Baby Backs On the WSM 22


 
Peter Gallagher

Peter Gallagher

TVWBB Guru
Did some baby backs yesterday - I was test driving a ThermoWorks Signals / Billows ATC - I've used a Stoker for several years and love it but have had trouble tracking down parts, so I thought I'd slowly start trying other products. I like the ThermoWorks Thermapens, so they seemed like a good place to start.

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For the most part it seemed to work well - It worked great while the lid was closed - it held its temperature within a couple of degrees for hours. The curious thing about it to me was, it doesn't seem to have a way to pause the fan - (like a Stoker) so I was wondering what would happen with the lid off ... it refers to something called 'Open Lid Detection' but I didn't see any documentation of what that means or how the fan is supposed to react as a result of it? Anyway, during the 6 hour cook, I popped the lid off 3 times and to test it. I left it off for different and increasingly longer periods of time to see what it would do - There certainly seemed to be a correlation between the time the lid was off and the overshoot with it trying to bring the smoker back up to temp. I had it off for about 5 minutes on the last lid removal and it overshot by 15 degrees.. That's probably a little more than I had hoped for. Obviously it was bringing it back from a lower temperature, but that's why I like the idea of a way to pause the fan - it allows the cooker to come back up for a bit by itself immediately after the lid is replaced. I guess if I understood what it was trying to do with the 'Open Lid Detection' it may explain some things. I'm being a little picky - for the most part, it worked great - The App is nice and is very easy to navigate.

These are looking good! I had a jar of Blues Hog Smokey Mountain which I've never tried, so that seemed like a good choice:

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one more close up:

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and plated!

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Great looking ribs and great plate shot. I hope the signals keeps doing you good. I recently moved from a thermopro product (after my mother-in-law melted/fried it) to the Thermoworks Smoke. It works perfect and I like it, but I do miss things about my original set up. I think it is a thing of change more then anything.
 
Nice looking ribs, so what was your outside temp during cook,as it seems to be at or around freezing.
So my take would be if you had 15 degree spike no big deal really 5 minutes with lid off is a fair catch up increase. But I have never used a controller I just live with I get.
 
Kevin L (NKY) said:
Nice looking ribs, so what was your outside temp during cook,as it seems to be at or around freezing.
So my take would be if you had 15 degree spike no big deal really 5 minutes with lid off is a fair catch up increase. But I have never used a controller I just live with I get.
Click to expand...

you are correct - it rained most of the day - it was around 35, I think. Yeah, it wasn't too bad - when I had it open for about 2 minutes it only went over 4 degrees, so my point was there is probably something that could be done to keep it from over shooting when bring it back form a lower temp. - not a huge deal though
Jim Bloomfield said:
We used Stokers for years. The Fire Board is the closest we have found to the stoker. The app for the Fire Board is real nice too. It does have lid detection.
Click to expand...

Don't know that one - thanks for the tip - I'll take a look -
 
picture perfect.....
I am also interested in the sauce. I picked 2 blues hogs up but yet to find a hole in the fridge.
Tennessee Red and the championship sauce....1 vinegar 1 sugar.
 
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Peter Gallagher said:
I was test driving a ThermoWorks Signals / Billows ATC

For the most part it seemed to work well - It worked great while the lid was closed - it held its temperature within a couple of degrees for hours. The curious thing about it to me was, it doesn't seem to have a way to pause the fan - (like a Stoker)
Click to expand...

When I use my Billows with the Thermoworks Smoke X4, I just unplug the fan if I'm going to have the lid open for very long.

If I don't unplug the fan It will overshoot if I'm doing low-temp cooks.

I most often use the billows on my BGE so having the fan going AND having the lid open means lots of oxygen coming in so I just unplug the fan before, and then after I close the lid I let the temp probe re acquire the ambient temp and then plug the billows back in.
 
Apparently Billows now comes with:

"Billows now comes with Open Lid Detection, Billows returns the smoker to your set temp much quicker."

Surprising to me that OLD comes with the blower and not the Smoke X or Signals device itself. Billows must be more sophisticated than just a fan in a housing. Maybe it has firmware that can be upgraded?

www.thermoworks.com

Billows® BBQ Temperature Control Fan Kit

Specializing in cool, unique and professional temperature tools. Super-Fast thermocouples, thermistors, infrared thermometers, data logging and more.
www.thermoworks.com www.thermoworks.com
 
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Ed P said:
Apparently Billows now comes with:

"Billows now comes with Open Lid Detection, Billows returns the smoker to your set temp much quicker."

Surprising to me that OLD comes with the blower and not the Smoke X or Signals device itself. Billows must be more sophisticated than just a fan in a housing. Maybe it has firmware that can be upgraded?

www.thermoworks.com

Billows® BBQ Temperature Control Fan Kit

Specializing in cool, unique and professional temperature tools. Super-Fast thermocouples, thermistors, infrared thermometers, data logging and more.
www.thermoworks.com www.thermoworks.com
Click to expand...

That's got to be built into the controller. The fan is just a dumb fan.
 
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Have you ever looked at the USB-C pinout? There is a lot going on there. Just the fact that the Billows is 12VAC tells me that there is more going on there than just a fan. If I had one I would call tech support at TW. It doesn't look like AC is supported directly by the USB-C convention so plugging/unplugging while electrically "hot" may not be advisable...I know you are doing that, but I would still call TW and get the straight skinny.

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With other ATC's it possible to pause the fan for a certain amount of time. For example, with a Stoker the pause is for 5 minutes. I reached out to ThermoWorks to inquire what 'Open Lid Detection' actually was or does, and what to expect from the blower and controller.

They Responded:

>The Open Lid Detection function recognizes when there is a sudden drop in temperature from removing the lid and allowing heat to escape. When >that is detected the Billows fan stops blowing for up to two minutes. It does this so the oxygen naturally aspirating in the cooker from the open >lid and the Billows blower doesn't over combust your fire giving higher and hotter swings in temperature.

>It is recommended if you intend to do something like wrapping the meat you are cooking or something that might be a little more time intensive, you >remove it from the smoker and close the lid. This will help prevent the erratic spikes in temperature.

That sort of makes sense, but I think it would be better if if it was a little longer than 2 minutes? - I think it would help with the overshoots after closing.. better yet, it maybe should be a variable where the user could set the number of minutes (up to a certain number of minutes) the fan shuts off when when it detects the lid is open.
 
Ed P said:
Have you ever looked at the USB-C pinout? There is a lot going on there. Just the fact that the Billows is 12VAC tells me that there is more going on there than just a fan. If I had one I would call tech support at TW. It doesn't look like AC is supported directly by the USB-C convention so plugging/unplugging while electrically "hot" may not be advisable...I know you are doing that, but I would still call TW and get the straight skinny.

View attachment 65105

View attachment 65111
Click to expand...
The power to the fan is only 2 wires. No circuit on the little board holding the USB C connector.
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There is actually polarity markings on the PCB! Dan, it would be easy to put a small toggle switch to turn the fan off and on without worrying about arcing and damaging the USB-C contacts by hot plugging.
 
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