The most challenging thing about calibrating the probes was finding the correct boiling temp. But if I had guessed 212, I would have been 1.5° off. I'm not that picky. It's way more difficult finding the best place to stick you probe in the meat. That can cause variations of >30°.
Didn't realize it could be that far off. I usually get 10 degree variation between the meet on top and lower grates on mine and lately, I have given up and seeing both hit target. When the first one goes above its target by a couple of degrees, I pull it off whether the other one is also there or not.
I have found that due to the nature of meat, some parts heat up faster than others. I notice this mostly in thick pieces of meat such as turkey and port butts. I've struggled on where to place the probe for some time until I got my Thermopen. For a good example of what I'm talking about, look at my last cook on two pork butts.
SuperBowlButts
At the beginning of the cook, look closely at a tag called "Change Probe Location" It you look at the temp lines above and left, you will see one temp line is >20° above the other. That's when I opened the dome, then used my Thermopen to locate the coolest interior temp on that butt. When I found it, I re-inserted my stoker probe in the same place. The 2 temps from 2 different butts started running along the same temperature line throughout the cook. I always re-check probe location around 45 minutes into the cook to make sure I am in a cold spot.
The most difficult part in calibrating your probes is boiling the water. The procedure is in my book, if some does not have it, I'll scan it and post it.
I have never done it as the proceedure is not in my book, nor do I see it in the stoker Menus. So appreciate a quick line or two on how to do it. Or is it in the 0.5 doc on Rock's web site?
I was unable to find specific instructions on probe calibration, and might have just assumed "how to" in the first place. I've never been one to read instructions before screwing something up. But I didn't screw it up and it must have worked. So here's how I did it.
Work with only one probe at a time. After finding the h2o boiling point for your back yard, or takeing your best WAG, get the water boiling in a pot with at least 3" of water. You don't need the stoker connected to the net. From the main menu, choose Temperature control, the select scan from the menu choices, with the probe plugged in, it will show the current temp, so dip just the probe tip, 1" on the control probe, 2" on the food probe, into the boiling water in the middle of the pot. On meat probes, you can dip it further, but remember one thing. If you submerse the probes wehre it joines the wire, it is most likely ruined. Be carefull. Leave it there until it stabilizes (10-20 seconds) Make a note of the temp. If it's within a degree or 2, you're done with that one. If not, put the probe aside. From the main menu select "Temperature control" again , this time cycle through the sub menu until you see CAL, press select. You will see a number, somewhere around 32, if your probe is reading to low, increase the number by half the temperature difference of you actual and calculated value. So if it 6° low, up you calibration number by 3. Going the other direction is obvious so I won't repeat my self. Go back to the Scan Section and take another reading, and re-calibrate if needed. If it turns out that I sent you in the wrong direction the first time, sorry, it's been a while. I only had to adjust one of mine and it was about 5° off. Now they are all with 2° of each other at 150°.
Amir, are you planning to do direct SMTP e-mail out of the application? If so, you should make people aware that some Internet Security software will try to block it. It'll drive you nuts.
Yes, I am using SMTP. I assume thie block happens because these programs have a "white"/safe list that includes programs that normally send email (e.g. outlook) and block others. Otherwise, I can't tell how it would know the difference between me using SMTP and other programs like it.
What was the work-around for them?[/QUOTE]
The work-around is to find the offending program block and add your stokerlog to the approved list. I know Larry had an issue with Mcaffee, but I'm not familiar enough with that to be able to point the exact menu option to turn it off. It's just best to warn them before they find the problem. The other problems I have found is with the ISP's. Some will not relay without credentials, some require SSL. I have found Gmail to be the easiest to work with. It uses credentials and SSL, but you can send to any address any time.
