SMOBOT - Your Smoker Robot

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  • Neat idea but what's the advantage over a standard controller which regulates the air going in like my Q Master Senior from our mate Wang. It holds things steady really well and I think would be a lot cheaper.

    Big Green Egg - Asmoke Pellet Grill - Weber Kettle - Maximus Pizza Oven - Dragon Hibachi - Ziggy Portable - baby kamado - Grillz 2 burner - Cobb BBQ - Converted Gas Bottle Spit - Charbroil Grill2go - Anova sous vide - Digi Q controller - plus Tip Top Temp - Smokeware cap - Grill Grates

  • We've seen this bloke before...looks like he's getting serious now!

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  • It's certainly an interesting device, personally I think that I would rather utilise a device that controls the air going in rather than the air going out for the reason below.

    I'm wondering if it, when controlling the temperature at lower set-points, ever completely closes off the top vent as part of its temperature control algorithm.

    If it does, then I think that could lead to a build-up of moisture laden with nasty tasting combustion by-products on the inner doomed roof of the Kamado which would eventually drip-down onto the food being cooked if the vent is in the closed position for too long.

    I'm sure that most of you have probably cooked something in the past during your BBQ journey & know full-well what that taste is like! <X

    With a device that controls the air going in, even with the bottom vent completely closed you still get some natural convection happening thus preventing this type of build-up from occurring.

    Hopefully, I may well be incorrect with my assumption & that the designer has fully thought through all of the different real-world usage scenarios.

    If any member ends up getting one them please post some thoughts on the pros & cons of the product after you've given it a few test runs as it would be interesting to know how well it performs.

  • Hi Guys,

    I was excited to be strolling about on the world's BBQ forums and happen upon this thread. It's very fun to have this old project starting to come to life!

    @Green Nigel - This question is a good one, and has come up before. To jump straight to the answer, I can assure you there's no problem, as evidenced by extensive use of the device by a few dozen people around the world, many of whom are competition BBQ people who have given extremely positive feedback.

    From a more speculative side - I have some thoughts and suspicions as to why the classic advice on controlling UDS/drum smokers from the inlet doesn't seem to apply. I'll try to organize those thoughts and post shortly.. My electricity has been out at home for several days, so I'm short on time to spend online..

    Thank you for the questions and comments! Here is a link to the kickstarter campaign, in case anyone is interested: Kickstarter

    Kind regards,
    Eric

  • @niko123456 - I'm sorry to report that we haven't yet completed an adaption scheme for the Akorn, but it's something we intend to complete later this year. I'd bet maybe September/October of this year, give or take.

    I really appreciate your interest, and if you sign up for our contact list, you can receive updates on where we're at with things in the coming months: Contact

    Thank you!

  • An update on this. @SMOBOT just sent a newsletter saying some mysterious user sent then the details of the Akorn vent setup so they are working on a Smobot for the Akorn and have added that to their Kickstarter campaign. ;)

    Smobot Kickstarter

  • PS - check out the new smobot demo if you have 2 minutes. I just put my first one together, and I must say... It's pretty! ;) Thanks again.


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  • Great video @SMOBOT, not too long & very informative, also like the look of the product, it appears to be coming together nicely.

    I do have a couple of questions that sprang to mind whilst watching the video, both of which I'm sure that you've already thought about in your product design but nevertheless I'd still be interested in hearing your thoughts.

    1) What is the maximum temp pit temp that the unit Is designed to control at?

    2) If it is capable of controlling at higher temps is it possible that the heat might migrate along the metal plate that the actuator servo is mounted onto & melt the servos plastic housing or is the actuator mounted on top of a piece of heat insulative material to prevent that from happening?

    Hopefully you don't mind me asking the above, I'm definitely not trying to find fault with your product, it's just me being inquisitive as I have to think about things such as, equipment longevity whilst in service, as part of my day job!

    Edited 2 times, last by Green Nigel: Spelling! (April 3, 2017 at 9:08 PM).

  • 1) What is the maximum temp pit temp that the unit Is designed to control at?

    2) If it is capable of controlling at higher temps is it possible that the heat might migrate along the metal plate that the actuator servo is mounted onto & melt the servos plastic housing or is the actuator mounted on top of a piece of heat insulative material to prevent that from happening?

    Those are great questions, and thank you for asking them!

    I think we may want to setup the software allow users to specify 550F/305C as the upper limit on target temperature. I've controlled up to around 600F/333C, but only a couple times. I honestly don't know what would happen if a person did that routinely.

    While I was running 600F, I was using an IR thermometer to get surface temperatures of the servo body, and never saw anything alarming. That glass filled polymer is a poor conductor, and can tolerate reasonably high temps w.r.t. this context. So, I don't think there's concern of failing servos. If one ever does fail though, the good news is it's cheap and easy to swap it out!

    As for control performance: Above ~305C (and sometimes even in that neighborhood), the charcoal pile wants to start bursting into big flames. The temperature shoots up fast in that state, and the damper reduces the airflow. Then, the open flames vanish and you're back to glowing embers, and the temperature falls rapidly. And so on.. So, controlling up there is a little weird and wobbly. That said, I've not attempted to optimize that algorithm for that yet, so perhaps there is a good solution..

    Let me know of any further thoughts or questions.

    Thanks again!

    Edited once, last by SMOBOT: typo (April 5, 2017 at 12:24 AM).

  • @Green Nigel - I meant to ask: What would you like us to put in their for an upper limit? I think there can be application for controlling at high temps, like when trying to do a medium-rare rack of lamb, or similar.

    For pizzas and such, I tend to just go wide-open on manual, or even just lift the entire cast iron cap off and let it go sky high..

    In any even, this is something we'll be able to tinker with and change via remote firmware updates, so nothing is ever set in stone and we'll be very receptive to requests.

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