Better probes?


 
The secret to remembering which is which is that the Pit probe is always (from even the very first prototype) closest to the blower output, then the food probes start after that. So it's reading ok now?
 
I was in the third from the bottom. I don't know what I was / am doing. I am not a moron I just play one on the internet. :)
 
I use the TX-1001X-OP too. It has a ~4ft cable which for me is long enough for me to open the egg up without all the extra cable of the 6ft Mavericks.

I also saw that Maverick has a new model out with some "nicer probes". Haven't tried them but they're only rated to 400F.
 
im not worried about the temp. I ordered some extension cords from amazon. They are stereo so I don't know how they will behave but I am going to give them a try. I like the maverick's pit probe because it has the little spring metal clip to hold it in place. I am using a FEC120 smoker with this thing and it needs LONG cables for me to keep the heatermeter away from the heat and have a nice place to rest / mount it!

Thanks,

Neil
 
My new TX-1001X-OP probes arrived today, along with a new Chef Alarm. I set the HM up to use the coefficients in this post. In case you are new to the thread, the TX-1001X-OP probes are actually the replacement probes for the Chef Alarm. At room temp, the HM and the Chef Alarm are reading nearly identical. In fact, they are reading identical at times. I thought I'd pass that along as validation for the coefficients.

As I begin to use them, I will post any other noteworthy observations.

Thanks again for all of your hard work, Bryan.
 
That's awesome and I appreciate the data. I have some sort of obsession problem because I was at a hockey game tonight, saw a stand serving BBQ Nachos, then started wondering about the coefficients. I made two racks of back ribs last weekend and after 6 hours at 250F (all unfoiled) they were still not quite done and I resolved to devise some sort of test to see if 250F was really 250F. Let us know how they work at BBQ temps!
 
Just got my Thermoworks TX-1001X-OP probes in, setup the coefficients in HM and they seem to be fairly close to what the old 73's read, but the temp seems pretty sporadic. When the temp updates in the web interface it's jumping around from 71.1 to 71.7 every second or so. Almost seems random. Any ideas?
 
Geoff,

I guess it could be a number of things. But, my first thought would be that the probes simply aren't perfectly accurate. Here's the specs on the Chef Alarm. Note that the accuracy fluctuates depending on temp, but it can vary quite a bit.

This is from the Thermoworks site. I don't know if this is the probe accuracy or the accuracy of the probe and hardware together.

Accuracy
±1.8°F (±1.0°C) from -4 to 248°F (-20 to 120°C)
±3.6°F (±2.0°C) from -58 to -4°F / 248 to 392°F (-50 to -20°C / 120 to 200°C)
±5.4°F (±3.0°C) from 392 to 572°F (200 to 300°C)
Click to expand...

Another thing might be that the ambient temp is not perfectly consistent.

I bought a Chef Alarm at the same time that I bought extra probes for the HM (same probe). I placed them side by side. It took awhile for the temps to stabilize (like 10 minutes or longer). But, they finally did. I haven't had a chance to cook with them. But, the HM and the Chef Alarm (which was designed to use these probes) are extremely close at room temp.
 
Darren C. said:
Geoff,

I guess it could be a number of things. But, my first thought would be that the probes simply aren't perfectly accurate. Here's the specs on the Chef Alarm. Note that the accuracy fluctuates depending on temp, but it can vary quite a bit.

This is from the Thermoworks site. I don't know if this is the probe accuracy or the accuracy of the probe and hardware together.



Another thing might be that the ambient temp is not perfectly consistent.

I bought a Chef Alarm at the same time that I bought extra probes for the HM (same probe). I placed them side by side. It took awhile for the temps to stabilize (like 10 minutes or longer). But, they finally did. I haven't had a chance to cook with them. But, the HM and the Chef Alarm (which was designed to use these probes) are extremely close at room temp.
Click to expand...

Ya the problem isn't that it's a degree or so off, it's that the temp reading is jumping around like crazy. I have it plugged in, check it out: http://heffay.homelinux.com:8088/luci

So the pit probe is the Thermoworks and the Food1 is the Maverick. See how the temp is all over the place with the pit?
 
Geoff Parris said:
Ya the problem isn't that it's a degree or so off, it's that the temp reading is jumping around like crazy. I have it plugged in, check it out: http://heffay.homelinux.com:8088/luci

So the pit probe is the Thermoworks and the Food1 is the Maverick. See how the temp is all over the place with the pit?
Click to expand...

Do you have the probe just in open air? It could be just very sensitive to temps from air drafts and air movement. Does it do the samething in ice water or boiling water, where you have known stable temperature.
 
They both looked pretty stable to me. But, the food probe was moving more than the pit. I'm speculating here. I honestly don't know the answer. But, it just seems like sensitivity would account for fluctuations. A few degrees (or in this case, tenths) shouldn't make any difference. Bryan could probably round the actually reading to the nearest 5th and it would be close enough for bbq.
 
John Bostwick said:
Do you have the probe just in open air? It could be just very sensitive to temps from air drafts and air movement. Does it do the samething in ice water or boiling water, where you have known stable temperature.
Click to expand...

So I put the probe in ice water and it was very stable. Fired up the grill to 225 and it was bouncing around again. So strange. I also noticed that when I was moving the probe around getting it setup on the grill that it would lose connectivity from time to time. The HM was giving "no pit probe" for a second, and then would find it again. I wonder if these 2 probes were from a bad batch?
 
How wide was the variance? I had a Maverick probe go crazy bouncing, not like tenths or anything, I'm talking 300 to 65 to 140 and just all over the place. Moving the probes around proved that the crazy temps were following the probe and not associated with where the probe was plugged in. So, I ruled out HM hardware (like my soldering or a bad connection on the jack).

I'm going to be using my HM today on a smoke. I will also use my chef alarm. They all use the same TX-1001X-OP probe. I'll try to let you know when I put it online if you want to watch mine. I'm shooting for the 2 - 3 pm range Central time. Including my Chef Alarm, I'll have 5 TX-1001X-OP probes in the smoker (if I can find a place to put them all).

I'm cooking leg quarters and 2 cornish hens. I don't expect any two to be identical or even all that close at times. I'm most interested in how close the HM reads compared to the Chef Alarm. So, I'll try to place those probes either on top of each other or very close. I'll probably tie them together somehow and use them for the pit temp. I haven't decided.

EDIT: While starting my cook, I discovered that the new probes are too big to fit through the opening that I have been using. I have the HM and Chef Alarm probes stuck through the top vent. Sadly, not one of my thermometers is even close to the other. The HM == 249, Chef Alarm == 233 and dome says about 205. I'm a little frustrated with that. I did take my Thermopen out earlier. It was very close to the HM. So, of the HM, CA and Dome, I'd say the HM was closest.
 
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I have a couple of the thermoworks probes and they are pretty accurate w/ my HM4.0

I noticed that if I touch the metal braid on the probe or if it touches a metal bracket on my grill they read "OPEN" on the HM. It is like the signal is grounded out if something touched the metal braid. Does anyone else have this issue with the thermoworks or Maverick probes?
 
Geoff Parris said:
Ya the problem isn't that it's a degree or so off, it's that the temp reading is jumping around like crazy. I have it plugged in, check it out: http://heffay.homelinux.com:8088/luci

So the pit probe is the Thermoworks and the Food1 is the Maverick. See how the temp is all over the place with the pit?
Click to expand...

Geoff, I'm having a problem today, too. My pit temp is bouncing around like crazy.

11467213013_f3b2c6ae85_z.jpg


The food probe temp has been pretty good. But, the pit has jumped around all over the place.
 
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