Lion Wifi PID Thermostat and Akorn Grill Review

[woodpelletsmoker]

I am planning a transparent plastic box to hold fan, battery, or AC/DC adapter and the controller. A corrugated pipe will connect the fan and the smoker. It will be fully rainproof

[woodpelletsmoker]

Originally Posted by thegizzard

I am loving my SS Box

that server must be blocked by our government

[Toronto]

Originally Posted by woodpelletsmoker

that server must be blocked by our government

How bout now?

[woodpelletsmoker]

Thanks I can see now.
antenna shall go through holes on the bottom

[thegizzard]

Originally Posted by woodpelletsmoker

Thanks I can see now.
antenna shall go through holes on the bottom

Ok. I am cooking now, so I will try that.

[thegizzard]

Smoking in the rain

[Toronto]

It kinda looks like a hat for your Acorn, lol.

[BluesDaddy]

Gizzard, what do you set your top vent at? Is it different during the initial light or do you just set it and leave it?

[thegizzard]

Originally Posted by BluesDaddy

Gizzard, what do you set your top vent at? Is it different during the initial light or do you just set it and leave it?

That's a great question. The answer to that one is what really got me going with success with the Lion.

I pulled together a couple of techniques from the Akorn forum and modified them for use with the Lion.

Before you do any of this you need to set the UDC and HDC for the Lion.

Lion Parameters:

HDC is Max Fan %. I set this at 80%. I learned this recently. If the fan is too high it will blow out the fire when you use this method of starting the fire.
UDC is Min Output. It is not a %. I use 60.

With these values, you will see the Lion modulate the fan output.. not just on and off, but variable speed depending on how much air is needed. Pretty cool.

Temperature Settings:

I set STAGE 1 of the Lion for 20 minutes and a target temperature of 160*. I set up the coals using the volcano method and light the middle with a cotton ball soaked with alcohol. During STAGE 1 I have the top vent 100% open.

I set STAGE 2 for 190* and reduce the top vent to just a very small sliver. The point is to allow for enough airflow for the heat/smoke to escape but not enough air to hold the fire without the Lion's fan. If it's too open then the Lion cannot bring down the temp. If it's too closed then the fire will go out. A little experimentation is needed here. One of the best tips I read is that you need to give any adjustments to the vents at least 10 minutes to work.

I set the duration for STAGE 2 and all of the values depending on what I am cooking.

Let me know how that works for you.

[BluesDaddy]

Originally Posted by thegizzard

That's a great question. The answer to that one is what really got me going with success with the Lion.

I pulled together a couple of techniques from the Akorn forum and modified them for use with the Lion.

Before you do any of this you need to set the UDC and HDC for the Lion.

Lion Parameters:

HDC is Max Fan %. I set this at 80%. I learned this recently. If the fan is too high it will blow out the fire when you use this method of starting the fire.
UDC is Min Output. It is not a %. I use 60.

With these values, you will see the Lion modulate the fan output.. not just on and off, but variable speed depending on how much air is needed. Pretty cool.

Temperature Settings:

I set STAGE 1 of the Lion for 20 minutes and a target temperature of 160*. I set up the coals using the volcano method and light the middle with a cotton ball soaked with alcohol. During STAGE 1 I have the top vent 100% open.

I set STAGE 2 for 190* and reduce the top vent to just a very small sliver. The point is to allow for enough airflow for the heat/smoke to escape but not enough air to hold the fire without the Lion's fan. If it's too open then the Lion cannot bring down the temp. If it's too closed then the fire will go out. A little experimentation is needed here. One of the best tips I read is that you need to give any adjustments to the vents at least 10 minutes to work.

I set the duration for STAGE 2 and all of the values depending on what I am cooking.

Let me know how that works for you.

Great stuff, takes a lot of guess work out of it. I've been using my Tiger for the first time today. I didn't see this until just now, so I've been pretty much doing trial and error. I just set one stage for 235°, but it has pretty much wanted to stay at 250° (which is not a bad temp for smoking a pork picnic). I hit manual periodically and the temp will come down, but even before it gets down to 235° if I put it back on auto the fan comes back on and drives the temp up. I'm guessing I don't have it set quite right.

[woodpelletsmoker]

leave enough time, the controller will stay around 235. It needs taught by itsself
Fine tuing P,I,D will shorten this learning period

[woodpelletsmoker]

Originally Posted by BluesDaddy

Great stuff, takes a lot of guess work out of it. I've been using my Tiger for the first time today. I didn't see this until just now, so I've been pretty much doing trial and error. I just set one stage for 235°, but it has pretty much wanted to stay at 250° (which is not a bad temp for smoking a pork picnic). I hit manual periodically and the temp will come down, but even before it gets down to 235° if I put it back on auto the fan comes back on and drives the temp up. I'm guessing I don't have it set quite right.

I am using reverse flow offset, REVERSE 282 at www.allchinas.com, grilling size 282" square inches, lining by stove mud, gravity feed burner, and Tiger.
When warming up the grill this morning, I did extensive test.
I set I=0 and D=0
The Bigger the P, the SLOWER the temperature rising.
The smaller the P, the FASTER the temperature rising.
Finally I set P=5 (default is 30)
As my gravity feed burner is also reverse flow, when the fan stops running, the hot air/smoke will stop entering the grill immediately. So it is hard to overshoot.
I set target temperature at 200C,(not F), It varied between 198C to 200C,
Occassionally 201C.
In your common sense offset firebox, If you set P=5 and I=0.D=0, it may overshooting.
But you can tuning P,I,D by set I=0 and D=0.
Try different P, say 5,10,30,50,100, find the best P for you.
When you find P, set P there and try Different I, say I=10,30,60,100
and finally try D.
Then You can use P, or PI, Or PID, whichever behvoirs best in your smoker.

ASLO PLEASE SET UDC=90

But if you use my Gravity Feed Burner, it is very easy to tune P,I,D.
Even the PID is not correct, it will keep temperature much more stable
Also my burner can burn automatically for 10+ hours
Also my burner can burn broken charcoal, chips,chunks. These are cheaper than pellet. Or you can mix a small portion of pellet with charcoal.

With my burner and controller, temperature swing will be under 3F.
But for a warranty promise, I guarantee 5F.(leave a small safe room for me)

I am going to do beef jerky.
I set it at 60C or 140F
As I first did test by 200C or 392F on my grill.
I do not open the cover.
It has been two hours and the pit temperature is still 77C or 170F
How great the lining by stove mud is!
It must be agreat help to do low and slow smoking

[BluesDaddy]

Originally Posted by woodpelletsmoker

leave enough time, the controller will stay around 235. It needs taught by itsself
Fine tuing P,I,D will shorten this learning period

You know, writing "fine tuning P,I,D" is really pretty meaningless. Over a 12 hour cook, I gave the Tiger a lot of time, and it pretty much stayed at 250° to 265°. Now, some of that may be the nature of the Akorn and not bringing the temp up slow enough. But that still doesn't tell me why with the temp set for 235° the fan comes on when it is 250° or more.

[BluesDaddy]

Originally Posted by BluesDaddy

You know, writing "fine tuning P,I,D" is really pretty meaningless. Over a 12 hour cook, I gave the Tiger a lot of time, and it pretty much stayed at 250° to 265°. Now, some of that may be the nature of the Akorn and not bringing the temp up slow enough. But that still doesn't tell me why with the temp set for 235° the fan comes on when it is 250° or more.

For example: In the "manual" under Setting Parameter(sic) you write:

press "SET1", it will show "F-C>SL1>SL2>HDC - Set data accordingly

Define what the parameters "SL1" and "SL2" are

Under "Set 1" you write:

P Default 30
I Default 240
D Default 60

Define what "P", "I" and "D" are in this context.

Nothing makes much sense without knowing what these are and I don't have time for trial and error figuring it.

Thanks!

[BluesDaddy]

Also, the display on the remote has gotten so dim I can barely read it. And, yes, I've put new batteries in it.