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Normally at this point in the review, we'd take a look at the blower. But of course, there is no blower with a SMOBOT. Instead there is a damper which is controlled by the SMOBOT controller so as to regulate the top opening of your cooker and therefore regulate the air flow through your cooker. This damper replaces the top vent of your cooker. (We'll show you some options in the next section.) The following video snippet shows the SMOBOT's damper during startup and you can see the action of the damper as it opens and closes:
So let's take a look at the damper. Here are photos of the damper in the open and closed postiion:
As you can see, the damper has a small motor attached which is linked to the sliding plate. As this motor is activated by the controller, it controls the position of the sliding plate and thus the opening. Note that when the SMOBOT is in manual mode, you can manually move the sliding plate by moving the linkage arms. This will not hurt the motor in any way. (In fact, it is recommended that after your cook is done and you have turned off your SMOBOT controller, you manually move the sliding plate into the closed position to help prevent the sliding plate from sticking after it cools.) Note also the presence of a rubber "boot" over the linkage where it attaches to the motor. This is to keep out rain and makes the damper almost waterproof. However, you should definitely not leave the damper out in the elements when you aren't using it. Here are some closeup photos of the SMOBOT's motor and linkage:
One last note about the damper sticking. The sliding plate can stick to the fixed plate after cooking because smoke, grease, creosote, etc. can accumulate between the two plates. Not to worry! As we stated earlier you can reduce the chances of this happening by manually closing the vent after you turn off your SMOBOT. It is perfectly fine to manually move the linkage and sliding plate. If, however, your damper does become stuck, you can free it by gently lifting the arm attached to the sliding plate and separating the two plates. There is a spacer that keeps the two plates slightly separated and you can lift the sliding plate without bending it. You can see a SMOBOT damper being freed in this video. When you order your SMOBOT unit, you will need to specify the type of cooker that you will be controlling with it. SMOBOT has options for the following cookers:
The installation is simple. You remove the slider from your vent, making sure not to lose the screw. Place the SMOBOT vent on top of the base, lining up the hole on the damper with the screw hole on the vent. Place the spacer that comes with your SMOBOT over the hole, and then screw it down with the original screw:
So, that's one option. Since we originally started planning for this review, SMOBOT has come out with their own caps/adapters for Akorn, Vision, Pitboss and Big Green Egg cookers. These adapters are optional accessories that you order in addition to the SMOBOT itself. Using their adapter would be in lieu of trying to find a generic top vent or using the top vent which came with your cooker. We think you'll find it worthwhile to have a cap/adapter dedicated to the SMOBOT so you don't have to fiddle with installing the SMOBOT damper and then removing it. Here are some photos of the SMOBOT cap for the large BGE:
The SMOBOT adapter for the large BGE is turned out of solid aluminum, bead blasted and clear anodized for a smooth finish. Sharp-eyed readers will note the presence of four threaded holes on top the SMOBOT adapter. These holes are for an unannounced future enhancement, but if you think you could use these holes for something, you will find that they are threaded for a 8-32 x ⅜-inch machine screw. One thing we would definitely like to see for the SMOBOT adapter is some sort of handle so that you can take it off your cooker while it is still hot. The SMOBOT controller has no alarms itself. All alarms and alerts are handled via the web page or the SMOBOT App. You can set an alarm for the pit temperature straying too far, up or down, from the target temperature. You can also set alarms for each of the two food probes to alert you when the food temperature has risen to your target temperature. Note, that if an alarm is triggered, it is also reset. You will need to set the alarm again if desired after you deal with the cause of the alarm. You can also configure your account on mysmobot.smobot.com so that text messages are sent to your phone if an alarm is triggered. This is done by going into your profile, clicking on the ALERTS tab, and providing the requested information. You may remember that the original BBQ Guru Competitor had a "Good Neighbor Feature" which allowed you to disable the alarm so as not to disturb your neighbors. The SMOBOT has no audible alarm on the controller, so obviously there is no need to be able to disable it. Most temperature controllers have some visible indication that their blower is running or not. Obviously, the SMOBOT has no blower, but the main display of the SMOBOT controller does provide you with an indication of the current damper setting. The "D%=" field on the main display shows how far the damper is open. The SMOBOT damper will maintain its current position if power is lost. Unlike other blower-based controllers, this means that the SMOBOT will be able to maintain the current temperature reasonably well until power returns. Other controllers can't maintain a temperature without the ability to use their blowers. Also, the SMOBOT will remember your target cooker temperature and other settings when power is lost by virtue of its internal non-volatile memory. The SMOBOT controller does not have any sort of Keep Warm or Ramp Mode. The SMOBOT can control your cooker down to about 180°F. This is a bit high for truly cold smoking, but certainly is low enough for many low temperature smoking tasks. The SMOBOT uses a A heuristic algorithm rooted in PID. What's PID? Here's what is in Wikipedia: "The PID controller calculation (algorithm) involves three separate parameters, and is accordingly sometimes called three-term control: the proportional, the integral and derivative values, denoted P, I, and D. [...]these values can be interpreted in terms of time: P depends on the present error, I on the accumulation of past errors, and D is a prediction of future errors, based on current rate of change. The weighted sum of these three actions is used to adjust the process via a control element such as the position of a control valve or the power supply of a heating element."A little more reading reveals that it is used in a feedback loop method which turns out to be a pretty good method of controlling a process when you don't have good knowledge about the process itself. Bottom line is that the algorithm in the SMOBOT helps the SMOBOT learn how your cooker reacts to adjustments made to the vent setting, and thereby allows SMOBOT to adjust how it controls your cooker. The SMOBOT controller has an Open Lid Detect (OLD) feature. Unlike a blower-based controller where OLD turns off the blower for some period of time to prevent the cooker from overheating, the SMOBOT throttles back the damper once it determines that the lid is open. If you watch the damper during this process, you will see that at first it opens the damper in reaction to the falling temperature. Of course, this has no effect since the lid is open and the damper can't control airflow in this state. However, once the drop in temperature grows sufficiently large, the SMOBOT reduces the opening of the damper and then manages the rise in temperature until the cooker is stable again. We'll show you how effective this feature is at the end of the review. Some users have questioned the usefulness of this feature, so you can always turn it off in the menus. If you normally have OLD turned on, and you don't like the way the SMOBOT is behaving, you can take the controller out of OLD and back to normal mode (without disabling the feature altogether) by pressing the Auto button to put the controller into manual mode, then pressing it again to return it to Auto mode. The SMOBOT controller has a built in timer located on its default display screen. It is a simple count up timer that you can use for timing various stages of a cook. To start the timer, press the ⋀ or ⋁ buttons until the timer is highlighted. Pressing the + or - button once will start the timer. Once the timer is counting up, highlighting the timer and pressing the + or - button will stop the timer and reset it to 00:00:00. To start another timer, you would highlight the timer again and press the + or - button. |
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