Advice for Stoker newbie


 
S

Scott S (scooter)

TVWBB Member
Would appreciate some feedback on a few questions about the Stoker capabilities.

I just bought a Stoker with 5cfm fan with 4 food probes and 2 pit probes. It's on backorder for a couple weeks so I can change the order if needed.

I have an 18"WSM and a MAK pellet cooker. The Stoker will control the WSM and monitor the temps in the pellet cooker. Sometimes at the same time.

My setup:

95% of the time: 900' elevation - SF Bay Area, CA
Stoker unit will be kept in the house protected from the elements wired into a LAN switch. I'll have a 40' 18AWG 3 conductor cord (male stereo 1/4" TRS plugs on both ends**) running from the Stoker under the house then out to the backyard where my WSM and MAK are located. One end connected to the stoker, the other end by the cookers will plug into a home made patch panel of 7 serial connected stereo 1/4" TRS jacks wired with 18AWG wiring.
Will use the Stoker to monitor and control the WSM, Will also use a pit and food probe to monitor the MAK temps. Sometimes at the same time.

5% of the time: 3000' elevation
On vacation I'll have the Stoker out by the cooker protected from the elements in a plastic container with wireless router and with blower and probes plugged directly into the Stoker or the patch panel with short extension cord to the Stoker.
Or, with the same setup at comps in northern CA.



Cooking style on the WSM regardless of home or vacation:
70% of the time I cook from 300-350F
29% of the time I cook from 250-300F
1% of the time I cook at 425F (but don't really "need" to, just like to)



-Should I upgrade to the 10cfm blower?
-The 40' 18AWG 3 conductor extension cord will handle the load with 10cfm blower?
-Do I need the high current power supply?

**Both ends will have male plugs so I can disconnect at the the patch panel end and take the patch panel with me on vacation or comps using a shorter extension cable.

Feedback is very much appreciated!!
 
I would recommended you make a separate patch cord for just the fan. I had nothing but problems trying to run a similar setup until i broke the blower cord out separate from the probes,

I use the 10 cfm blower on both an 18 and 22 without any issues. I like the 10 because i know i will never be short of air, and if it doesn't need the full capacity of the 10 then it just adjusts the duty cycle to compensate. But that is just personal preference, some will argue the the 10 will over run a 18, but i have not had any such issues.

Be very careful of the probe wires with the higher temps, try to insulate them as you go through whatever grommets you choose to use. high temp metal can damage the probe wires (trust me)

Absolutely get the high current power supply if you get a 10, and with using the patch cords it might be worth considering even if you stay with the 5. Increased wire length = Increased resistance = Increased voltage drop and Current needed
 
I did make a patch cord (25 feet)out of 16 gauge wire and ran a successful all night cook with the 10 cfm blower a pit probe and two food probes off the same extension. A Seperate one for the blower is a good idea.
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Thank you Jim and Jeff. I've pretty much decided to go with the 10cfm fan and high current power supply do to the amount of higher heat cooking I do.
Kenny at Rocks invited me to bring my 40' cable into the shop (I work close by to their shop) for them to test it before I get my Stoker. The longest extension cable they've tested with a 10cfm blower is 10'. Will bring the cable and my patch panel

Home made 5 port expander patch panel. It's detachable so I can disconnect from the 40' house extension and take it on vacation or comps to use with a shorter extension cable.
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It's also somewhat weather proofed.
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Yes, when I was at Rock's they put my 40' (18AWG) cable and patch box on their bench and plugged in a 10 cfm fan using the high current PS and a couple probes. They ran a test with the fan going off/on and didn't like what they saw. While the fan would power off/on it seemed to studder a bit. They put one of their TRC plugs(without any wire attached to it) into an open jack on my panel and attached a multitester on it and checked the voltage. What they were seeing was when the fan kicked on the voltage would drop to 4.3 volts which is too low. John said I should shorten the cable or take out the plug/jack that makes the panel modular and hardwire the cable into the panel. He said having that extra TRC jack/plug could be contributing to the voltage drop.
Well, I like the modular part of it too much to let it go just yet so I found a better place to locate the Stoker in my house which is closer to my backyard so I made another control cable out of the same 16AWG wire you used and shortened it to 21' but kept the TRC plug/jack in the panel so it would remain modular. Took that in to Rocks the day I received my Stoker and Kenny put the cable and panel on the bench and tested it. The fan worked good and he said I was good to go. He didn't put the multitester on it but I might just do it myself to see where the voltage is when the fan kicks on.
Last weekend I did my first cooks with it and it worked flawlessly! Fan came on/off without a hitch over a 10 hour long cook.
 
I just built my own patch box with a 10' hard wired cable. When testing the fan voltage do you know what a normal reading would be?
 
Mark, Kenny said 4.9v is the lowest they like to see.

Bill, the stoker requires 3 conductor wiring for tip, ring and sleeve = pos/neg/ground
The stereo TRS jacks/plugs have 3 conductors, the mono has 2 conductors.
 
Here's the setup I've settled on to control my two WSMs and monitor my MAK pellet cooker.

The Stoker controller sits inside the house in a corner right next to my spot on the couch. I have 3 control cables that run from the Stoker under the house to the backyard deck where my cookers are. A 30' 16AWG cable for the WSM22, a 20' 16AWG cable for the WSM18 and a 20' 18AWG cable for the MAK (just temp monitoring). Also have a CAT5 cable that runs from the Stoker under the house to a switch for WAN/LAN access to the Stoker.
When I first set it up I had run one single control cable from the Stoker out to my WSM18 then I purchased the 22 recently and felt I'd be better off running a separate control cable to it than trying to run both WSMs off one control cable. I have a 10CFM blower for the 22 and a 5CFM blower for the 18 driven by a high current power adapter on the Stoker.
I fabricated TRS jack junction boxes that fit into a slot on the WSMs so I can quickly pull it off and put it back on if needed. It's situated upside down to keep the connectors out of the rain. It allows me to plug all blowers and probes on a pit into one box that's very close by. No probe cable length issues.

All seems to be running smoothly but time will tell.

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Originally posted by BMerrill:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mark Nejako:
I have a question do you wire the the jacks in parallel or in series?
Click to expand...

Parallel </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My enclosure has surface mount jacks that I initially wired in parallel. I was getting - according to John @ Rocks - a ground fault error and we instructed to re-wire them in series. I did this and system works fine now. Here's a crappy picture of my enclosure. I'll get a better one if anyone is interested.

photostream
 
Originally posted by Aaron Black:
My enclosure has surface mount jacks that I initially wired in parallel. I was getting - according to John @ Rocks - a ground fault error and we instructed to re-wire them in series. I did this and system works fine now. Here's a crappy picture of my enclosure. I'll get a better one if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...
Here's one vote for a better image (or a couple of them).
 
Just discovered this great thread. I've been wiring my house for remote stoker. I've run 16/3 for about 60' with no noticeable operational difference between direct connected devices and axtended. This weekend will increase it a little to 80'. Also, have not tried the 10cfm blower, but will give it a shot. I only have the small PS.
 
Kenny said 4.9v is the lowest they like to see.

the stoker requires 3 conductor wiring for tip, ring and sleeve = pos/neg/ground
Click to expand...

Good to know about the voltage they like to see.

Is this the pinout of the plug?

Do you measure the voltage Tip - Sleeve or Tip to Ring?

I'd presumed that it is something like T=+, R=data, S=GND.

Thanks, Pete
 
Originally posted by Aaron Black:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BMerrill:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mark Nejako:
I have a question do you wire the the jacks in parallel or in series?
Click to expand...

Parallel </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My enclosure has surface mount jacks that I initially wired in parallel. I was getting - according to John @ Rocks - a ground fault error and we instructed to re-wire them in series. I did this and system works fine now. Here's a crappy picture of my enclosure. I'll get a better one if anyone is interested.

photostream
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Not quite following how you would wire 3 wires in series, any way you can post a diagram/sketch, or picture that shows the wiring detail?
Thanks
 
Not quite following how you would wire 3 wires in series, any way you can post a diagram/sketch, or picture that shows the wiring detail?
Thanks
Click to expand...

My guess is that it is actually parallel, with the jacks daisy chained. I've wired some mult boxes this way and they work fine.
 
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