think the 3d printed steak i saw is crossing a line. I quit using mt chimney and use 2 or 3 alcohol (use 91%)soaked cotton balls to light the coals, but i have learned to be careful on the charcoal size and not use 2 much small pieces as it clogs the grates. Not like my old grills where i filled a chimney and away we went. My kamado joe needs a little more finesse with the charcoal.Think the HM and RD3 will give piece of mind on long cooks.I learned a lesson about the white smoke the hard way. Next time i do a pizza on it i might try the HM but i can get 800 degrees without it so i have to think about using it or not. Really enjoy reading the posts here and learn a lot.
 
I am curious what your probe issue was and how you fixed it. One of my probe ports requires very different calibration settings to get it to track properly. Perhaps you have a better fix.
 
Matt
The prob issue was that food probe 1 measured 185 degrees room temp. After working with Bryan and Ralph, they had me check voltages and resistance, the problem was corrected by resetting the eeprom and reflashing the AVC. Knew nothing about this stuff but these 2 helped me correct a minor glitch in the software.Now all is well in ohio. By the way Ralph the ribs were fantastic.
 

 

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