Wireless Temperature Probe Support

And now we come to the one thing that truly sets the Primo Plus/Smartfire controller apart from everybody else: support for wireless temperature probes:

• MEATER, MEATER+ and MEATER Block probes are all supported. Also supported are the ECPin probes from ECTherm, the Maverick Stake (a rebranded ECPin) and any other rebranded ECPin probes from ECTherm.

• You can connect either one or two probes to the Primo Plus/Smart fire controller.

• The probes will be connected to the Primo Plus/Smartfire controller and cannot connect to the your smart device or the probe's Bluetooth repeater (if it has one).

• Data is uploaded to the Smartfire cloud, not the MEATER or ECTherm cloud.

• The Primo Plus/Smartfire App does not provide estimates for cook time.

• The MEATER's ambient temperature reading is not shown by the Primo Plus/Smartfire App.

• The MEATER's ambient temperature sensor cannot be used to control your Primo Plus/Smartfire controller. In other words, it is not a substitute for your normal pit probe.

So think of these wireless temperature probes as simply another food temperature probe that talks to your Primo Plus/Smartfire App, but one that doesn't have a wire.

Before you begin the pairing process to connect your wireless probe to your controller you may find things go a bit more smoothly if you don't have the App started and if the controller is turned off. Then:

• If using a MEATER probe, remove your MEATER probe from it's charging unit so that the probe turns on.

• If using a MEATER+ probe, remove the MEATER+ probe from it's charging unit so that the probe turns on. Then remove the battery from the charging unit so that the charging unit is turned off. You don't want the probe to pair with the Bluetooth repeater in the charging unit. If the probe does pair with the Bluetooth repeater, it may take a while for it to drop the connection so that it is able to pair with the Primo Plus/Smartfire.

• If using MEATER Block probes, remove the probes you are going to use from the Block. Turn on the Block to turn the probes on, then turn off the Block. You don't want your MEATER Block probes to pair with the Block. If the probes do pair with the Block, it may take a while for them to drop the connection so that they are able to pair with the Primo Plus/Smartfire. Also, you may have to wait a few minutes for the Bluetooth connection to the probes that are still in the BLOCK to drop after they turn off.

• If you are using a probe from ECTherm, make sure the ECPin Pro App is not active on your smart device. If you are using the ECPin Range Repeater, charge your probe but then make sure the Range Repeater is turned off.

Then turn on your Primo Plus/Smartfire controller and start up the Primo Plus or Smartfire App.

1. Open the App and tap on the red circle with three dots.	2. Tap on the thermometer icon for your controller.	3. Tap on the "Change" icon for the wireless probe you wish to configure.	4. The App will scan for nearby active wireless probes.

5. Tap on ID of the wireless probe you wish to configure. (See note below.)	6. It will probably say "not found", so wait a minute and reboot your Primo Plus/Smartfire controller. If it doesn't connect fairly quickly, go back to step 3, tap the "Change" icon again and retry.	7. Eventually, you will see that the probe and your controller are connected. Notice that this is the only location in the App where you can see the probe's battery strength and Bluetooth signal strength.	8. When you return to the main screen, you will now see the wireless probe is active.
Note: If you are using the MEATER Block, you may see all four probes show up even though you only have taken one or two probes from the Block. Make sure that the Block is turned off, then keep tapping on "Cancel" and "Change" to force the Primo Plus/Smartfire to rescan until only the probes you want to use appear in the list.

While that appears to be simple enough, the process is actually a bit frustrating because it can take multiple tries to get the probe connected. This is definitely not something you want to try standing next to your cooker about to insert the wireless probe into your meat and start your cook. Get the probe set up before you are ready to cook.

Another minor issue you may find is that the probes are identified only by their internal serial numbers which are assigned by their manufacturer, so you can't really tell which probe is which. Once you get them connected, you can hold one in your hand to warm it up and watch the Primo Plus/Smartfire App to see which probe is warming up.

Another issue is that if your Primo Plus/Smartfire loses the connection to the wireless probe, it will not automatically reconnect. You most likely will have to reboot your controller to get it to reconnect, not necessarily something you want to do mid-cook. Thankfully, Smartfire does provide you with a way to reboot the controller remotely. To reboot your controller:

1. The connection to the wireless probe has been lost, so tap on the red circle with three dots.	2. Tap on the thermometer icon for your controller.	3. Scroll down and tap on the "Reboot Smartfire" icon.

4. You will be notified that a reboot has been requested.	5. Within a minute you should see the wireless probe return.

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