When one Heatermeter isn't enough.....


 
Peter F

Peter F

TVWBB Fan
.... just build 15 more.....:cool:

HMkastjes.jpg


Thanks for printing the cases Tom!
 
How does the Heatermeter work with the Primo Oval XL? I currently have an XL and a stoker but have not been impressed with the performance of the stoker.
 
Chris_B said:
How does the Heatermeter work with the Primo Oval XL? I currently have an XL and a stoker but have not been impressed with the performance of the stoker.
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After some tweaking of the PID value's the temperatures are quite stable, on average between +/- 2 deg C. I have a small 6 CFM blower and have to limit the HM output to max 40%. When the Primo is at temperature the fan will run at about 10%, that's how efficient the Primo is.
 
Would you recommend a smaller blower? What blower are you currently using? Also where can someone buy a HM PCB?
 
Chris_B said:
Would you recommend a smaller blower? What blower are you currently using? Also where can someone buy a HM PCB?
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You can get the Heater Meter V4.0 PCB from OSHPARK,, they stock that board as a common item and you can buy a single board if your want. The HMv4.1 prototype board has been designed, last I recall it was in the debugging stage and the design might not be finalized yet, so OSHPark is not stocking/selling singles of the v4.1 board yet. If you want a v4.1 board you either need to submit the design file to OSHPark and buy 3 boards or find someone on the forum that has done that and has a spare board to sell you. When Bryan gives the v4.1 design the final stamp of approval OSHPark will begin selling singles.

As for which board you would want, they both are pretty great and do the same job. V4.1 has the I/O changed up a bit, v4.0 has an RCA jack for the blower output and does not have a servo header (or output) on the board, you can use a servo but you have to hardwire direct to pins on the board. v4.0 does NOT have a CAT5 jack on it, though you can easily hardwire a CAT5 jack to the board to connect a servo plus the blower and even two probes over a standard CAT5 cable. v4.1 has a CAT5 jack built in that will connect the servo and the blower, if you want probes you have to jumper them over to the jack with wire.

The function of the two units is identical, they both run the same code etc. The V4.1 board seems to have a bit higher noise level, which may make some probes drop off more frequently at room temp (cold rooms!) but they work fine in the pit, in my experience they seem to be pretty much as stable as on the v4.0 boards. One other behind the scenes change on the v4.1 board is the MOSFET that drives the blower has been changed so it will pulse the +12v supply to the blower rather than the ground (as HMv4.0 does) This allows you to share a ground between the servo and blower in the CAT5 cable thus allows you to run 3 probes through the CAT5 cable (rather than 2 in v4.0) if you're into that...

Tom/Matt have excellent case designs for both boards, but they are not the same, you have to get the right case for the board. They do have a v4.0 case that has an opening to install a (hardwired) CAT5 jack which pretty much brings the HMv4.0 up to v4.1 speed, though it will still have the RCA jack for the blower and the power connector on the bottom, while the HMv4.1 has no I/O on the bottom at all....
 
I am using a home made blower but I would recommend an Auber 6.5CFM blower, excellent customer service from those guys. I bought my HM4.1 boards in China, the minimum order was 10 but I needed 15 so that wasn't an issue, the price per PCB is about a third of the OSHPark price. China is not an option for singe boards.
 
Thanks for the all the info.. greatly appreciated. I will probably just wait until the 4.1 gets the final approval and purchase a single board at that time. Unless someone on here has an extra one kicking around they would like to sell :)
 
Guy Barton said:
This is awesome. What are you doing with so many of them?
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I am building these for members of our local BBQforum who are unable to build one themselves. My initial estimate was that I needed to build max 5 but within a day I had already 14 requests.
 
What is the "ground mod"? I'm building three of these based on the 4.1 PCB for me and a two of my friends. (Actually, they're done.) I've already discovered a problem each of the boards from OSH Park. They all had a bad trace between pin 15 on the AVR and the resistor supplying power to LED1. It would never light. I placed a jump wire and solved that problem.

I just saw your comment about a ground mod and wonder if there is something more I need to do to these before they are placed in service. Is there a design problem with the 4.1 board which necessitates a modification? All are flashed and seem to be working properly with the Raspberry Pi. Now, I need 3 cases. (Which is what drew me to this thread.)
 
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