My new Digi Q II..what did I do wrong?

vidalia1 · June 2008

I got to use my new Digi Q II for the first time last night. I was going to cook corn and chicken at 350 indirect on my small BGE.

I started the fire per usual and let it go for a few minutes. I took the slide vent off and put the small adapter and the 10cfm fan into the small. I hooked the Digi Q II temp probe to my dome thermometer. All I was going to do was control the temp.

I put the platesetter in the small and turned on my Digi Q II. All seemed to be working well. However there were 3 problems:

1. It took over 1 hour for the small to get up to 350 on the Digi Q II LEd readout. The 10cfm was on full almost all the time...is this normal??? btw the firebox was cleaned out before starting...

2. My dome temp read 30 degrees higher than the Digi Q II temp probe LED readout which was attached to it. I will calibrate my dome thermometer tonight to see if that was the prblem OR should there be a difference in the two?

3. Once it reached the desired temp of 350 degrees on the Digi Q II LED readout (it was 380 on the dome thermometer) it kept the temp at 350 for 30 minutes until I opened the dome to turn the corn & chicken. Turning the corn and chicken took about 20 seconds. When I closed the dome the temp ran up to 390 degrees on the Digi Q II LED readout. (420 dome) It never came back down as the chicken and corn were done in 50 minutes.
Is this normal also?

I did really like it but need to work out MY kinks...any help would be appreciated...I am doing 3 butts Saturday and really want to get some sleep... :laugh:

Jeffersonian · June 2008

I'm not a DigiQ owner, but I have a lot of experience with temperature control systems, so I'll comment and see if I can help:

1. I seriously doubt you were getting 10 CFM air flow through your Small. That's a huge volume of air that would have your Egg glowing. More likely, something was impeding air flow. Two things come to mind: A - Did you have the draft door of the DigiQ open? B - Did you have the petals of the daisy wheel cracked to allow the DQ to force air through the Egg?

2. If your DQ thermocouple was clipped to the dome thermo, the temp should be very close to the same. If you're using the BGE thermometer, I'd put far more trust in the DQ.

3. The DigiQ can only heat the Egg, it has to cool itself. If the fire got a lot of oxygen when you opened the dome, it may have created enough heat to warm the Egg to 390*. With the low air flow you seemed to be getting, that may have kept the Egg hot with no means of cooling quickly.

Again, I might be full of it, too. :blink:

The Naked Whiz · June 2008

I normally have a small Egg up to 400 in far less time than an hour with a Guru attached.

Did you have the open lid detect feature turned on? If not, I image the 10cfm blower was able to really get the fire hot as the DigiQ thought it needed to to bring the cooker back up to temp when you opened the lid.

vidalia1 · June 2008

I actually had the daisy wheel off. I was thinking it would get hotter that way. I did not think to keep the daisy wheel on until late last night.... :woohoo:

vidalia1 · June 2008

I thought the default on the "open lid" detect function was on?

The Naked Whiz · June 2008

I think it is also, but you might check. But also having the daisy wheel off would have made it hard for things to cool down since that would increase the natural draft through the cooker. Opening the lid feeds a lot of air to the fire and it can grow as a result. Then it might have been impossible to get the fire down with such a large natural draft. Try it next time with the cap on and the daisy wheel only open a little bit.

Jeffersonian · June 2008

Then I'd say your warm-up problem was either due to a shut DQ damper or a blower that wasn't actually running for some reason.

The DQ will still draw convection air through the unit when not running, so you should keep the daisy wheel on the Egg and just slightly cracked open. The DQ will be able to force air through the slight cracks. Leaving the daisy off will defeat the DQ's control to a large extent.

vidalia1 · June 2008

Yep, I will try it with the daisy wheel on + I will also calibrate my small BGE thermometer tonight...and check the "open dome" setting

Beanie-Bean · June 2008

Kim,

I run exactly that configuration on both LBGE and SBGE. This is how I setup for cooking with the DigiQ:

1. Light the cooker as normal, leaving the top open so that the fire will spread quickly. I keep an eye on it if I'm doing low-and-slow, because it could quickly get hotter than my normal 250° target dome temp. Anyway, for 300-350, I'll leave the top open for a while and when I see that the fire has spread out nicely, I'll attach the blower to the lower vent and clip the pit probe to the dome thermo.

2. If using the plate setter, I'll add it at this point and shut the dome, putting the DFMT in place with the appropriate openings set for the desired temp.

3. Note that the oLY setting is on by default on the DigiQ. You can always change this setting. You'll find that the temp will recover quickly, depending on how long you've left the lid open.

4. I also use the 10cfm Pit Viper blower, and for the LBGE I set the damper to 1/3 and on the SBGE, use 1/4 damper. There are nice smoke marks on the damper itself I use for the 1/3 setting, as the 1/4 mark is marked already by the first black line.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I would really recommend letting the fire spread a bit before attaching everything. That's what I've found has given me some consistent results, regardless of what target temp I'm shooting for on the cooker.

Grandpas Grub · June 2008

Doug,

I just got my DiguQ2 back from repair (replaced it actually).

Mine came with dome open function on, however, it doesn't seem to be cutting off the blower when it detects dome open.

Someting I need determine on mine.e I double checked the setting 3 different times during that cook.

There was a software change from when I got my original to now, but I don't know what the change(s) were.

Kent

Grandpas Grub · June 2008

Somethings sounds odd with your description of the heat in the egg.

I am wondering...

The slowness of the egg getting up to temp might be that the blowere was not plugged in tightly.

Over temp would be from no DFMT and the q2 damper being fully open.

Make sure the Viper (10cfm) fan is closed to at least 1/3 or even 1/4 once you are at temp. Make sure you do have the DFMT and set pretty close to where you would have it set if cooking without the q2. Or even shut more than that setting.

Some air will flow through the fan even if it isn't running, hence the reason to close down the slider on the q2.

I was thinking you could have had the slider damper on the q2 closed, but then the egg shouldn't go over temp and the lump would possibly die out.

Temp difference would seem like the egg thermometer isn't calibrated.

If the q2 is clipped to the dome and there is a 30° difference at the beginning then that difference should hold all the time the two thermometers are connected and until one or the other is calibrated.

My open dome function isn't working or I am not understanding how it is supposed to work. My old q2 open dome function worked great.

GG

vidalia1 · June 2008

Mike,

Thanks for the step by step instructions. I will try it again with the minor changes and after calibrating the dome thermometer.

I am the type of person who can make anything electrical difficult.... :woohoo: I knew it wasn't the product... :silly:

407BGE · June 2008

Couple of items to ask / note:

1) How open did you have the fan?

2) How much air was blowing out the top. 10FPM would make that like a hairdryer.

3) The open lid detect slows it down a bit

4) Was the lump old / wet?

vidalia1 · June 2008

4. New lump & cleaned out fire box

1. The 10cfm fan was open full for the first 30 minutes and then i closed it 1/2.

2. I never checked how much air was coming out of the top.

3. I dunno...

Fidel · June 2008

Kim,

I'll be back from Charleston late tomorrow. Want me to swing by Saturday some time to give you a hands on tutorial?

I've had a DigiQ2 for about 9 months now and have used it quite a bit. Maybe I can be of some help, and if nothing else I can eat some of your 'cue.

My gut feel on the slow fire is that the damper or daisy settings were causing the problem.

Let me know, ping me offline so I get your response.

Smokin-AJ's · June 2008

also make sure the RAMP OFF MODE IS OFF!!!. When it comes from the factory, this is on by default. Will cause you some problems.

JimF · June 2008

Make sure each of the cables is fully inserted into the Q2. I have found that sometimes they are not fully inserted even though they look like they are. I listen for a click to tell me it is fully inserted.

My new Digi Q II..what did I do wrong?

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