Rogue probe


 

FletchNZ

New member
So I was doing a cook last night/this morning (3kg pork leg), this is my 3rd cook on my heater meter with new probes and one of my probes was acting strange.
When I plugged it in it was reporting a temp of 45C instead of 14C and an hour later it jumped form 47C to 128C - it was all over the place.
So I disabled the probe in the config and unplugged it for an hour and tried it again later. When I plugged it back it was reporting 10-15C higher than it should and after 45min it went spastic as shown in the lime green line below.
Has anyone had a similar experience with what might be going on?

Besides that the cook went awesome, everything went as it should although it finished 3 hours early. My microdamper ran perfectly, I'm so happy with it.

Also available here for a while
http://http://bbq.dumbar.net:889

Capture1.PNG
 
Have you tried switching ports to see if the problem is with the probe or the port?

Yes - sorry forgot to mention that important fact, I swapped it to port 3 around 2am briefly and it reported the same temp as port 1 - When the probe was plugged in to both port 1 and port 3 it showed the same incorrect temp.
I know this makes it look like the probe is faulty, I just wanted to check there wasn't something I was missing or maybe something to check on the probe that can easily be fixed.
The probe is a ET-732, if that matters.
 
Yes, to both - I wash the probe ends after each use in the sink with water and a scrubber, then I store them in a zip top bag so its nice and tidy
I think you're about to teach me something important...
 
i never wash mine. water kills them. dont think leaving them in the UDS hanging in between cooks is bad like the grill on my propane bbq i clean them with a wire brush before each cook but the probes are very delicate so I tend to leave em alone
 
I second the Thermoworks probes... I found some Maverick probe models to be quirky and they all seem to die very easily from moisture, I killed a ton of them along the way to discovering Thermoworks. I've found Thermoworks probes to be much more durable and reliable.
 
Thanks guys, Ill get some thermowork probe or 2 even just as spares. Out of curiosity, what are the most popular thermocouple models?
 
Honestly I had no Idea they were so sensitive to water, when I cleaned them i got them really wet including the first part of the cable - So pretty much the worst thing you could do.
Going forward ill just clean the bits I need to and be careful and i'm sure my probes will last just fine.
 
Honestly I had no Idea they were so sensitive to water

Yup, they sure are!


Going forward ill just clean the bits I need to and be careful and i'm sure my probes will last just fine.
That'd be a good idea, that's what I do. This is also why I wish we had a thermocouple food probe though. I'd give up the other food probes to have a single thermocouple food probe.
 
You don't want to use this probe in a bbq pit

I've been using that probe as a meat probe for over a year now, works great, no issues. Probably not the best for a pit probe 'cause small size = fast reaction, but as a food probe it is great. The other Thermoworks Pro probes (without the water proof cable) still have the bead that seals the probe/cable junction and are much more water resistant than any Maverick probe I have seen. However, for a pit probe, hands down, Thermocouple is the best way to go IMHO.
 
I've been using the same Maverick ET72 probes for a few years. I'm not dissing the Thermoworks, I just preferred a probe I could fit through the eyelets in my old WSM (bless her heart, she's gone now). The thermoworks probes are a bit beefier,and will probably replace with these once, if ever, my Mavericks finally fail. I do have some Thermoworks probes, but had a bad experience last year with receiving one DOA out of the box. Sent back to Thermoworks, and they replaced post haste.

I guess my point is to take proper care of your probes. Clean lightly after each cook. coil up and store properly, and avoid any stress where the cable goes into the probe end.
 
You can bring back maverick probes by placing the sensor part in a pan of veg. oil and warm it till the probe stops bubbles coming out where wire goes in. Not saying they will last a long time this way , but could use them as a backup.
 

 

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