Stoker Log 4.2

[A. Vale]

But then I heard people say they use two blowers with one cook.

I always assumed it was 2 blowers going to 2 different smokers and they were all running at the same time.

OK, off the "multiple blower support" topic, but for additional feature enhancement requests - I think it would be really cool if an "alarm" could launch a URL (today's functionality) or send an e-mail notification via POP mail (or something like that). I just got an iPhone and think it would be really cool to receive email alarms on it.

 

[Amir]

I would love to add email support. But problem is, I can't find a free service that works with every phone. I can maybe do it for Verizon by emulating their web protocol. But you would be out of luck with AT&T

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If someone has a suggestion on how to do it, I will put it in instantly.

 

[A. Vale]

Amir, it is a LOT easier than that...

With AT&T and the iPhone, it truly is an email address. Here is what will work with the other main carriers in the US...

MDN = 10 digit phone number

AT&T: MDN@mmode.com
Boost Mobile: MDN@myboostmobile.com
Nextel: MDN@messaging.nextel.com
T-Mobile: MDN@tmomail.net
Sprint: MDN@messaging.sprintpcs.com
VZW: MDN@vtext.com

You just simply need to send an email message that is under 160 characters to the appropriate email address listed above (based on the person's phone number and carrier).

 

[Amir]

I realize that

. Problem is that I would need an email server to do this on. And someone warned me about spam detection on these email servers when you attempt to send too many messages on them per day (I know hotmail does this). When you think about all the users using the same server, you can see how that could happen.

That's why I was thinking about using the web post messages from their respective web servers so that I would need the intermediate email server.

I have not thought this through but another idea I had was to use outlook or other email client to send email from your own server.

 

[A. Vale]

Oh, seeing as you need a PC running to run your app, I just assumed individuals would add their outgoing mail server info to your app for sending.

 

[Amir]

If people are cool about configuring the email server, I can go ahead and include that method.

Seems like there are SMTP client controls available. Would that meet everyone's needs?

 

[Ken Brown]

Amir,

The SMTP mail is pretty simple on your end, it must be, it's the way I did it in timers. I've had 2 people reporting that it wasn't working for them, but I think they have a software blocking it. I've ad my best luck with gmail working as my mail server. It uses SSL, so give them fields for credentials. So far it's not rejected anything and anyone can get an account.

 

[Barry H]

I would think the UI would work well being very similar to your current layout with the control functions on top and graph(s) for each pit stacked below.

It would be nice to be able to select the graphs tiled vertically, or to select a tabbed/page format.

Maybe you could split the control functions and graph displays into seperate windows so they could be scaled & moved around for best viewing and use of available screen.

There would need to be a check box, or some setting for each probe and blower to associate it with a graph (pit-1, pit-2, etc)

I think there is always a 1:1 ratio of blower to pit (and corresponding graph)

When I use more than one blower for a cook it is for a seperate smoker and has one pit probe associated for blower control. Adding a second pit probe is purely to monitor the temp at a different position or level within the smoker.

It is nice to do this sometimes to make sure the control probe is not being 'influenced' by a hot spot, or being to close to a cold chunk of meat. Also to learn the characteristics of the smoker at different grid levels.

For email (text to cell) short, concise, alarm notification would be great. (Alarm: Pit-1 High Temp 275, or Alarm: Left Butt Done 195)

Also a fixed interval (selectable) status update notification of current temps is handy.
(Status: Pit-1 225, Red Probe 169, Green Probe 172, Blue Probe 174)

 

[Amir]

So to be clear then, you do have occasion to use two pit probes, but one blower. Correct? In that case, this is still one cook and you would want to see "fire-1" and "fire-2" on the same graph as meet temps?

The second graph would be for when I detect two blowers. Can we simplify this and assume that you never hot-plug a second blower so that at start-up I know if I should instantiate two windows rather than one?

The checkmarks you are asking for would be to associate the meat probes with the specific smoker/graph? Stoker tells me the pit probe association already so I wouldn't need user input for them. Come to think of it, the only thing this impacts is whether to graph the probe in that current window or the alternate. So it would be pretty easy to do.

 

[Barry H]

Correct, Two pit probes (Fire-1 and fire-2) are in the same smoker and on the same graph. (Usually labeled as Grill-1, Dome-1)

I do (very rarely) start the cook with the blower being controlled by one probe (dome), then switch to the other (grill) later in the cook as the meat warms up and temps stabilize.

A second blower is always for a second smoker(pit) and is never hot-plugged into the Stoker controller. No need for a second graph without a second pit/blower cooking.

Correct again - The meat probe/pit check mark is to determine which graph to plot on depending on which pit the meat is in.

 

[Amir]

Originally posted by Barry H:
I do (very rarely) start the cook with the blower being controlled by one probe (dome), then switch to the other (grill) later in the cook as the meat warms up and temps stabilize.

Hmmm. So what do we do with fire alarms here? I would need to association just the same? Ditto for lid-open. Sure would be nice to not have to deal with this at the start

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[Bob Hunter]

I've had 2 people reporting that it wasn't working for them, but I think they have a software blocking it.

Yup, I was one of them.
Thanks Ken for your help on this.

In my case the outbound Timers email was being blocked by McAffee, in the Access protection it is configured to block port 25 (smtp) in order to protect against mass mailer worms. Just added Ken's program to the exclusion list and viola! It worked.

One of the things with Timer Warner / Road runner cable, is that if you are using them you can only use their smtp servers for sending outbound mail. No matter who your email account is with, they block all outbound smtp from their network. Even using my new gmail account I still use TWC/RR smtp server.

 

[Barry H]

Originally posted by Amir:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Barry H:
I do (very rarely) start the cook with the blower being controlled by one probe (dome), then switch to the other (grill) later in the cook as the meat warms up and temps stabilize.

Hmmm. So what do we do with fire alarms here? I would need to association just the same? Ditto for lid-open. Sure would be nice to not have to deal with this at the start

. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It wouldn't be worth dealing with it at all in the software. I can simply move the control probe to a different location in the smoker if neeeded

 

[LarryR]

New Stokerlog user and I have a question. Prior to upgrading your Stokerlog do you test it, is there an "offical" release etc.? Here's why I ask (Amir please don't take any offense), I'm doing an overnight smoke this weekend and should I be concerned upgrading before a smoke where I won't be able to monitor what's going on? I guess it's really the Stoker controlling the fire and not Stokerlog but I thought I'd check.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Amir]

Originally posted by LarryR:
New Stokerlog user and I have a question. Prior to upgrading your Stokerlog do you test it, is there an "offical" release etc.? Here's why I ask (Amir please don't take any offense), I'm doing an overnight smoke this weekend and should I be concerned upgrading before a smoke where I won't be able to monitor what's going on? I guess it's really the Stoker controlling the fire and not Stokerlog but I thought I'd check.

Thanks in advance.

It is a good question

. I test out features I add. In this case, I tested the new temp panel. However, I did not test the rest of the functionality. The changes were highly localized so I did not think it would impact other parts of the program. And indeed, I did a 20 hour cook (!) last night and all was well.

But yes, if you are worried about ruining your cook, you should wait for feedback from others here, especially if the new feature is not critical to you. Bugs have been discovered in past releases by members, some of which required a lot of work to fix.

The upcoming version where I am adding support for multiple blowers is a major re-write and I will flag it as such when I post earlier versions as it surely will be full of bugs until I sort them all out.

The other thing to do is to test against your stoker without cooking. That way you know that the core operation of the program is intact and it has no problem communicating and controlling your machine.

So in general, look to the description of the post to know if there is high chance of issues or not. And if you want to be on the safe side, wait a month or two before upgrading.

 

[Amir]

OK, question on dual blowers again. How do you want to divide up the food probes? My current thinking is to have them all show up on the primary display regardless of which cook they go with. But give you a checkmark to have the graph show up in the secondary or primary display. Is this cool with everyone?

And would it be OK to not have the numberic values of those probes show up in the secondary display? It saves me a lot of work to not do that.

 

[Barry H]

That sound OK to me Amir. Showing the numeric values in the primary display (where the target temps are) works well.

I like having a second graph for the second cooker/blower. Having a checkmark and a checkmark for each meat probe to select which cooker (and graph) it is in.

Thanks again for all your work on your fine software creation.

I know many folks are enjoying it (also over on the BGE forum)

 

[Jack Anderson]

By the way, I am taking feature requests for what else needs adding!

Stokerlog is just FANTASTIC. I use it with my Stoker on a large BGE and running it has taught me so much about my cooks. It has also done a fine job of impressing my friends!

The only feature request I can think of right now is to add the ability to use custom TCP/IP port numbers for the HTTP and Telnet connections. My ISP blocks Port 80 "at the cable modem". I can get around that just fine using a D-Link router that translates a specified WAN port to a specified port on my LAN, which allows me to check the Stoker web interface from afar. Unfortunately, with Stokerlog the HTTP port is fixed at 80, so it can't use my workaround. (As it turns out I can Telnet to the Stoker just fine from the 'Net, but it would be nice to have the ability to customize that port too.)

Thank you Amir for a great program!

Jack in Vienna, VA

 

[Amir]

Thanks for the kind words you all.

.

Jack, I will go ahead and add http port selection. I will probably make it an Advanced Settings option but will create a registry field for it so that you can set it once, and "forget it."

Unfortunately, I am in the midsts of the re-write for Version 5.0 with dual smoker control. So if it is OK, I will roll in the featuer in that one. Should have a very early preview of V5.0 available before the weekend is over. I will create a new thread and put it there.

Barry, thanks for the feedback. I will keep everything on the same page other than blower probe which I have already coded to show up on the second window. What I need to know though, is how many probes people have when there are two cooks. This is so that I can have enough room on first page to hold them all.

If folks use 6 or more (combined between the two smokers) then I would need to maybe split them off or make more room on the primary display.

 

[Barry H]

I do have 6 meat probes now and plan to add a couple more in the future.

It's awefull convenient to have a probe in each piece of meat when you have 3 or 4 boston butts in each smoker. They all seem to cook at a different rates.