New to Stoker....some questions.....long boot up time?


 
K

KeithG

TVWBB Fan
Hello all,

I have had a WSM for about 4 years now, but only received my Stoker last month. I have been a lurker on TVWB for some time and have found the site just awesome.

I have been playing with the Stoker inside getting to know it and I have some questions:

--Does it usually take 5+ minutes for the stoker to boot up and get to the main menu? In the instructions and on Rob's videos in this forum, it seems like it should take about 10 seconds or so. Mine is taking very long to boot up. Then it takes another 2 minutes to configure a temp probe and the light to go off. I also did a test where I turned off the unit, plugged in both temp probes (pit and food) and it took almost 9 minutes for it to boot up fully with both lights to go off on the probes. (after about 5 min it said "Please wait...." and then took 2 more min for the first temp probe light to go out and then another 2 min for the 2nd probe light to go out)

--Can you only have one temp probe set to one blower? Reason for asking is on Rob's video he said that once the food probe exceed the target temp, then the fan went off. But when I tried to assign the pit and food probes to the blower, it will only take one. And if you have the pit probe set to control the blower, then the blower will not turn off when the food probe hits the target temp. I obviously want the pit probe controlling the blower, so am I missing something?


This boot up time seems very excessive. Is this normal or is something wrong. My main concern if this is normal is I am planning on using Stokerlog software at some point and if I need to cycle the Stoker (when opening the lid so the fan won't keep blowing), then it will take a long time to get the temp control back IMO.


Here is some more info that may help:
--Firmware is .193 version. I read on some threads about newer versions being slower than older ones. Is .193 a slow version, can I go back to get faster response to the Stoker.
--This is also happening when I am NOT connecting the unit to any network. Just turning the unit on with nothing plugged in except for probes. I have been able to connect the unit through a wireless bridge to my router successfully and this works well so I can monitor the temps and all through my laptop using the Stoker IP address.
--I do NOT have Stokerlog installed yet. I would like to, but I really want to get everything ironed out yet.
--I have not tried to do a smoke with the Stoker or even just controlling the temp yet. I didn't want to use it if this long boot up is not normal.


Thanks for your help.
Kg
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by KeithG:
Hello all,

I have had a WSM for about 4 years now, but only received my Stoker last month. I have been a lurker on TVWB for some time and have found the site just awesome.

I have been playing with the Stoker inside getting to know it and I have some questions:

--Does it usually take 5+ minutes for the stoker to boot up and get to the main menu? In the instructions and on Rob's videos in this forum, it seems like it should take about 10 seconds or so. Mine is taking very long to boot up. Then it takes another 2 minutes to configure a temp probe and the light to go off. I also did a test where I turned off the unit, plugged in both temp probes (pit and food) and it took almost 9 minutes for it to boot up fully with both lights to go off on the probes. (after about 5 min it said "Please wait...." and then took 2 more min for the first temp probe light to go out and then another 2 min for the 2nd probe light to go out)
I have only done two smokes with mine but the my stoker boots up very fast. Seemed like the first few times I booted it took awhile. I upgraded the firmware so u might try that. Also it seemed like I needed to unplug the fan and plug it back in a few times before it recognized it. Try that also.


--Can you only have one temp probe set to one blower? Reason for asking is on Rob's video he said that once the food probe exceed the target temp, then the fan went off. But when I tried to assign the pit and food probes to the blower, it will only take one. And if you have the pit probe set to control the blower, then the blower will not turn off when the food probe hits the target temp. I obviously want the pit probe controlling the blower, so am I missing something?

I could only get the blower to associate with one probe. And I used the pitt probe.


This boot up time seems very excessive. Is this normal or is something wrong. My main concern if this is normal is I am planning on using Stokerlog software at some point and if I need to cycle the Stoker (when opening the lid so the fan won't keep blowing), then it will take a long time to get the temp control back IMO.

I would try the firmware first if it were me.


Here is some more info that may help:
--Firmware is .193 version. I read on some threads about newer versions being slower than older ones. Is .193 a slow version, can I go back to get faster response to the Stoker.
--This is also happening when I am NOT connecting the unit to any network. Just turning the unit on with nothing plugged in except for probes. I have been able to connect the unit through a wireless bridge to my router successfully and this works well so I can monitor the temps and all through my laptop using the Stoker IP address.
--I do NOT have Stokerlog installed yet. I would like to, but I really want to get everything ironed out yet.
--I have not tried to do a smoke with the Stoker or even just controlling the temp yet. I didn't want to use it if this long boot up is not normal.


Thanks for your help.
Kg </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by KeithG:
Hello all,

I have had a WSM for about 4 years now, but only received my Stoker last month. I have been a lurker on TVWB for some time and have found the site just awesome.

I have been playing with the Stoker inside getting to know it and I have some questions:

--Does it usually take 5+ minutes for the stoker to boot up and get to the main menu? In the instructions and on Rob's videos in this forum, it seems like it should take about 10 seconds or so. Mine is taking very long to boot up. Then it takes another 2 minutes to configure a temp probe and the light to go off. I also did a test where I turned off the unit, plugged in both temp probes (pit and food) and it took almost 9 minutes for it to boot up fully with both lights to go off on the probes. (after about 5 min it said "Please wait...." and then took 2 more min for the first temp probe light to go out and then another 2 min for the 2nd probe light to go out)

--Can you only have one temp probe set to one blower? Reason for asking is on Rob's video he said that once the food probe exceed the target temp, then the fan went off. But when I tried to assign the pit and food probes to the blower, it will only take one. And if you have the pit probe set to control the blower, then the blower will not turn off when the food probe hits the target temp. I obviously want the pit probe controlling the blower, so am I missing something?


This boot up time seems very excessive. Is this normal or is something wrong. My main concern if this is normal is I am planning on using Stokerlog software at some point and if I need to cycle the Stoker (when opening the lid so the fan won't keep blowing), then it will take a long time to get the temp control back IMO.


Here is some more info that may help:
--Firmware is .193 version. I read on some threads about newer versions being slower than older ones. Is .193 a slow version, can I go back to get faster response to the Stoker.
--This is also happening when I am NOT connecting the unit to any network. Just turning the unit on with nothing plugged in except for probes. I have been able to connect the unit through a wireless bridge to my router successfully and this works well so I can monitor the temps and all through my laptop using the Stoker IP address.
--I do NOT have Stokerlog installed yet. I would like to, but I really want to get everything ironed out yet.
--I have not tried to do a smoke with the Stoker or even just controlling the temp yet. I didn't want to use it if this long boot up is not normal.


Thanks for your help.
Kg </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Boot should take 5-10 seconds, but I don't have those types of probes.

one probe is associated to one blower. This monitors the pit temp and tells the blower when to turn on. The other probes monitor food. I don't use food probes anymore, unless I do pork shoulder.
You still have to monitor your food probes for whatever temp you want. Stokerlog will monitor your food probes and keep your food "warm", kind of bring down the pit temp so your food isn't overcooked.

You should redo the firmware. Something is wrong there.
 
Keith, give John at Rock's Bar-B-Que a call and talk to him about this problem. We've been using Stokers in competition for the last two years and we've never experienced the slow boot issues you are describing when using a single pit system.

We have had issues with the Stoker not responding properly in multi-pit situations but it has always been my error by using a power supply that is too small for the number of and size of blowers we're using at the time. For example, the first system we purchased included four 5cfm blowers and the power supply that was delivered with that system drove them all just fine. However, when we upgraded to four 10cfm fans, the original power supply wasn't powerful enough to drive the entire system. John knew this and had included a bigger power supply with the larger fans but I inadvertantly set up the system with the older/smaller power supply and had all kinds of troubles. Once I realized my error, I swapped the power supplies and all was good from there.

Anyway, call John and see if he can't help you determine the root of the problem and come up with a fix. Please tell him I said "Hi" when you speak to him!
 
Firmware seems most likely the issue. Get the latest non-beta.

About the food probe setting - That's a good question. You saw how it worked in the video - It shut the fan down when it reached target. In practice though I never use targets on food probes except on the rare event that I won't be there when it hits target. This is never the case at a contest.

In comps I use the Stoker on my main pit which is reserved for butts/brisket. I keep the pit at 250 and I target 160 in my head for both pieces of meat. When one of them hits 160 I baste and foil, keeping the pit at 250. When the meat hits 195 - 200 I remove them from heat and allow them to rest until I ready to prep them for the turn in.

Are you saying that a blower can only be assigned to one probe? This could be the case. I'll check the logic to see if this is the case. The test would be to:

1)assign the blower to the pit probe and check the UI.

2)Go back and assign the food probe to the blower and check the UI.

3)Check to see if the pit probe is still assigned to the blower.

If you do talk to John ask him about the logic. I'm curious now. I'll get back on this.

-rob
 
Thank you all for the info. I have sent John an email, but I will call him as well.

Rob: thanks for your videos. They are great. On the logic, yes it seems the blower can only be assigned to one temp probe. I did exactly like you said (before I even posted) and this is how I came to realize that you can only assign one temp probe. I had the pit probe assigned to the blower, then I went into the food probe and also assigned it to the blower. When I went back and checked the pit probe, it was no longer assigned to the blower. This was using the Stoker button interface. Also, when I did it through the web interface and select the blower for both temp probes, then refreshed, it only configured the blower for one probe.

I am going to try to talk to John before changing the firmware.

Thanks again.
Kg
 
Yankee Rob,

I have a couple of questions concerning how you setup your smoker for comps if you don't mind. (I am not into competitions, but like to take my personal hobby here to the next level
icon_smile.gif
)

Can you email me at keith1991@verizon.net (in my profile as well) or let me know the best way to handle?

thanks
Kg
 
Keith,

Thanks for troubleshooting the logic. Dang! I'll need to update the video!

I will PM you but as a preface let me say that when I cook at the comps I use 2 pits. The first is a Caldera Tallboy (from BBQ Guru) which is used for butts/brisket and runs at 250.

I use the 18 inch WSM for ribs and chicken. I'm changing my process for ribs/chicken this year after going through the Harry Soo QandA session last week. I'm going to be running the WSM at 275. If you haven't read the Harry Soo QandA on this site it is here:
Harry Soo QandA about WSMs in Competition

For the record, John RARELY responds to email. It's best to try and reach him by phone and remember he's on the west coast.

-rob
 
PROBLEM RESOLVED! THANK YOU KENNY AT ROCK'S!!!

I emailed John and Kenny at Rock's responded this morning telling me to reset the database and if that did not work to send the unit back and they will replace. I reset the database when I got home and the boot up delay went away. Now takes about 5 seconds or so to boot up and plugging in temp probes takes 1-2 seconds for light to go out. Wow, great deal.

Thanks again Kenny! Great service.

Kg
 
Kevin,

Scroll through the menus - it's in there. Remember to save your probe calibration numbers before you do so OR recalibrate them like I did in my videos.
 
Thank you guys I have the cal numbers written down but was not sure if I needed the Serial Numbers. I overwrote those when I first got the unit and renamed the probes. As it turned out the box picked up the numbers when I reset the database. Thank you all for the help it is very much appreciated.
 
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