Stoker Placement


 
M

MarkMi

New member
I've had my BGE about 8 months, and the Stoker for about 3 months. What a combo, but that goes without saying.

My configuration is the Stoker connected to a Linksys WET54G Wireless-G Bridge near the Egg in the backyard, connecting wirelessly to a Linksys access point in the house (the AP is hardwired to the Router).

Config

During the spring and early summer, all worked well, Stokerlog and the Stoker stayed connected for 20+ hours. Recently, I've had a hard time with maintaining a connection for any longer than 1 or 2 hours. Let me say here that 99% of my adjustments are done from the PC, making these drop offs a bit of a pain, as well as screwing up my graphs!

From some research, I began to believe it's the wireless bridge heating up and dropping the connection. The WET54G not being built for sitting outside in the heat of the summer. I pulled some cat5 directly to the Stoker and succesfully stayed attached for 20+ hours, on consecutive tests.

Now that I know I need to have the stoker wired to my network to maintain a reliable connection, my question is this: Would it be better to locate the Stoker in the house, running 20 ft 1/4 cable out to the grill or keep the stoker outside with the Egg, using the cat5? The one question I dont have a good answer for is the reliability of the Stoker and the cabling in the cold weather. Yes, I do cook out when there's snow on the ground. I can keep the connections dry, but it does get cold in Feb & March in Michigan.

After writing all this, I think I've convinced myself to go the inside-stoker route, but I'm interested in others input on this, and their experience with the Stoker in the cold weather.

Thanks

Mark
 
I had the same problems, but by covering the bridge with a towel, getting it out of the sun and re-positing the router in the house. I have not had a problem since.
If it’s the same problem I had, you just need to boost your signal.

I assume you have the latest version of stoker … 2.1.321 It is located at kaytat.com
 
Hi Mark and Welcome to the board!

To answer the question of whether to go inside with the Stoker, I think it depends on the wire gauge of the probe/blower extension cabling. Headphone extension cords could be problematic. They typically have small gauge wires which may not provide enough juice to run the fan due to voltage drop. If you make your own cable using more substantial wiring, you can overcome this limitation.

Some folks here recommend a dedicated, separate extension cord for the blower and another cord for all of the probes. (You can put many probes on one extension cable.)

The cat 5 option (Stoker-outdoors) uses cables designed for the router and Stoker devices and therefore offers more consistent reliability and can be used for lengths up to 100 meters. In this case you could overcome the cold Stoker temps using a small heating pad in a small cooler (insulated) with the Stoker inside for the colder weather cooks.

D Casten is correct for the hot weather cooks. Even here in NC with our hot summers, keeping the Stoker and bridge well shaded seems to fix the problem of losing the wireless connection. I had considered mounting a muffin fan in the wall of the box holding the Stoker/bridge to move the warmer air out but I haven't found it to be necessary.

I look forward to seeing other opinions on this.
 
I'd keep the Stoker closer to the cooker.

Same heat problem with the WET11, got a longer cable from Stoker to WET11, put WET11 in the shade problem solved. I did a 7/8 hour cook in 105 temps the other day and didn't lose connection once.
 
Here's what I do. All the stoker equipment and router stays inside.
The connections and Maverick transmitter go into the water tight container hanging by the smoker.
Heavy duty foil covers the blower so everything is water proof in case of rain while the electronics stay cool inside from the 100+ heat.

stoker09.jpg
 
Jim, did you make your own cable(s) for the Stoker or did you purchase them? Also, do you use one cable for the temp probe(s) and a separate one for the blower?

Looks like your setup is ready for hurricane!
icon_biggrin.gif
Nice job.
 
Tom, mine are from RadioShack and I'm using 3 extension.
I am planning on making one for the blower because I think it is dropping voltage like you said.
I also lose connection to the fan somethings because it fits a little loose into the extension cable.
Seems the fan plug is a little under sized compared to the temp probes.
 
Thanks for the info Jim. I was thinking, if I get to the point of moving the Stoker and bridge indoors, I would probably go the route of making a custom cable. I will post the project here if I do.
 
Originally posted by Ralph Grunz:
what gauge wire are you thinking about for your custom cable?
Click to expand...
I have only a faint idea of the Stoker blower's voltage and current requirements but I haven't done any testing. Retail 20 foot headphone extension cords are probably 26-28 gauge as a baseline guess so I'd probably go with 22-24 gauge.

Cat 5 cabling would be my initial choice since it is readily available and has 8 conductors of 24 AWG wire (in 4 color-coded pairs.) I would probably use two pairs (green/blue for tip and white-green/white-blue for ring) for the blower connection, one pair (orange for tip and white-orange for ring) for all of the probes, and a pair (brown/white-brown) for all sleeves (the common ground for the blower and probes. See this link for connector tip-ring-sleeve terminology.) This would offer a lower impedance path for the probes and also a lower voltage drop for the blower.

Waterproofing the connectors while maintaining an easy way to disconnect them is also a goal. I would probably use heat-shrink tubing and Coax Seal over and around the solder joints for the 1/4" stereo jacks and plugs. I'm sure there are other options. (I may be a bit over the top on the waterproofing... during a recent overnight cook, a torrential rain submerged my 110 volt extension cord underwater! The cord's outlet, Stoker, and WSM stayed dry but it was not safe. Thankfully, no one was electrocuted but it gave me a good reason to move the line-voltage stuff safely indoors!)

I haven't tried this yet but I have a few hundred feet of Cat 5 cabling on hand... once I get some time to tinker with this. Let me know what you think.
 
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