Stokerlog Version 6

DavidH · Oct 31, 2009

Amir,

I tested 6.5. No more exception errors, but I do notice some other strange behaviour:
1. On starting Stoker Log, during the initialization stage when the program executes cmd. BBQ -t, the Stoker gets reset (acts like it was a power-on reset). Is this supposed to be the case?

2. After about 20-30 minutes of running I get a red msg. (bad fan string) in the Status field. The fan is running constantly. Pressing the Stop button has no effect other than to change the button to Start. Modifying the target temp to a lower setting than the current temp will turn off the fan, but the fan bar indicator remains on as if the fan were running. Pressing the start button will restart the program and reset the Stoker as explained in item 1 above.

Test conditions are one fan, pit and temp probes, .249 & 6.5. Below is part of stoker log file.

Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:10 AM, Connecting to Stoker...
Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:12 AM, Logging into Stoker...
Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:14 AM, Command: root
Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:14 AM, Command: tini
Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:18 AM, Command: bbq -k
Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:28 AM, Command: gc
Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:28 AM, Command: bbq -t
Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:33 AM, Stoker started at: 10/31/2009 11:50:33 AM
Note, 10/31/2009 11:50:34 AM, Reading Stoker Web Interface...
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:51:51 AM,67.8,72,62.8
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:52:52 AM,68.3,72,62.8
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:53:53 AM,68.5,72,63.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:54:54 AM,67.8,72,63.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:55:54 AM,67.8,72,63.1
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:56:55 AM,68.5,72,62.4
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:57:56 AM,68.5,72,63.1
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:58:57 AM,68,72,63.3
Temps, 10/31/2009 11:59:57 AM,67.8,72,63.3
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:00:58 PM,68,72,63.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:01:59 PM,67.8,72,63.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:03:00 PM,68,72,63.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:04:00 PM,68,72,63.7
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:05:01 PM,68,72,62.8
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:06:02 PM,68,72,63
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:07:03 PM,68,72,63
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:08:03 PM,68,72,63
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:09:04 PM,68,72,63.3
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:10:05 PM,67.8,72,63
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:11:05 PM,67.8,72,62.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:12:06 PM,68,72,62.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:13:07 PM,67.8,72,62.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:14:08 PM,67.8,72,62.5
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:15:08 PM,68,72,62.8
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:16:09 PM,68,72,62.1
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:17:10 PM,68,72,62.8
Temps, 10/31/2009 12:18:11 PM,68,72,62.8
Error, 10/31/2009 12:18:20 PM, Bad fan string
Error, 10/31/2009 12:18:20 PM, Bad fan string: 760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5.6 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.5 67.1 PID: NORM tgt:22.2 error:13.6 drive:0.9 istate:59.3 on:10 off:0 blwr

n

Error, 10/31/2009 12:18:33 PM, Bad fan string
Error, 10/31/2009 12:18:33 PM, Bad fan string: 760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5.6 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.5 67.1 PID: NORM tgt:22.2 error:13.6 drive:0.9 istate:59.8 on:10 off:0 blwr

n

Error, 10/31/2009 12:18:39 PM, Bad fan string
Error, 10/31/2009 12:18:39 PM, Bad fan string: 760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5.6 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.5 67.1 PID: NORM tgt:22.2 error:13.6 drive:0.9 istate:60.1 on:10 off:0 blwr

n

Error, 10/31/2009 12:19:02 PM, Bad fan string
Error, 10/31/2009 12:19:02 PM, Bad fan string: 760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5.6 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.5 67.1 PID: NORM tgt:22.2 error:13.6 drive:0.9 istate:61 on:10 off:0 blwr

n

Temps, 10/31/2009 12:19:11 PM,67.8,72,62.8
Error, 10/31/2009 12:19:26 PM, Bad fan string
Error, 10/31/2009 12:19:26 PM, Bad fan string: 760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5.6 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.5 67.1 PID: NORM tgt:22.2 error:13.6 drive:0.9 istate:61.7 on:10 off:0 blwr

n

Error, 10/31/2009 12:19:27 PM, Bad fan string
Error, 10/31/2009 12:19:27 PM, Bad fan string: 760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5.6 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.5 67.1 PID: NORM tgt:22.2 error:13.6 drive:0.9 istate:61.7 on:10 off:0 blwr

n

Error, 10/31/2009 12:19:50 PM, Bad fan string
Error, 10/31/2009 12:19:50 PM, Bad fan string: 760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5.6 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.5 67.1 PID: NORM tgt:22.2 error:13.6 drive:0.9 istate:62.6 on:10 off:0 blwr

n

Error, 10/31/2009 12:20:04 PM, Bad fan string

Found this towards the end of the telnet file. Not certain that it is related, but seems to be.

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.4 istate:-19.4 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.4 istate:-19.4 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -11.9 0.3 0.8 0.6 17.2 63

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.4 istate:-19.5 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.4 istate:-19.6 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

760000127E6AD630: 3 19.9 67.8 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.8 67.5 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.1 drive:0.3 istate:-19.6 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -11.9 0.3 0.8 0.6 17.2 63

760000127E6AD630: 3 19.9 67.8 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.8 67.5 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.1 drive:0.3 istate:-19.7 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -11.9 0.3 0.8 0.6 17.2 63

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.2 istate:0.1 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.2 istate:0.1 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -11.9 0.3 0.8 0.6 17.2 63

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.2 istate:0.2 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.2 istate:0.2 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.2 istate:0.3 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:18.3 error:-7.8 drive:0.2 istate:0.4 off due to overshoot blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -11.9 0.3 0.8 0.6 17.2 63

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:20.5 error:3.3 drive:0.1 istate:0 on:1 off:9 blwr

n

C00000127E845930: 3 21.8 71.1 -11.9 0.3 0.8 0.6 17.3 63.2

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:20.5 error:3.3 drive:0.1 istate:0.1 on:1 off:9 blwr

ff

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:20.5 error:3.3 drive:0.1 istate:0.1 on:1 off:9 blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:20.5 error:3.3 drive:0.1 istate:0.1 on:1 off:9 blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:20.5 error:3.3 drive:0.1 istate:0.2 on:1 off:9 blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -4.4 0.1 0.8 0.7 20.3 68.5 PID: NORM tgt:20.5 error:1.4 drive:0 istate:0.2 on:1 off:9 blwr

ff

C00000127E845930: 3 21.6 70.9 -12.5 0.3 0.8 0.5 16.8 62.3

760000127E6AD630: 3 20 68 -5 0.1 0.8 0.7 19.9 67.8 PID: NORM tgt:20.5 error:3.3 drive:0.1 istate:0.2 on:1 off:9 blwr

ff

Amir · Oct 31, 2009

Bingo! Thanks David. That was the data I was looking for. It seems that stoker now reports fan on cycle value of 10. It used to always be a single digit from 0 to 9.

Here is the new version. Please test: http://www.amir-views.com/downloads/SetupV66.msi

On your question #1, that is "by design." I have to put stoker in debug mode to get the data I need and hence the restart.

DavidH · Oct 31, 2009

Amir,

I think you've done it!! Just need to verify a couple of things first.

1. No errors of any sort during testing, but I noticed that after about 1.5 hours of not reaching temp, the fans resort to running constantly. I suspect that is a result of the algorithm used and therefore by design. Yes?

2. Stopping the program does stop the fans, but the fan indicator in the program continues to show that the fans are running.

3. Once stopped, Stoker Log does not control the Stoker, the internal web page settings do. I noticed that the internal web page data is not updated by the Stoker Log, meaning that alarm settings internal to the Stoker take precedence.

I thought that I saw in at least one previous release of Stoker Log that the Stoker did update its internal settings with those from Stoker Log. Am I mistaken?

Great work!! We all thank you very much for writing and supporting this program.

Test case was 2 fans, 2 pit and 2 meat probes. .249 f/w and 6.6 s/w.

Amir · Oct 31, 2009

Hi David. Let me clarify what stokerlog does. As its name implies, it is simply logging what stoker is doing.

It generally does not control the stoker unless some event occurs like keeping things warm, new Timed Cooking mode, etc.

So stopping stokerlog has no impact on stoker. Stoker will keep working as if stokerlog was never there. This is quite nice because even if your PC or stokerlog crash, stoker is not impacted.

On your #1, that is normal algorithm in stoker. It attempts to first pulse the fan to see if the temp is achieved. If after a while this fails, then it puts it on full on mode. So that is normal.

I am not quite clear on #2. But if I understand it right, if you hit stop, then the program stops updating and the last status will remain on screen.

On #3, we made a change a while back to not reflect the status of alarms in stoker. Stoker alarms are annoying when they go off. Stokerlog will turn them off as soon as you change anything in stokerlog that requires writing to stoker. So when you set the alarm, it is only in stokerlog and not stoker. And yes, very old versions did maintain the stoker alarm but not in this and previous version of stokerlog.

DavidH · Nov 1, 2009

Hi, Amir:

Thanks for the edu-macation. Everything seems to be working as designed then. I'll test it on a real cooker today, but I'm expecting all to go well.

Btw, I saw an old screen shot of Stoker log, I think on John's site, where the fan graph actually showed two levels, obviously corresponding to the level scale on the right (like half power was the first fan level and full power was the second). I've never seen this capability in any of the releases that I've run, so just curious what that feature was and what became of it.

Amir · Nov 1, 2009

The original versions of stoker did not have a proper status of fan. It would simply give you the duty cycle. That is, 30% on, 70% off over certain period. So i graphed this using a scale 1 to 10. This is what you see on John's site.

I then asked the developer to give me true status of the fan. And he did last year and that is the revision we all run on now. Since the fan only has two states, the fan graph now only goes from 0 to 1.

The above seemed like a nice blessing as the fan no longer pollutes the overall picture with its oscillations.

I still use the duty cycle information and that is what you see as a percentage under Fire Statistics. I simply average it out over time to give you some idea of how often the fan was running during the cook. This btw, was as the last bug I just fixed. The ratio would go to 10:0. Before, it used to say 1:0 for full-on cycle.

phil g · Nov 1, 2009

I have been running stoker log V6.5 with stoker firmware (249) for over 24 hours...

Only one tiny issue... Over 24 hours the "log time" indicator rolls over

At first I thought it was hung, but then it kept running.

Since I doubt I will ever smoke something 24 hours I would view this as a non-bug.

6.5 looks like a keeper to me!

Phil

Tom Burrus · Nov 1, 2009

Hey Amir, If I haven't upgraded my Stoker's firmware in a while (2.0.259), will this new version of StokerLog (with the new fan data values) work for me? I've been pretty happy with my combination of StokerLog and Stoker and as they say "if it ain't broke..." but I would like to try out the new temp-times.

Amir · Nov 1, 2009

Yes, it should work just fine. Indeed, there is no reason to upgrade the firmware as the new functionality, twitter, is now part of stokerlog. And new firmware runs much slower than the old.

But please do me a favor. Test your firmware against stokerlog 6.6 and report back on how it works. The parts I have modified are at the heart of the system and if they have bugs, they will be nasty and we need to know them now!

Tom Burrus · Nov 1, 2009

OK will do. I am planning a couple of over-nighters during the next week or two (weather permitting) so that will be a good test. I haven't used my Stoker in a while anyway, so this should be fun. Thanks for your great contribution to the art of smoking!

DavidH · Nov 1, 2009

Amir,

I'm about 4 hours into a cook and everything is working flawlessly with 6.6. Nice work!!

I do plan to back off the f/w some since I, too, have noticed that the latest version is slower.

I love this program though. It really adds a lot of value to the Stoker.

Dave

Barry H · Nov 3, 2009

Hey Amir,

Nice to see you are still updating your great software again

I fondly remember back in the day when you were testing and controlling my heavily loaded Stoker here in Atlanta while you were over in Japan!!

Any chance of adding support for one or two more sets of blower/pit probes?? Right now I am doing a long smoke with all three of my Large BGE and v6.6 seems to be working fine (HTTP only) with firmware v 2.6.0.200

Only problem is I only have two pretty graphs to look at instead of three!!

Amir · Nov 3, 2009

Hi Barry. Good to hear from you. I tell that story of debugging your stoker remotely to many

.

On your question, I don't have the hardware to test against three blowers. So it is kind of hard to do the development. Thinking we only needed two, I made the mistake of hardwiring that feature

.

Let me see if I can get my hands on more blowers. And then think through how to tell stoker where each probe goes....

Ray Frederick · Nov 8, 2009

Originally posted by Amir:
Yes, it should work just fine. Indeed, there is no reason to upgrade the firmware as the new functionality, twitter, is now part of stokerlog. And new firmware runs much slower than the old.

Amir, What firmware do you recommend for the Stoker? The last firmware without built-in Twitter is: 2.6.0.101 Is this the one you like?

Billy Strickland · Nov 22, 2009

Amir,

I think StokerLog is awesome...

I have updated my laptop to Win7 64bit...when I run StokerLog 6.6 it begins fine until I hit the START button.

No matter what I have optioned (email, twitter, etc), I get the following:

(BTW...I am running 2.6.0.226 stoker software)

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\AmirM Software\StokerLog\StokerLog.txt' is denied.
at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.Symbols.Container.InvokeMethod(Method TargetProcedure, Object[] Arguments, Boolean[] CopyBack, BindingFlags Flags)
at Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.NewLateBinding.LateGet(Object Instance, Type Type, String MemberName, Object[] Arguments, String[] ArgumentNames, Type[] TypeArguments, Boolean[] CopyBack)
at StokerLog.StokerLog.StartButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Documents and Settings\Amir\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Projects\stoker\Stoker\Stoker\Stokerlog.vb:line 350
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
StokerLog
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/AmirM%20Software/StokerLog/StokerLog.exe
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
ZedGraph
Assembly Version: 5.0.7.40149
Win32 Version: 5.0.7.40149
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/AmirM%20Software/StokerLog/ZedGraph.DLL
----------------------------------------
AxInterop.WMPLib
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/AmirM%20Software/StokerLog/AxInterop.WMPLib.DLL
----------------------------------------
Interop.WMPLib
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/AmirM%20Software/StokerLog/Interop.WMPLib.DLL
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

Thanks
Billy

Billy Strickland · Nov 22, 2009

Amir...you may or may not want to pay attention to my previous post..

Having used MS software as long as I have and fighting through Vista and now Win 7, I should have know to try running the software as escalated Administrator permissions.

It has been stable now for 10 minutes...

I'll update if I have any more crashes..

Thanks
Billy

Amir · Nov 22, 2009

Ah, that is an old bug I had forgotten about. I should find another place to put that debug file. Until then, you have found the right work-around.

Jeff Hartford · Nov 30, 2009

Originally posted by Amir:
Thanks Phil.

FYI, I find 249 revision of stoker firmware disappointing. It is super slow. I had to increase timeouts by a factor of 3 to keep things working. It takes almost 45 seconds to update changes to stoker!

Once we are past the current set of issues, I like to find a more performant version of the firmware to standardize on. With Twitter functionality in stokerlog now, I think we can go back a few revisions to find that. I will also contact the developer to see what his opinion is.

Have you decided on a firmware version that you feel works best?

Amir · Nov 30, 2009

Sorry guys, no. I have not had much time

. Will give it a shot when I get home this weekend.

Mike Mc · Dec 14, 2009

Thanks Amir!
I am running stoker firmware version 2.6.0.249. Version 6.6 of the stoker log has been flawless for me. I used to get exception errors all the time. I have done three cooks on the new software and it was perfect.
Thanks again!

Stokerlog Version 6

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