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Start a Green Egg remotely from your iPhone

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Chucktaggart
Chucktaggart Posts: 9
edited July 2019 in EggHead Forum
I am proud to have solved the problem of my wife not wanting to start my Green Egg for me.  I have created a remote starter that uses my WiFi so I can use an app to start my Green Egg from anywhere.   Now I come home to a started Green Egg with coals.

Here is the video - my wife is already making fun of the music...
https://youtu.be/60zBdc9jnks

Comments

  • EggNorth
    EggNorth Posts: 1,535
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    Great idea, but I'm way too paranoid to start unatended ...  I won't even do an overnight cook!
    Dave
    Cambridge, Ontario - Canada
    Large (2010), Mini Max (2015), Large garden pot (2018)
  • mEGG_My_Day
    mEGG_My_Day Posts: 1,653
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    That is awesome 👏 
    Memphis, TN 

    LBGE, 2 SBGE, Hasty-Bake Gourmet
  • Chucktaggart
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    A closed egg set at a reasonable temperature that does not have flammables (of course) around it is fine.  Hopefully you have a good setup as doing an overnight (or early morning) cook is great!
  • yzzi
    yzzi Posts: 1,843
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    That’s awesome. Now does the starter wire get pretty burned? I’m assuming that’s not very food safe if it’s plastic coated  that the reason why I want to but maybe some bare copper wire fixes that? I’m not knocking, I love it!
    Dunedin, FL
  • td66snrf
    td66snrf Posts: 1,822
    edited July 2019
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    Is the starter a sacrificial item, and if so what does it cost? 
    XLBGE, LBGE, MBGE, SMALL, MINI, 2 Kubs, Fire Magic Gasser
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,485
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    Bravo Sir, nicely done!  
    I could design the ignitor section, no problem, but actually getting your phone to make it work, WOW!  I couldn't do that!  
    _____________

    "Pro-Life" would be twenty students graduating from Sandy Hook next month  


  • JethroVA
    JethroVA Posts: 1,251
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    Brilliant! But I'm sure I would burn my house down.  I posted a while back about forgetting that I had plugged in my electric charcoal starter. Mini-Chernobyl. 
    Richmond and Mathews County, VA. Large BGE, Weber gas, little Weber charcoal. Vintage ManGrates. Little reddish portable kamado that shall remain nameless here.  Very Extremely Stable Genius. 
  • Chucktaggart
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    The starter wire is a one time use, so it detaches from the main wire.  You could just use a copper line, but the small amount of rubber coating is so minimal that it is not a big deal and burns up fast.  The starter wire cost is probably around $2-$5 and is based on how a model rocket works.  Literally, it is a matchstick head with a thin wire glued onto a fire starter.
  • johnmitchell
    johnmitchell Posts: 6,581
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    Brilliant.. Music is perfect.. =)
    Greensboro North Carolina
    When in doubt Accelerate....
  • MO_Eggin
    MO_Eggin Posts: 282
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    Great idea!  The ingenuity of folks on this forum never ceases to amaze me (in a good way  :)
    LBGE - St. Louis, MO; MM & LBGE - around 8100' somewhere in the CO Front Range
  • HeavyG
    HeavyG Posts: 10,349
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    You could probably do this with many pit controllers like a FlameBoss/etc.
    The model rocket igniters just need a voltage 6-12 DC. You could get or make a splitter for the cable that runs the blower fan of the pit controller so you could plug the igniter into that separate voltage feed. When you want to "launch" just tell the pit controller run the fan which also sends voltage to the igniter.

    If done with a pit controller you can then control the temp and get a readout as to the actual temp and adjust the fan if needed to get the fire up to the temp. just as you normally would.
    “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” ― Philip K. Diçk




  • MaskedMarvel
    MaskedMarvel Posts: 3,142
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    What happened on the last hole that was so crazy?!?!

    great idea and video :)
    Large BGE and Medium BGE
    36" Blackstone - Greensboro!


  • JohnInCarolina
    JohnInCarolina Posts: 30,974
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    What could possibly go wrong?
    "I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike
  • johnmitchell
    johnmitchell Posts: 6,581
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    Been thinking of the MK2 addition... How about a bottle rocket in a tree aimed at open egg, lump soaked in kerosene, and that thingamajig remote used to light said bottle rocket from golf course.. B)
    Greensboro North Carolina
    When in doubt Accelerate....
  • Canugghead
    Canugghead Posts: 11,527
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    Ingenious!
    Sorry have to ask a dumb question: what's in the 3D printed box? Will a step-down transformer plugged into a wifi switch work?
    canuckland
  • Legume
    Legume Posts: 14,624
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    Missed a step 


  • Chucktaggart
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    Canugghead and HeavyG - you guys are dead on and super smart. Very straightforward the box contains an AC/DC converter from Fry’s and a Wemo switch. I took them apart and soldered them together and then printed a box to contain them with the best configuration to accommodate the reset and switches for adjusting the voltage.  I usually set it at 12 volts.  The igniter is a fire starter with a home made igniter using a matchstick glued to a fire start with a thin wire.  So pretty simple but cool to combine things to solve an age old problem. The same thing can be used to launch a model rocket by connecting the system to a local hotspot in your phone.  I can actually use one similar to access a remote feeder to drop corn as well by a deer stand before heading out to hunt.  I did this for a friend of mine.  
  • THEBuckeye
    THEBuckeye Posts: 4,231
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    There goes 30 minutes of additional beverage time.
    New Albany, Ohio 

  • Elijah
    Elijah Posts: 688
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    I doubt even a minimal amount of insulation from the wire is good...