Probes


 
R

RogerPrice

New member
Hello. I’ve been playing around with balancing out the heat in my ex 6 by using removable heat deflectors on the right side. I have it pretty dialed in now. In the process one of my meat probes that I was using to monitor one side of the cooker just blanked out. I noticed it was really far off from the other probe to begin with so maybe defective and possibly the reason I though my grill was 100° Hotter on the right side. More tests to follow.

Question 1. Are meat and ambient probes different. Maybe high ambient temps are hard on the meat probes but I’ve never had a problem with other meat probes in the past

Question 2. What’s the max limit on the meat probes? I was shooting for 450 when it blanked out.
 
Question 1. Are meat and ambient probes different? Maybe high ambient temps are hard on the meat probes but I’ve never had a problem with other meat probes in the past

Fundamentally they are the same as the temperature is temperature. The primary difference is that the SF meat probe takes an average temperature over the probe's longer length within the meat.

Question 2. What’s the max limit on the meat probes? I was shooting for 450 when it blanked out.

I have not tested the maximum temperature a meat probe would handle, but maybe someone else here has. You probably found the maximum temperature the SF controller will operate for the meat probes.


I am done using the SF meat probes for steaks as the wire just gets in the way and will the SF meat probe strictly for a Turkey or Brisket. For steaks, I now use a small battery operated meat probe that instantly takes the temperature wherever I insert it.

71DLg213kML._AC_SL1500_.jpg


I am looking forward to receiving the Meater Thermometer for Christmas:

Meater - The Best Selling Smart Meat Thermometer

Remove the guesswork from cooking with MEATER, the smartest cooking thermometer for your BBQ and Kitchen.
meater.com meater.com
 
Last edited:
Yes, the heat probes are different. Look at the ends. Meat probes taper to a point while air probes are blunt. Getting the probe to work in this narrow region is mechanically more difficult. Depending on the probe, the air temp may be too high for the probe. Both of Weber's probes are rated higher than what you should get in the SF.

Now, on the heat deflectors. If you look at the initial videos about the SF, you will find discussions about Weber doing all kinds of tests with foil inside the SF. Their conclusions was that foil (a heat deflector) was not necessary and changed the dynamics of the heat flow inside the unit. Just saying.

Now, about the temps that you see. The air temp will just about always be different than the controller temp. I have been told by Weber that a 50 degree difference is not unexpected (I disagree). I always run an air probe to see what is really happening. The controller temp is "adjusted" (magically) by the PID so that overshoots do not occur. Generally, I am 15-25 degrees below the controller. This is dependent upon what temp you are running at. At 200-250, about 25 below. From 250-425, varies. From 425 and up, the controller tries harder to keep up.

I do not make a run without two probes.
 
AHoneyman said:
Yes, the heat probes are different. Look at the ends. Meat probes taper to a point while air probes are blunt. Getting the probe to work in this narrow region is mechanically more difficult. Depending on the probe, the air temp may be too high for the probe. Both of Weber's probes are rated higher than what you should get in the SF.

Now, on the heat deflectors. If you look at the initial videos about the SF, you will find discussions about Weber doing all kinds of tests with foil inside the SF. Their conclusions was that foil (a heat deflector) was not necessary and changed the dynamics of the heat flow inside the unit. Just saying.

Now, about the temps that you see. The air temp will just about always be different than the controller temp. I have been told by Weber that a 50 degree difference is not unexpected (I disagree). I always run an air probe to see what is really happening. The controller temp is "adjusted" (magically) by the PID so that overshoots do not occur. Generally, I am 15-25 degrees below the controller. This is dependent upon what temp you are running at. At 200-250, about 25 below. From 250-425, varies. From 425 and up, the controller tries harder to keep up.

I do not make a run without two probes.
Click to expand...
Yes I knew the tips were different but I didn’t know if they were mechanically different. My temps were 100° apart from the right side to the left side using meat probes. The heat deflectors have either solved that problem......OR the problem never existed and I was measuring one side with a faulty probe. More tests will be needed. All I know is my grill is pretty even with them right now and they are very easy to remove if I want 2 zone setup for grilling.
As for the controller temp vs probe temp, it makes sense that the controller doesn’t react to slight changes, otherwise it would never stabilize and keep fighting itself.

Here is a pic of my 2 probes currently:
 

Attachments

  • BB008E73-4F72-46BD-957A-0906AF3E77EF.jpeg
    BB008E73-4F72-46BD-957A-0906AF3E77EF.jpeg
    177.3 KB · Views: 7
RogerPrice said:
Yes I knew the tips were different but I didn’t know if they were mechanically different. My temps were 100° apart from the right side to the left side using meat probes. The heat deflectors have either solved that problem......OR the problem never existed and I was measuring one side with a faulty probe. More tests will be needed. All I know is my grill is pretty even with them right now and they are very easy to remove if I want 2 zone setup for grilling.
As for the controller temp vs probe temp, it makes sense that the controller doesn’t react to slight changes, otherwise it would never stabilize and keep fighting itself.

Here is a pic of my 2 probes currently:
Click to expand...
The probes are rated at 572° F. If your probe or probe wire is touching the cooking grate it can be higher than the ambient temp. Thermoworks has an excellent article on this. I use a meat probe to measure ambient on my EX6 with no problem. Because the SF probe feeds into the PID controller there's what I call a smoothing function code that dampens oscillations.The probe ports do not get an input from the PID controller and therefore show temp oscillations. As long as you're happy with your heat deflectors result then smoke on. It's your cooker.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top