My New Toy. Flame Boss 200 wifi

A31unit

I wanted to do a short review on my new (and first) controller.  I got it last week and after much research I can say that I am mostly satisfied after its maiden voyage.
We did St Louis cut ribs.  Started out with a small amount of lump in my Weber compact Rapidfire chimney starter.  While the lump was starting I hooked up the FB200 and set the temp at 250.  I did not use the meat probe for the cook (well because it's ribs). After the coals were lit I dumped them and assembled my indirect rig.
The FB200 went to work and I logged into the website with my iPhone.  The pit probe was attached to the dome thermo (just calibrated) for this cook. Everything worked well.
It was windy and about an hour into the cook I noticed that the temp in the cooker was running about 15 degrees hotter than the set temp. I remember reading that the FB does not have a damper and on windy days it can leak some extra unwanted air in through the fan when it's not activated.  I made a quick shield out of alum foil.  Easy enough.  This seemed to work and the temp came back down and stayed dead on for the rest of the cook until the end where the cooker again was running slightly hot (at about the 5.5-6 hr point).   Ribs came out spot on.
I would like to thank @Jeepster47 and @stlcharcoal for all their valuable knowledge.

Jeepster47

Thanks for the shout out ... happy to help ... help you spend your money that is.

You did much better on your first use of a controller than I did.  What was the setting on your daisy wheel? 

A31unit

@Jeepster47
Using it again right now. Doing a chuck roast for pulled beef 

Jeepster47

If your temps go a little high today, you might consider closing off the petals completely.  On both my large eggs, I have to adjust my SW cap until it is "just closed" to hold 225 degrees.  Every egg is different, but most eggs leak more air through the felt seal and the daisy wheel than you expect. 

Close the daisy wheel completely when the egg is first starting and putting off lots of smoke to see all the leaks.

Cheers.

A31unit

Ok. Will do. There there are certainly gonna be some leaks but I would think they would be consistent. Again. I only noticed temps spiking toward the end of the cook when I was in and out of the egg for saucing so I guess it's to be expected to some degree.

Oh! And I got a pleasant surprise when I fired up the FB200 today!  It did a firmware update to include a meat done alarm!  I was hoping that would happen.

sctdg

I don't have a flame boss .I did talk to Flame boss on the phone because I am thinking about getting one .The guy I spoke to there (very helpful to say the least) was saying to leave the top vent open to the thickness of a dime .In other words just about closed ,we were talking about using a Smokeware cap which is what he uses and so do I .Would imagine same holds true for daisey wheel also. I have an Auber control and it was giving me some problems lately that's why I looked into Flameboss,I started shutting down Smokeware cap to dime thickness and Auber is working fine now .I am still interested in Flameboss so I can eliminate using Maverick ET732 along with Auber,less wires and gadgets .    

A31unit

Did a beef chuck for pulled beef yesterday using the Flame Boss for an 8+ hr cook. It performed perfectly. 

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1187508/pulled-beef-for-tomorrow-ummm-and-right-now#latest

swordsmn

Someone said  you can order the Flameboss a la carte & substitute a pit viper fan (thinking maybe it is less susceptible to wind gusts without mods)?   Is that possible?    I presently have a CyberQ  but might give that to son-in-law sometime...

stlcharcoal

swordsmn said:

Someone said  you can order the Flameboss a la carte & substitute a pit viper fan (thinking maybe it is less susceptible to wind gusts without mods)?   Is that possible?    I presently have a CyberQ  but might give that to son-in-law sometime...

You can, but you don't need to.  Wind it going to do a lot more on the cap creating a pull or cause a greater loss of heat from the egg surface.  A 1x1" opening and the fan with the wind is not going to be more of a factor than those two.  Also, it's a variable speed fan, so the damper really isn't needed.  Once the temp gets close, you'll never see the fan over 20-30%.  If you close the damper enough to regulate the passive airflow, you're going to choke the fan.

If you want the Pit Viper, then get it; but I doubt you'll see the value in benefit for the money spent.  Also, keep in mind, the FB is calibrated for the 7.5 CFM fan, not the 10 CFM Pit Viper with damper.......might take it a while to learn that thing, especially if you move the damper a lot.

The unit works as advertised with the included fan. 

Jeepster47

It's easy to create a BBQGuru-like dampener on the Flame Boss blower.  For a series of how-to pictures look here: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/productreviews/flameboss100200/flameboss-5.htm

Since every egg and every cooking location (wind, etc) is slightly different, you may, or most likely, may not have a need for the modification.  I was skeptical of the lack of a dampener at first, but neither of my large eggs require one to operate correctly.  Nor has my son added one to his medium and XL eggs with the Flame Boss 100 unit.

Here is a thought process that I've used on both the Bubba Guru and the Flame Boss 200 units:

1) The ONLY function of the electronics and fan unit is to raise the temperature up to the set point.  Once at/above the set point, the electronics and fan have no control over what happens.  Kind of like four wheel drive on a vehicle ... it's great to get your vehicle up to speed, but when you have to stop it adds no value to the equation.

2) The ONLY function of the cap (ugly daisy or Smokeware) is to restrict airflow and prevent the temperature from going above the set point ... the correct setting will hold the pit temp well below the set point if the fan doesn't run.  All eggs leak some air around the cap, the felt line, and the bottom vent.  Since all eggs have a different personality, that air leakage will be different from egg to egg.  That means that closed, slightly closed, almost closed, open a credit card thickness, and open a dime thickness settings are correct for the poster, but most likely are only a starting point for your egg.

3) You want to set your cap venting such that the egg's temp will fall below the set point if the fan doesn't run.  The correct setting will then force the fan to run to keep the temp up to the set point.  For the Bubba Guru, I like to be around 20 to 30% run time ... for the Flame Boss that's also a good range, although so far I'm comfortable if it runs up to 50% of the time.

4) Cap closures will vary depending upon the desired pit temp.  Thus, if you've been humming along perfectly at 250 degrees and you want to jump up to 350 degrees to finish the cook, you'll most likely have to open the cap setting a little more.  Again, watch the fan usage ... if it stays above 50% then crack the venting a little more to bring it down into the 20 to 30% range.

5) If you can't hold a low set point, then you have too much air leakage around the cap or felt line.  I have an old OEM seal on one of my large eggs.  The temp probe leads no longer "sink" into the felt ... I can push a dollar bill into the resulting crack.  To counter that, my SW cap w/seal is closed completely.