OT: Smotbot Day 1 Review (warning - PIC Heavy)

bob.bud

Picked up the Smotbot on Friday (I believe it was in the PO Box since Thursday), but with family obligations, was not able to do a thing with it until today.

In the box:



Pit probe:



food probes:



damper:



controller front:



controller back, battery compartment:



ac:



assembly, I guess I should have not left it out in the elements when I went to a smokeware cap:



to this in less than a minute, maybe more as I used some steel wool to clean up the original washer and screw so it would not look unsightly against the shiny new damper:



decided to install the cheapest batteries I could find at CVS to see how they held up in today's run:



to put the batteries to a test, I decided to make the controller use some juice on wi-fi and found connecting the device easy (see the online user manual made available at smotbot.com for instructions):



Once connected, you can actually connect directly to the controller via the assigned IP address and change the desired pit temp. You can also go to mysmotbot.com and once registered and your Smotbot ID entered, you can monitor the stats of your cook. Those pics to follow (I warned that this was pic heavy).

I lit the egg and let is come up to 250 and then decided to bring the egg up to 350 (to cook some bacon) using a direct connection to the IP address via my browser.

Connected directly via the IP address and temp sitting at 344:



here is a shot of what is available when you go to mysmotbot.com and login to see the stats. You will see where it was at 250 and how it climbed when I changed the set point to 350. The big drop is from me opening the egg and placing the bacon. Note that I heard the servo operate to shut the vent in reaction to it sensing the lid was up. The second dip was a random peak:



In this next image you will see two dips before and after 12:45 when I pulled bacon off at the two dips. Eric, if you are reading this, take a look at the overshoot into the 380s. To be honest, I am not sure if the damper shut this time or not, but I imagine the extra air from the back to back lid ups caused my fire to heat up too much. Unfortunately, I should have let it ride to see how long it took to get back to temp. Good news is I did bump the set point to 300 and the egg temp reacted quickly with the Smotbot in control. For the critics that may ask why the big drop below, well, I opened the egg to put some spareribs in... yes, it is a pork kind of day. You will see in a subsequent graph, that this thing is rock solid.




I ran to the store and decided to connect via my iphone. I suppose I should put a food probe in, this is a shot of the top half of the stat page:



and here is the bottom half of the stat page:



and here is the latest from my browser on my laptop showing a rock solid 300. By the way, with the wifi and the controller on since 1030 or so, the CVS batteries are now at 60%. I have no idea if Duracells would last longer, and I cannot say how much the wifi is impacting the battery consumption. For comparison, I believe Ozzie_Isaac tested without wifi:



Oh, per the instructions, the bottom vent is half open.

So far, I'd have to say a Smokeware cap is about to be retired.

For the curious, the bacon was delicious as bacon always is off the egg. And I am sure the ribs will not disappoint.

And if the Smotbot was not awesome enough, Eric and gang included this in the box:



Questions/comments?

stompbox

:like

Jeepster47

Eric might be headed your way to reclaim your controller unless you start calling it "Smobot" instead of "Smotbot".

One question ... when I use a blower controller (Guru, Flameboss) the bottom vent door collects moisture that will overflow the bottom slide.  In winter, the door will freeze up after shutdown if the moisture isn't removed.  My supposition is that with a natural airflow controller (Smobot) that will not occur.  Please keep an eye on that situation.

Ozzie_Isaac

After 16hrs with Rayovac batteries, no wifi, no back light, I am at 63%.

Jeepster47

@Ozzie_Isaac... does the Smobot have a battery capacity readout?

bob.bud

@Jeepster47 first thanks for pointing out my extra t in the name. Not sure where in the hell I came up with that. I will have to be on the lookout for Eric as he is not too far from me here in Michigan.

As for the battery readout, the Smobot does have a display of battery percentage.