HeaterMeter and Electric Smoker


 

LarryTubbs

New member
Hello everyone. I recently came into possession of a Cajun Injector XL electric smoker. My father-in-law also has a similar model, which he has owned for several years. What he observed from his experience with his smoker was up to 60 degree swings in temperature while it was "set" to a specific temperature. This seemed crazy to him, given that an electric smoker essentially gets its heat from heating elements like an oven. So, he bi-passed the control panel completely and inserted a manual rheostat which allows him to literally dial it in and hold it where he wants it. But, it does still require quite a bit of care and feeding. My temp swings aren't as great as his with the default control panel, more like 30 degrees or so, but I share my father-in-law's feeling that this is pretty crappy "control" of the temperature. So, I started looking for ways to construct a replacement control unit, and that led me to the Pi and to HeaterMeter.

It seems to me like HeaterMeter could be adapted to control a digital rheostat on my heating elements instead of the blower motor, and the rest of the system would work out-of-the-box. Because of my father-in-law's modifications, I know how to tap into the circuit feeding power to the elements. Am I crazy? I'm pretty new to the Pi, but am a fair Python coder. I think I could figure this out.

Has anyone been successful doing something like this? I've searched the forum, but didn't find an exact match. There was an instructive recent thread about trying to replace the controller in a pellet smoker, but that seems more complicated than my situation. Any suggestions on potential digital rheostats and how to handle the large power difference between the 3.3v and 5v control circuits on the Pi and the MUCH higher power circuit powering the heating elements?

Thanks for any guidance you can give me.
 
I would think it might be something you could do with a solid state relay (ssr) these are often used in automated Homebrew setups to control a heating element. It controls by rapidly turning the element on and off.
 

 

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