Stoker Probe confusion...

[Groundhog66]

I thought I understood what was going on, and all of the sudden I got brainlock. Here are my questions...

If you plug in 3 probes, how do you know which is which? The system recognizes them as 1, 2, 3 etc. When I initially plugged them in and calibrated them, did the Stoker permanently assign them the numbers at that time?

[R2Egg2Q]

Tim,

I seem to recall reading somewhere in the materials that they come from Rock's named like that. You can rename them if you want. You just need to find the "Rename" function in the Sensor menu for the sensor you want to rename.

I've renamed mine to refer to which pit and locations (front, back, top, bottom, etc) but I didn't label the plugs so it gets confusing if I grab the wrong one. I'm thinking I will rename mine back to the original names and then just write a note in my cook log indicating which # goes to which piece of meat and then stick a # label on the plugs.

[DC-Q]

Are you using stikerlog? It's easier to rename them in stokerlog. I rename mine each cook. If I'm cooking a butt & a brisket I name them butt & brisket. Or butt1, butt2 or chix1, chix2. I'm not sure I understand where you get confused.

[Groundhog66]

I am not using the Stoker Log, can you use it with a Mac?

So, should one actually label the plugs? How else will you know if you plug them all in at the same time?

[JayAre]

I rename mine from stoker log as well, but if memory serves me correctly, you can do it from the web browser interface that is imbedded in the stoker, which you can use with your Mac. I also label the actual probe wire with a piece of tape so that next time I know which is which. When you get the stoker new they have a numbers assigned to each probe, but its easier to use names (chix, brisket etc).

I should add that if you dont know which is which at this point, stick one probe at a time in some hot water, you should be able to identify them easily :)

[Funtimebbq]

As part of the renaming process, make sure to tag the probes (and fans) after they are renamed. This will allow you to see which probe goes with which fan. I always use the same probe/fan combination to avoid renaming or reassigning over and over.

Benny

[DC-Q]

I just plug in one probe & name it. Then plug the other probe in & name it.

[BigDaddyJT]

The probes have a number assigned to them initially from the factory. You can then assign a new name or number to each probe when you set up/calibrate them. Just be sure to label each probe the name you gave it. This way no matter what port you plug a probe into it will show the same probe name on the display screen. I could be wrong, but give John a call and I'm sure he'll set you up.


Gracias,
JT

[Groundhog66]

Thanks for the responses everyone, always appreciated. I guess since the manual or videos never said anything about physically labeling the probes, I thought I was missing something.

[Bonewagon]

Originally Posted by Groundhog66

I am not using the Stoker Log, can you use it with a Mac?

Can't run Stoker Log on a Mac except through boot camp or virtualization (parallels or vmware etc…), check out Stoker-X. It's in beta and it's not nearly as full featured as Stoker Log, but it's worked well for me. It let's you graph temps and stoker performance as well as set temps from your mac.

I'm not affiliated with stoker-x in any way, but have been using it for a while.

[Vince RnQ]

Originally Posted by Groundhog66

Thanks for the responses everyone, always appreciated. I guess since the manual or videos never said anything about physically labeling the probes, I thought I was missing something.

We've been using a Stoker on a 4 WSM competition set up for the last 3 years and it would be a real headache trying to match fans to probes without using some kind of physical marking system. For the sake of simplicity, we purchased a package of multi-colored electrical tape and used like colors on the fans and the corresponding pit probes. All you have to do is match up the colors.

[SmokeOn]

Originally Posted by Groundhog66

I thought I understood what was going on, and all of the sudden I got brainlock. Here are my questions...

If you plug in 3 probes, how do you know which is which? The system recognizes them as 1, 2, 3 etc. When I initially plugged them in and calibrated them, did the Stoker permanently assign them the numbers at that time?

I'm only running one pit, one fan and 3 meat probes.

The way I do it is I set up the pit prob and fan and then put the Stoker into temperature scan mode and I then plug in one meat probe at a time. I have them labeled "LEFT" "MIDDLE" and "RIGHT". When the lable for the probe I just plugged in comes up, I place the probe in that location in the smoker.