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boogiesnap
07-11-2011, 12:26 AM
for the teams that use these, what are your thoughts on IF power goes out overnight and you are sleeping?

and you lose your fire because all other vents are shut.

BTW, i love the stoker, but have been cooking without recently.

huminie
07-11-2011, 12:41 AM
Valid concern.

A lot of teams use a battery jumpstart pack that will save you if this happens. Duracell makes one...search Amazon.

Crash
07-11-2011, 01:00 AM
We'd just go back to manual temp control. Doubt there are many teams out there that couldn't cook without a stoker/guru if forced to.

huminie
07-11-2011, 01:08 AM
We'd just go back to manual temp control. Doubt there are many teams out there that couldn't cook without a stoker/guru if forced to.

What if you were asleep when it happened?

zoogme
07-11-2011, 02:44 AM
You guys are still cooking overnight? JKing. Battery inverter to the vehicle will work perfect as backup. The stoker/guru should have plenty of power. My stoker setup is 3-22" WSMs

Hope this helps

Carl
Sweet Beaver BBQ

Crash
07-11-2011, 03:05 AM
What if you were asleep when it happened?

Honestly, we always had someone up overnight. If they slept, it was a quick 20 minute power nap. I think if power did go out, temps wouldnt be affected terribly before the power outage was noticed.

Now if we were a sleeping team, guess that would be a different situation entirely.

roksmith
07-11-2011, 05:21 AM
Use a regular old computer UPS. If you lose power, you'll know it. And it will give you time to switch over to an alternate power supply if the outage will be for an extended time. We use one for our pellet pooper.

zoogme
07-11-2011, 06:49 AM
Use a regular old computer UPS. If you lose power, you'll know it. And it will give you time to switch over to an alternate power supply if the outage will be for an extended time. We use one for our pellet pooper.

That's a great idea! :thumb:

El Lobo
07-11-2011, 06:51 AM
I don't compete but being out in the country we see power go down overnight from time to time. I have one of those portable jumpstart battery packs that's got a 120V outlet on it.

Works perfect and is easy to lug around. Runs the fans all night with easy.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2hg8y7p.jpg

Anchors Smokeshop
07-11-2011, 07:30 AM
A Duracell Powerpack 600 runs my Stoker all weekend without needing to be recharged.

Balls Casten
07-11-2011, 07:43 AM
They have a new stoker with wiFi built in. (although delayed) Is built in power next?

RangerJ
07-11-2011, 07:53 AM
I would think enough things would be affected by a power outage that someone would wake up pretty quickly. Fans / AC, neighbors too loud music, etc.

When cooking on my UDS's, I never worried about it, they were not airtight anyway as I used rubber magnets over my intake holes. Since I never slept over an hour, they were never going to lose enough heat that would seriously effect things before I could adjust.

Never ran one on the Pitmaker but thats another story altogether.

I don' think most of the teams that cook overnight really are concerned about it as it seems someone is usually up roaming around and peeking at the temp and as Crash said, cooking with out would not be an issue.

boogiesnap
07-11-2011, 08:02 AM
thanks for the thoughts everyone.

i am a 2 person team. we need to sleep:crazy:at least for a little bit. typically between 12A or so and 5A.

we use WSM's. if the stoker goes out we wouldn't notice, and the cooker would for sure lose it's fire.

i guess if that happened i'd have to look at IT make sure it's safe and gear up for some high heat cooking.

with the stoker i can be pretty confident in the temps while i sleep, but the fire could go out completely if soemthing goes wrong. without it, the temps may not be quite as stable, but i know the fire ain't gonna die. i guess it's which card i wanna play in the end.

thanks again, guys.

huminie
07-11-2011, 10:51 AM
Here is what I bought the other day for this purpose: Amazon.com: Duracell DPP-600HD Powerpack 600 Jump Starter & Emergency Power Source with Radio: Automotive@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lHOF4v6RL.@@AMEPARAM@@51lHOF4v6RL (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TKHMWK)

It was recommended by other teams. It will run a stoker and a few other things on its own, and you can plug shore power into it and it will act as a UPS if the power goes out.

I do cook overnight and I am the only cook on my team, so I like to get a few hours of sleep. I usually sleep between 1am and 4am.

boogiesnap
07-11-2011, 11:04 AM
i've had my eye on that exact farker for over a year! looks like a great tool.

but for this season i already got a new canopy and 2nd WSM 22.5.

NOW, i have to get the darned wifi stoker :loco:

huminie
07-11-2011, 11:08 AM
I spent 6 months practicing with my cooker to make sure I could control the temps before adding the stoker. But if the stoker is attached, power goes out and I don't notice for 3 or 4 hours I am screwed. My fire would be snuffed out and my contest would be ruined. For me the $150 is cheap insurance compared to what I have invested in the competitions I cook at ($500-$1000) depending on the competition.

boogiesnap
07-11-2011, 11:24 AM
I spent 6 months practicing with my cooker to make sure I could control the temps before adding the stoker. But if the stoker is attached, power goes out and I don't notice for 3 or 4 hours I am screwed. My fire would be snuffed out and my contest would be ruined. For me the $150 is cheap insurance compared to what I have invested in the competitions I cook at ($500-$1000) depending on the competition.

agreed. it is a very wise investment.

CBQ
07-11-2011, 12:18 PM
I use an inverter tied to my RV house batteries. It passes through the 110V from the contest, but switches to the RV if the external power fails. It got a "field test" recently when the power went out 4 times at a contest. It worked flawlessly. This kind of setup would also work with just a regular car battery, though I would recommend getting a seperate deep cycle battery for this purpose to you can still start your car if there is a long outage.

I have also used a Duracell power pack succesfully. Just be sure it's fully charged first. It takes a long time to charge, and the charger that comes with it doesn't put out much power, so it won't recharge the battery fast enough keep up with your load if you start out with a power pack that isn't fully charged.

I have tried computer UPS systems in the past, and I don't recommend them. The reason is that a lot of contests use generators, and some generators put out a square sine wave for power that your UPS may not recognize. Your UPS is looking for perfect power from the power company, and it will treat some generator power the same as it would a power failure and just run off the battery. My APC UPS has a sensitivity adjustment for generators, but even so I have found some contests where it just doesn't work. Atfer having this happen a few times, I retired it and got the inverter.

In regard to the sleep question: Get a Maverick ET-372 thermometer and set the low temp alarm. If your smoker temp gets too low, it will wake you up.

Rookie'48
07-11-2011, 12:30 PM
No problem here - - - when my C-Pap quits working I wake up PDQ :rolleyes:.

comfrank
07-11-2011, 01:07 PM
No one's mentioned it, so I'll throw it out there. I use two 6-volt lantern batteries with the "jumper" I bought from BBQ Guru. I also bought a cheap voltage tester so I can check before each contest that my batteries are not about to go dead. Works like a champ.

--frank in Wilson, NY

El Lobo
07-11-2011, 02:34 PM
No problem here - - - when my C-Pap quits working I wake up PDQ :rolleyes:.


Yeah thats probably a good thing to have on UPS. :shock:

TN_BBQ
07-11-2011, 05:13 PM
No one's mentioned it, so I'll throw it out there. I use two 6-volt lantern batteries with the "jumper" I bought from BBQ Guru. I also bought a cheap voltage tester so I can check before each contest that my batteries are not about to go dead. Works like a champ.

--frank in Wilson, NY

When those 6 volt batteries go out, take a look at a cheap 12 volt rechargeable battery. You can find them at sporting good stores (as well as lots of other places) near the deer feeders. A 7 amp/hour battery ought to run you about $20, which probably isn't much more than a set of 6 volt batteries.

Those jumper boxes are nifty too and most come with some bells and whistles.

Sylvie
07-11-2011, 05:46 PM
Like Huminie, I use that Duracell power pack from Amazon for my Stoker powering two WSM blowers as a backup to the comp provided power supply. Lately I have been the solo cook so it is important to me that there are no hiccups, the cooking stays on my time line and most importantly, I need my beauty sleep. For peace of mind the $150 dollars was well worth it.

comfrank
07-12-2011, 02:43 PM
When those 6 volt batteries go out, take a look at a cheap 12 volt rechargeable battery.

Will do. That's a great idea.:thumb:

--frank in Wilson, NY