I worked on code last night for my BBQ monitor that transmits APRS packets. Thought I’d share with you guys:
http://aprs.fi/?c=raw&call=N3BBQ-2
I am getting to RF via a Kenwood TH-D72A HT. It has a built in USB TNC so it works perfectly with it.
Hopefully it will work well enough tomorrow when I am cooking turkeys on the big trailer.
What are you remote controlling or monitoring?
According to the APRS link it looks like 4 different temps:
PitTemp,Food1,Food2,Food3
OK, just curious. Can it control anything as well as monitor? I’m playing with a digital servo controlled propane regulator but that’s a whole 'nuther project. Got type K thermocouples, flame sensors, LPG gas sensor and gas pressure sensors.
Right now, its just monitoring. It does have code to turn a servo / turn on a fan, but my pit is really too big for the 1 fan to run. Its a monster pit (that I just got moved from Pilot Point to McKinney for tomorrow’s cooking).
When I get back into town, I will want one of these for my smoker!!! I can never seem to hit the exact middle of anything. If I’ve got 3 (or 6) sensors stuck in the meat, I’m bound to get lucky!
I ordered a bunch of different thermocouples on ebay - really cheap. There are a variety of lengths that you could use to place into meat from 10 to 25 cm and they are made for high temp. Some are made for monitoring exhaust temp on vehicles and are really rugged. If your device uses type K TC’s, then you are in luck.
Here are 5 different sorts of K TC’s plus a $25 ebay TC monitor I got for testing them.
@rice81 Sweet. Can you send me the eBay links?
Would it hurt to grind/mill the ends down to sharp points so it’s easier to insert them into food?
Will do. Might not be until the weekend. Got tons to do then hit the road for turkey day.
I had another thought. Poke a hole with a large skewer into the meat. Next insert the wire TC shown into the meat inside a small diameter tube, say 3 or 4 mm. Pull the tube out over the wire, leaving the TC inside the meat. You could prewire your entire frankenroast then put it into the cooker.
I don’t think it would make much difference when cooking meat, but the small TC is really quick (seconds) to equilibrate vs minutes for the larger ones.
Good question about grinding down the tips. I think you probably wouldn’t want to. Afraid you would get into the guts of it where the TC resides. But perhaps you could think of a clever way to attach a point or maybe pre-skewer a large track into the meat with a trocar of some sort to allow you to place the blunt probe.
Here are some of the TC’s. I’m looking for the others, particularly the small wire ones, but if you just look on ebay, there are so many you won’t be able to choose!
I also included the 4 channel monitor. Looks like it was $30, but is a good deal for all it does. You could just get 4 TC’s and that monitor and have a deluxe BBQ meat monitor. Most of the TCs don’t come with the proper adapter for the monitor so I included an ebay item that includes the yellow adapters.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331177851754?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/130448514122?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/301264374639?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
That was awesome. Thank you!
I started working on an Android bbq thermometer, but I haven’t picked it back up yet. I am using a simple setup with an Arduino Micro, a Bluetooth radio, and a Max6675 with a thermocouple. I want to measure the grill or smoker temp instead of the meat.
This is similar to what I used http://www.ebay.com/itm/MAX6675-Module-K-Type-Thermocouple-Thermocouple-Sensor-for-Arduino-AL-/400798924042?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d517a3d0a
I had everything ready to go for Thursday’s turkey smoke that I did, but… I forgot the blue box when I left the apartment. I was so excited to be driving my new car (which I got Wednesday night), that I didn’t think about it until I was already up in McKinney.
But my new smoker did arrive for the apartment, so hopefully I will get to use it soon.
What kind of smoker?
Hey @DHarris that looks like the HeaterMeter build in your original post, did you use that to build upon for the APRS stuff?
Can you guys school me a little bit on the probes and wires?
Looking on ebay, I see some with a metal probe on the end, some without a probe on the end. Are the ones without a probe on the end made to be connected directly to something? Kinda like a thermistor between a CPU and it’s heatsink? Can these be used to measure ambient air temperature? Can I solder and cover them to pointed rods to use as penetration probes?
I also see some with u shaped connectors (like the ones in your pictures). Do I cut the ends off and then connect the bare wires into the yellow connectors?
The bare probe is the bonded ends of the TC wires. They give you an ultra quick response but are not isolated from the circuitry (if this matters) and they may be a little fragile, mechanically although they tolerate high temps as advertised.
The ones with metal are ruggedized and intended for harsh environment or when more durability or elec isolation is desired. They have a much slower response time due to the thermal mass, but this may not matter depending on your app. They are used, for instance for measuring exhaust gas temp or in an oven although I have used bare TC’s in an oven. Is best to run the TC wires all the way to the TC transducer because of the induced TC bonds that occur at the solder joint.
And, yes, I just cut off the connectors and attached them to the yellow adapters. I think . . . perhaps you can connect the U connectors with the yellow adapters, I don’t recall.