Smobot

Justin9314 · October 2019

Hey everyone,

Just received my smobot. Did some ribs last night and they turned out great! Today, I attempted to try my first chuck roast. I was hoping someone could provide advice on two different pieces if you have experience with the Smobot...

1. I waited for the temp to stabilize at 235 until I put the roast on. When I put the roast on (and went into town), the smobot couldn't control the temp. Bottom door is opened slightly more then 1/3. The temp just continued to climb into the high 400's. Am I missing something?

2. The wire used to connect the daisy wheel with the controller melted from resting on the side of the egg. I am sure electrical tape could fix this, however for only having it 48 hours, I would think it would last longer?

Guess it will be a pizza night lol. My roast was toast by the time I got back home.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/08/lywroo15vlay.png

td66snrf · October 2019

I don't have a Smobot or any other controller but having the bottom vent open 1/3 of the way is way too much. That's what overwhelmed your controller. If you're trying to maintain 235 your bottom vent only needs to be open about 1/8 of an inch.

StillH2OEgger · October 2019

td66snrf said:

I don't have a Smobot or any other controller but having the bottom vent open 1/3 of the way is way too much. That's what overwhelmed your controller. If you're trying to maintain 235 your bottom vent only needs to be open about 1/8 of an inch.

Not true, 1/3 to 1/2 open is recommended with the smobot. I doubt very much that was the problem with overshooting the temp.

Justin9314 Surprised to see the wire melt just from contact with the outside of the BGE. Just spitballing here, but did you have the temp clip attached to the grid? I could see a scenario where it was lying next to the egg, thus reading outside air temp and leaving the vents wide open on the smobot.

RajunCajun · October 2019

td66snrf said:

I don't have a Smobot or any other controller but having the bottom vent open 1/3 of the way is way too much. That's what overwhelmed your controller. If you're trying to maintain 235 your bottom vent only needs to be open about 1/8 of an inch.

Agreed. About 1/4” for my setup

Justin9314 · October 2019

StillH2OEgger said:

show previous quotes

td66snrf said:

I don't have a Smobot or any other controller but having the bottom vent open 1/3 of the way is way too much. That's what overwhelmed your controller. If you're trying to maintain 235 your bottom vent only needs to be open about 1/8 of an inch.

Not true, 1/3 to 1/2 open is recommended with the smobot. I doubt very much that was the problem with overshooting the temp.

Justin9314 Surprised to see the wire melt just from contact with the outside of the BGE. Just spitballing here, but did you have the temp clip attached to the grid? I could see a scenario where it was lying next to the egg, thus reading outside air temp and leaving the vents wide open on the smobot.

I did have the clip attached to the grid over the placesetter. The strange part is I could see the vent go to 0% opened with an occasional opening (assuming to keep the fire alive). My only guess is it didn’t detect the opening of the hood. This causes a natural dip in the type so it might of went to 100% open to regain it only to cause the fire to get too hot and it couldn’t recover? I’ll have to reach out to them regarding the wire. I’ve read nothing but positive reviews on this thing so it’s strange it wouldn’t be built to withstand the outside temp of an egg. Maybe they aren’t built for high temp cooking? The egg eventually got to almost 500 by the time I could get home.

deadlyfrog · October 2019

I see there was a pretty big dip in temp right after the 11:23 mark. This would cause the BOT to open up. Once an Egg gets to hot it is a very long time to bring it down. What caused the dip? Opening the lid and/or placing cold meat in can cause this. I'd suggest whenever opening or upsetting the process to turn off BOT until Egg restabilizes. Your bottom opening is fine.

alaskanassasin · October 2019

I didn’t read your post correctly disregard my earlier statement.

cookingdude555 · October 2019

I attach the therm clip to the back of my egg therm when I use my smobot.

jeponline · October 2019

How's your gasket? Before I replaced my gasket, I had to set the lower vent to 1/4 to maintain a temp with the smobot. After replacing, I tend to stick to 1/2 open. There was just too much air getting in too many places before the new gasket.

I've also found success leaving the vent door open to what I would do if I wasn't using the smobot, but you don't have as much flexibility to adjust the temperature up remotely if you need to speed things up.

flexfusion · October 2019

I have been cooking with the SMOBOT for almost two years and wouldn't consider cooking anything slow and low without it. I always leave the bottom vent one-half open and the manual recommends. My SMOBOT has operated flawlessly, and the service from Eric and Curtis has been suburb. I would consider replacing your gasket and try again.

RazorCat · January 2020

I toyed with several settings on the bottom damper before settling on approx. 1-3/4", or just shy of 50% open. That setting has worked on 6 cooks so far, so I marked the location with a Sharpie. I've found attaching the grill temp probe to the dome thermometer probe works best for me. Comparing the temp at the grill grate to the temp at the dome thermometer only produced a variation of about 5º, so I just adjust the Smobot accordingly. CS has been excellent. They've answered any and all questions I've had. For those that may not see my other post here's an idea for keeping the damper wire off the dome. Just thread the control wire thru the loop before inserting into the controller.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/vn/j4fvp6dt25nj.jpg

Nite Ize tie. $6.00 for a two pack at HD or Amazon.

RajunCajun · January 2020

Smobot rules

Wisv1k · January 2020

I'd also lean toward a leak. I prefer a more open damper so I will typically be around 1/4 inch open on the bottom for temps that low. Definitely try closing up the bottom damper some more and doing a test run.