Rocks bbq

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Generally I agree no charge till delivery, however I checked out their website and they are giving 10% off till restocked.  Thats a pretty decent return for a few months wait.

Sounds like they have a serious cash flow issue. Give a discount to basically float them a loan 

Big difference dealing with Amazon and dealing with a small business. It's worth every penny and the time waiting guys. I was frustrated to waiting nearly a month for mine but it sounds like @fusionhq and the rest of you that ordered mid to late February should be getting yours soon.

If you haven't ordered and are still considering now is the time as it sounds like they are catching up with demand and the discount won't last much longer.

The wifi modules were on back order to Rock's BBQ from their supplier, I deal with another company that uses the same modules in their weather stations and they were having same issue. I asked why they did not find another supplier and the weather station company said the are a super nice module and they don't want to down grade to cheaper quality.

For anyone else that's placed an order recently - I ordered on March 2nd and got a notification today that it had shipped last night.  Scheduled delivery is tomorrow.  So looks like about a 10 day lead time at the moment.  Maybe they're getting caught up now.

jimithing said:

For anyone else that's placed an order recently - I ordered on March 2nd and got a notification today that it had shipped last night.  Scheduled delivery is tomorrow.  So looks like about a 10 day lead time at the moment.  Maybe they're getting caught up now.

Thanks. Makes me feel better

The LED on the blower plug does not light up during boot up sequence like the probe LEDs. It only lights when the blower is actually running.

Okay, this is totally from memory, but I believe there is definitely a handshake with the blower upon initial power up.  The fan will actually run for a couple of seconds, or so, when it gets through the cycle, as I recall.  For sure, though, you should see the blue light on the fan at least for a moment during this cycle.  I would recommend trying a different port as a troubleshooting step and also make sure the connection is snug.  (pretty basic, I know)

@fusionhq another thing I would try is to power up the device with just a single probe and see if it boots all the way up.  Then power down and add each subsequent probe/fan in succession.  This may help identify a faulty probe/fan.  (again, just basic troubleshooting stuff).  Make sure you pay attention to all display messages, if any.

DoubleEgger said:

My stoker is being delivered tomorrow. Any other tips, suggestions, troubleshooting or recommendations to shorten the learning curve? Also is there a best app to use (iPhone)? I would like to use it on a brisket or a butt this weekend. Thanks. 

@DoubleEggerI have an iPhone with the BBQ Monitor app installed on it.  I find that I don't use this very much.  Instead, I use my laptop and the Stoker program to control my cooks (Windows 8.1 laptop).  This is just a personal choice.  One thing I can share, however, is that I have found that if I try to use both programs during the same cook I have run into communication issues.  Maybe this is just my issue, but I would recommend that at least for your first cook, just use one or the other (KISS rule).  Remember to plug all your probes/fans in before powering up.  Use your skills and prior experience to try to have your temperature dialed in reasonably close, manually, prior to relying on the fan.  I find sometimes that if I forget to 'stop' the program on my laptop before doing a power cycle on the stoker for whatever reason, the program gets into a 'not responding' mode.  So, my rule of thumb is to stop the application on my laptop prior to powering off the Stoker--then I can save the cook, or whatever.  This is not a big deal, obviously, you can always just restart the program.  Anyway, these are some of my candid thoughts/admissions. 

DoubleEgger said:

I appreciate the tips. I want to have a good experience from the start considering how much this two egg setup cost. 

You're welcome.  Also, keep in mind that your Stoker remembers the last settings on next start up so if it seems to be in a funk, or loses wifi connectivity (very rare), or you're just not confident that things are as they should be then you can simply power cycle it as a simple troubleshooting step.  Caveat being that you may have to restart the Stoker program on your computer if you forget to stop it first.  Another thing I thought of is that I have a tendency to leave the console of the Stoker unit on the fan blower menu 'shut down for 5 minutes' so that I can just press the button when I want to tend to the protein and have to lift the lid (issue is that when you open the lid the temperature goes down and the fan starts blowing in excess--smoky.)

4Runner said:

DMW said:

The LED on the blower plug does not light up during boot up sequence like the probe LEDs. It only lights when the blower is actually running.

True, but on boot up, it turns the blower on for a second or two.  That is when I would think it would light up.  I'll test mine at the house later today.

@4Runner Agreed.  This is how I remember it.

Fireman_Joe said:

Just checked my new Stoker II, during the initial boot up only the food and grate probes light up, the fan does not cycle on at all during initial boot up. When the fan is running yes I get the blue light on the connector.

Makes me wonder if they've updated their firmware, recently. 

DMW said:

Fireman_Joe said:

Just checked my new Stoker II, during the initial boot up only the food and grate probes light up, the fan does not cycle on at all during initial boot up. When the fan is running yes I get the blue light on the connector.

That is exactly what mine does. The fan does not cycle unless you have the target temp set above ambient.

FIrmware version?  I will check this out when I get home tonight.  I looked at the website but it is kind of hard to tell on there if there has been a recent update.

DMW said:

Here you go:
Software by kaytat & K6JQ, Version 11.0.1.11

Thanks @DMW.  Hmm... I will check this out but it doesn't look like this version number is anywhere's near the firmware number that I see posted on their website (2.7.0.332).

mahenryak said:

DMW said:

Here you go:
Software by kaytat & K6JQ, Version 11.0.1.11

Thanks @DMW.  Hmm... I will check this out but it doesn't look like this version number is anywhere's near the firmware number that I see posted on their website (2.7.0.332).

I know, this is a copy/paste from the Web UI. Also, the most recent FW they have posted on their site is from 2013. They would have had to do a FW rev for the new 802.11n module in the Stoker II. I wonder if it is only applicable to the Stoker II so they didn't publish it. 

@stompbox - Yes, their website is working for me.