Custom Installation for BBQ Guru DIGI-Q II

I recently upgraded my BBQ Guru Competitor to the DIGI-Q II model. I liked the Competitor but wanted the open-dome detection feature and I knew someone that needed my Competitor unit so it was worth the upgrade. Well the DIGI-Q II is a lot smaller and it works great but it still has the same 4 wires that snake all over the place and get caught in things when I am cooking or refilling the lump. I also leave my controller outdoors 24x7x365 so it is subject to indirect rain, wind, snow, heat, cold, etc. My Competitor was protected mostly by a carport roof but it still got a little wet or dirty at times and I was sick of the wires getting in the way so I decided on an improved installation for the DIGI-Q II.

The solution was simple: mount the controller in a small clear plastic box with a hinged lid and run the wires through loom. I picked up a simple Plano tackle box and some wire loom at Walmart for less than $10. I also protected my temp probe wires with fiberglass sleeving which I wrote about in a separate thread a few months back.

Then I drilled small holes in the tackle box and the side of my table to run the wires through. At first I thought the standard 6’ probe wires would be long enough but I decided to get fancy and hide the wires inside my table so I ended up making a 2’ extension wire for each probe to give myself extra room to maneuver. I fed the probe wires up through the gap next to my egg and will leave them sitting inside the egg or down inside the table when not in use. I also protected the power wire for the draft fan with sleeving and concealed it inside the table as well. The final step was to make a new power wire for the DIGI-Q II and connect it to my 12V 5AH sealed lead acid battery which is hidden inside the table.

The result is a neat and clean installation with no exposed wires to be damaged or get caught in the way. The controller is virtually waterproof when the box is closed and the LCD display is easy to read through the clear box so I only have to open the lid to power it up or down. The battery has plenty of juice to power the controller during extended cooks and it is connected to a solar charger so I no longer need AC power for the egg table, and there is no longer a risk of electrocution during rain or snow storms. Another nice benefit to the battery option is that the controller won’t reset during brief power outages which are common here during the tornado season. If you have a DIGI-Q II then I highly recommend a similar solution. It was cheap and only took about 2 hours to do it right. I am cooking my first pork shoulder with the DIGI-Q II right now and it was nice to do all the staging on the table without wires getting in the way. It is supposed to rain pretty hard tonight but I won’t worry about the controller getting swamped. Hope this helps someone.