iQue110 calibration

energyzer · 05-25-2012, 04:06 PM

The more I use my iQue 110, the more I'm finding out about it. It worked great on my first cook, (wild turkey breast), then on the next one, which was Pastrami, it seemed to be running 15-20° too high. Today, I did a pork loin, and found it to be the same way, running too high. I have my ball valve shut down to 50%, and the air intake setting on the iQ unit at "3". I even started closing off the exhaust holes. To get a setting of 225-250, I need to have the dial down to around 200°. I also noted that even if the temp (gauged by my Maverick) is above the iQ setting by 20 degrees or so, the green light ("at temp") light is solid green. It got a good 30° too high before the "over temp" light (red) came on.
At the end of the cook today, I decided to turn the iQ up to 275°. At that point, it stayed +/- 5°. It seems that it is more accurate at the higher temps, which is why it ran so good with the turkey, but not as good with the pastrami and pork loin which I ran at 225-250. Any one else notice this?

HogFan · 05-25-2012, 07:45 PM

How far apart are the Makerick and IQ temp probes? My understanding is the IQ-110 uses RTD temp probes and they can't be calibrated. They either work and read accurately or they don't and must be replaced. Not likely it's accurate at some temps and inaccurate at others. Have you checked with a third temp gauge to see if it's the Maverick or IQ that's inaccurate?

energyzer · 05-25-2012, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HogFan

How far apart are the Makerick and IQ temp probes? My understanding is the IQ-110 uses RTD temp probes and they can't be calibrated. They either work and read accurately or they don't and must be replaced. Not likely it's accurate at some temps and inaccurate at others. Have you checked with a third temp gauge to see if it's the Maverick or IQ that's inaccurate?

Thanks for the reply. I have the iq probe clipped on the Maverick probe fixture. The one that attaches to the greate, so they are about an inch apart from each other. I haven't done it for a while, but I did test my maverick probes to boiling water, and it was spot on. I talked to Matt a little bit and he suggested putting the iq probe in the oven and watch the LED's. Set the oven at 250°, and set the iq at 250° and watch the LED. It should be solid green. I asked if I run the oven to 275°, my iq should go to a solid red (overtemp), and if I run the oven to 225°, I should get a flashing green LED because it is trying to heat up the pit. Since it is +/- 5°, this test should work. I'm going to run my Maverick probes in boiling water again too, and also put it in the oven.

HogFan · 05-25-2012, 08:40 PM

I imagine your oven varies up to 50F as the heating element cycles on/off so keep the in mind when you run the test. You can't submerge the probe but you could probably stick the tip of the IQ-110 in boiling water, set the dial to 212F, and see if the green light stays on solid. That would ensure its within 10 deg.

The temp on an RTD doesn't change as quickly as on some other style probes so that may be the source of some the error you are seeing.

energyzer · 05-25-2012, 08:54 PM

Yeah, that would get me close, then use my thermopen and monitor the water temp and see if the IQ kicks on when it should. and since it is at that lower temp, I can see what the maverick is reading as well.

captndan · 05-26-2012, 06:26 AM

I got replacement probes for the110 and they are more accurate than the original.

energyzer · 05-26-2012, 12:02 PM

Did the boiling water test and compared the iQ, Maverick, and thermopen against eachother. I set the iQ at 200. That way it should go red for overtemp at 205. The maverick and thermopen was in sync with eachother, and the iQ went solid green at about 196, and then red at 210. It is suppose to be a +/-5, but I can live with that. Then as the water started to cool, I was watching the temp for the iQ to start flashing green, and that happened at 185. 15 degrees.....tolerence is suppose to be 5. The maverick and thermopen was in sync the whole time.

HogFan · 05-26-2012, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by energyzer

....... Then as the water started to cool, I was watching the temp for the iQ to start flashing green, and that happened at 185. 15 degrees.....tolerence is suppose to be 5. The maverick and thermopen was in sync the whole time.

As I mentioned previously, the temperature won't change as fast on an RTD as it will on conventional thermometers. So the temp change on the IQ-110 is likely lagging behind the others. So as the temp climbs your other thermometers will likely show "212F" before the 110 reads 212F and when the temp starts falling, the 110 temp readings will likely be higher......till the temp stabilizes again. So it will matter how long you leave the temp probes in the boiling water as the 110 won't see "instantaneous" temps.......and if the temp is swinging up and down a bit the RTD will have the affect of averaging these temperatures a little.

energyzer · 05-26-2012, 04:50 PM

Thanks for the input. Much appreciated. As I'm cooking my ribs today, I'm noticing the maverick running higher than the iQ again. I poked my thermopen through the hole in the side od my drum where my thermo cables run through and found that the thermopen is showing approximatly where my iQ is set at. Could I be having a problem with my maverick thermocouple even though it was accurate with the boiling water test?

John I. Que · 05-27-2012, 10:01 AM

Temperature measurement inside a cooker is much more difficult than it would appear. Everything HogFan said is dead on, so I'll try not to repeat but only augment. The IQ's RTD is a 0.2% device (unless the probe's seal has been compromised and cooking goo has made its way to the chip). The circuitry inside the IQ is not quite that tight, but especially on newer models, is nominally 1%. As I recall, your ThermoPen and Maverick PT100s are specified to be 1% devices. However, I have never seen accuracy specifications for any other food/cooking temperature measurement devices. There's a reson for this. They use thermistors to measure temperature because they are the lowest cost method to do so. In the best cases they are 5% devices with highly non-linear response curves, and if not accurately characterized in software, their accuracy can we worse and temperature dependant too.

Then there's the issue temperature gradients and strata in a cooker as air moves around. I just purchased an 8 channel Omega Scientific temperature acquistion unit and plan on doing some studies that will be published, but to date have only studied my own Rebel 28 (rebelsmokers.com). However, since Matt and I compete against other Rebels, I'm reluctant to publish test results! But to be sure, when the cooker is at temp, the outside enviroment is stable, and the meat is not cold, the temps inside the cooker become fairly similar. But open the lid, add meat, add fuel, or change cooking temperature and that's when you see major changes in temperature at different points in the cooker.

05-25-2012, 04:06 PM	#1
energyzer is one Smokin' Farker Join Date: 08-23-10 Location: Aurora, Nebraska Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	iQue110 calibration The more I use my iQue 110, the more I'm finding out about it. It worked great on my first cook, (wild turkey breast), then on the next one, which was Pastrami, it seemed to be running 15-20° too high. Today, I did a pork loin, and found it to be the same way, running too high. I have my ball valve shut down to 50%, and the air intake setting on the iQ unit at "3". I even started closing off the exhaust holes. To get a setting of 225-250, I need to have the dial down to around 200°. I also noted that even if the temp (gauged by my Maverick) is above the iQ setting by 20 degrees or so, the green light ("at temp") light is solid green. It got a good 30° too high before the "over temp" light (red) came on. At the end of the cook today, I decided to turn the iQ up to 275°. At that point, it stayed +/- 5°. It seems that it is more accurate at the higher temps, which is why it ran so good with the turkey, but not as good with the pastrami and pork loin which I ran at 225-250. Any one else notice this? __________________ Charbroil gasser, 22.5" Weber, UDS, Mav. ET-73, Thermapen, iQue 110, Weber Go Anywhere

05-25-2012, 07:45 PM	#2
HogFan Take a breath! Join Date: 03-21-12 Location: Arkansas Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	How far apart are the Makerick and IQ temp probes? My understanding is the IQ-110 uses RTD temp probes and they can't be calibrated. They either work and read accurately or they don't and must be replaced. Not likely it's accurate at some temps and inaccurate at others. Have you checked with a third temp gauge to see if it's the Maverick or IQ that's inaccurate? __________________ OK Joe Vertical Smoker, UDS, Komado Acorn, Weber Kettle Ranch, Weber Kettle, Stok Kettle

05-25-2012, 08:40 PM	#4
HogFan Take a breath! Join Date: 03-21-12 Location: Arkansas Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I imagine your oven varies up to 50F as the heating element cycles on/off so keep the in mind when you run the test. You can't submerge the probe but you could probably stick the tip of the IQ-110 in boiling water, set the dial to 212F, and see if the green light stays on solid. That would ensure its within 10 deg. The temp on an RTD doesn't change as quickly as on some other style probes so that may be the source of some the error you are seeing. __________________ OK Joe Vertical Smoker, UDS, Komado Acorn, Weber Kettle Ranch, Weber Kettle, Stok Kettle

05-25-2012, 08:54 PM	#5
energyzer is one Smokin' Farker Join Date: 08-23-10 Location: Aurora, Nebraska Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Yeah, that would get me close, then use my thermopen and monitor the water temp and see if the IQ kicks on when it should. and since it is at that lower temp, I can see what the maverick is reading as well. __________________ Charbroil gasser, 22.5" Weber, UDS, Mav. ET-73, Thermapen, iQue 110, Weber Go Anywhere

05-26-2012, 12:02 PM	#7
energyzer is one Smokin' Farker Join Date: 08-23-10 Location: Aurora, Nebraska Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Did the boiling water test and compared the iQ, Maverick, and thermopen against eachother. I set the iQ at 200. That way it should go red for overtemp at 205. The maverick and thermopen was in sync with eachother, and the iQ went solid green at about 196, and then red at 210. It is suppose to be a +/-5, but I can live with that. Then as the water started to cool, I was watching the temp for the iQ to start flashing green, and that happened at 185. 15 degrees.....tolerence is suppose to be 5. The maverick and thermopen was in sync the whole time. __________________ Charbroil gasser, 22.5" Weber, UDS, Mav. ET-73, Thermapen, iQue 110, Weber Go Anywhere

05-26-2012, 06:26 AM	#6
captndan is One Chatty Farker Join Date: 06-29-11 Location: Greeneville TN Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I got replacement probes for the110 and they are more accurate than the original.

05-26-2012, 04:50 PM	#9
energyzer is one Smokin' Farker Join Date: 08-23-10 Location: Aurora, Nebraska Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Thanks for the input. Much appreciated. As I'm cooking my ribs today, I'm noticing the maverick running higher than the iQ again. I poked my thermopen through the hole in the side od my drum where my thermo cables run through and found that the thermopen is showing approximatly where my iQ is set at. Could I be having a problem with my maverick thermocouple even though it was accurate with the boiling water test? __________________ Charbroil gasser, 22.5" Weber, UDS, Mav. ET-73, Thermapen, iQue 110, Weber Go Anywhere

05-27-2012, 10:01 AM	#10
John I. Que Knows what a fatty is. Join Date: 05-17-11 Location: St. Peters MO Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Temperature measurement inside a cooker is much more difficult than it would appear. Everything HogFan said is dead on, so I'll try not to repeat but only augment. The IQ's RTD is a 0.2% device (unless the probe's seal has been compromised and cooking goo has made its way to the chip). The circuitry inside the IQ is not quite that tight, but especially on newer models, is nominally 1%. As I recall, your ThermoPen and Maverick PT100s are specified to be 1% devices. However, I have never seen accuracy specifications for any other food/cooking temperature measurement devices. There's a reson for this. They use thermistors to measure temperature because they are the lowest cost method to do so. In the best cases they are 5% devices with highly non-linear response curves, and if not accurately characterized in software, their accuracy can we worse and temperature dependant too. Then there's the issue temperature gradients and strata in a cooker as air moves around. I just purchased an 8 channel Omega Scientific temperature acquistion unit and plan on doing some studies that will be published, but to date have only studied my own Rebel 28 (rebelsmokers.com). However, since Matt and I compete against other Rebels, I'm reluctant to publish test results! But to be sure, when the cooker is at temp, the outside enviroment is stable, and the meat is not cold, the temps inside the cooker become fairly similar. But open the lid, add meat, add fuel, or change cooking temperature and that's when you see major changes in temperature at different points in the cooker.