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Dorkfood DSV guru.

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Hey fellow Eggers. Wanted an Egg for a long time. Finally found one used with a lot of eggstras. Learning to cook on it with smashing success. Should have purchased years ago. My question is-- I bought a dorkfood DSV sous vide temp controller. Can I make something--120 volt fan, intake into the bottom vent, to control temp on the egg? Just a thought. Thought about the Party Q, or the guru, but then if I could use something I already have... Thoughts?
Cleveland, Ohio

Comments

  • The Naked Whiz
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    Assuming you can rig up the blower, the only 2 things I'd worry about is 1) will the probe take the heat, and 2) is the control algorithm going to work effectively with a charcoal cooker.  Controlling the air temp in a cooker is probably different than controlling the water temperature in a SV setup.  Air temps will move faster than the water temps.  It might not be able to cope with the Egg environment if it is tuned for keeping a water bath at a constant temp.
    The Naked Whiz
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
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    There's an adaptive algorithm that should (eventually) compensate for the temperature swings.  It integrates the temp over time and evens out the swings by predicting the over-shoot.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    edited September 2013
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    I don't see on the Dorkfood site that the DSV has an adaptive algorithm.  It doesn't talk about the "secret" innards at all that I can find.  From what little I know about PID controllers (assuming the DSV uses one) there are three parameters that have to be set for use in the algorithm.  You get the parameters wrong, the PID controller won't do a very good job.  The Auber Instruments controller uses a PID controller and they have set these paramaters for you, but it also has an Auto-Tune mode where it will heat and cool the cooker in order to observe the characteristics.  It will then adjust the PID parameters accordingly.  So, if the DSV is indeed a PID controller, the parameters required to adequately control something very sluggish to change temperature like a water bath are probably going to be quite different from those required to control a rapidly moving environment like a charcoal cooker.

    One other thing I noticed in looking at the DSV is that it can only go up to 200 degrees.  You might use it for smoking salmon and making beef jerky, but probably not much else.
    The Naked Whiz
  • Tackman
    Tackman Posts: 230
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    Thanks for the input. I forgot the maxt is 200 degrees. Looks like I may have to go another way.
    Cleveland, Ohio
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
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    I'm pretty sure the Dork Foods SV is a re-branded Ranco.

    I think you're right - it probably isn't adaptive.  I've probably rigged up a dozen of these things (the Rancos) in the lab though the years.  If I remember correctly, you can set an on and off temp, or a swing, so you can keep it from rapid cycling.  Probably nothing wrong with a rapid cycle on a DC fan, though. 

    There's a trick to getting it to read higher temps - put a potentiometer in serial with the probe and map out your setpoint temps.  I did this with a few "digestion blocks that needed to run at the mid 200s. 

    http://www.etcsupply.com/manuals/ranco_etc.pdf?osCsid=80f6f293d0e45976149e0a75c338f4c3
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Little Steven
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    Do you mean in series with the probe? Wouldn't that be a rheostat?

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON