Probes do not make a great connection / drop out (Maverick ET-73)


 
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EmilW

New member
Hi all, thanks for your time and patience.

I have been building my Maverick for the last few weeks and I am very close to my first test run. Recently I bought three Maverick ET-73 probes (I am not sure they are actually ET-73). When I try to connect them to my heatermeter, the leads seem to be longer then necessary. I try to not put them in completely, and with various steps of in and out, but this doesn't always work. In the home screen and on the history graph I can see them dropping in and out.

Luckily I had another thermometer probe (no idea what brand) that works on all probe ports and has shorter connector (preset "Radio Shack 10K" is accurate) and works all the time every time even when touching. This leads me to believe my build is good.

If I finally get the ET-73s to work (it feels like creating a tin foil antenna for better reception, you get the idea), actual physical touch makes them drop out again. Might this be hinting at a problem with grounding?

thanks.
 
Sounds like you have ET-732 probes there... Not only are the plugs a little long, for some reason the braided wire isn't grounded like other probes. I use 732 probes without issue, just make sure you back them out from the jack a little bit (you can feel when it clicks in place just short of being fully inserted), AND plug in the other probe you have that works all the time and make sure the braided wire from the 732 probe(s) is touching the braided wire from the other probe (this will ground out the 732 probes and make them work). I actually soldered a wire from the braid to the shield of the plug on my first 732 which puts the ground where it needs to be, but since that one died I've just been using the above method instead and it works fine. I have some little clips that I use to hold the probes in place, I use one of these clips to hold all the braids together and keep the 732's grounded out....
happy smoking....
 
In addition to what Ralph said, the 732 probes will also act funny at room temperature (heatermeter will show them disconnected). Put them in some boiling water & see if they read 212* Mine will randomly show correct temp or disconnected below ~90*. If you will use 732 probes exclusively, you can change the 4x 10k resistors (the 4 together in a row) to 22k & it will put the 732 probes in range of the ADC at room temp.
 
Ralph, your suggestion worked. I have had them running a full 24h without dropouts. This is a very acceptable solution and I will continue towards fitting my blower to the egg. Thanks.

Andy, I have run the grounded probes for 20h at room temperature without any drop outs. Afterwards I used some boiling water, icecubes and the oven to verify I could read four different temperatures. This also worked :) For now I'm going to leave the 10K as they are until I run into new problems.

I consider this question solved, thank you for your quick replies.
 
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