Feature request - offloading probe board


 

Geoff S

New member
I was directed this way to discuss a feature I've been thinking about. If it's already been talked about I would live to see where the conversation has gone. I was wondering if anyone has considered detaching the probe board so it could be remote from the RPi and other components. I use my Big Green Egg year round. And it's a little hard to keep electronics out in the ****ing down rain in the middle of January. I always solved this with a previous controller by simply ordering their 10' probes and running them through a pass-through in the wall. But the nice ThermoPro probes don't seem to come in anything like that length. So I was wondering about just leaving the probes connected to a box that is out under the wings of the BGE, and then a shielded cat5 into the house to the controller. Effectively putting it anywhere I want.

Any thoughts along that idea?
 
John Bostwick and I collaborated to design the Aux Thermocouple board which is made to fit into my RD3 and does pretty much what you are looking for. You can plug in a thermocouple pit probe and two food probes and run the blower and a servo over a standard cat5 cable (about 50ft max). I leave my RD3 out on the grill 24/7 and ran a cable into the kitchen where I keep my HM, run the whole thing from inside. Not only is the HM safe from the weather and close to power, but it eliminates the need to break down your HM rig when you are done cooking and really just want to eat! It only supports two food probes due to limited wires in the cable and controlling the fan and blower through the same cable was central to the design.
The project page is here, https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?57...nal-Version)&highlight=Aux+thermocouple+board , you should find all the details you need in that thread. You can use it with my RD3 or in a standalone fashion if you like. It's an all SMD design, so hope your good with SMD soldering....
 

 

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