valve90210 Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 I'm looking at possibly getting myself one of the QMaster Lite Auto Temperature Controllers (Ebay listing here) but before I do wondered if anyone else has any more info about them and how good they are? Steve (Smokin Monkey) I know you use them but I wondered what versions you have (did you got for the higher flow fan for example?) and how you find them in use, are they reliable etc? Also I know it's possible to buy a power supply that's suitable for UK use along with the main unit but I wondered if it might be wiser to get a power supply from somewhere maybe more reputable in the UK to giv emore chance of it being of slightly better quality/safer? Any thoughts or opinions would be very welcome, as would any other alternative kit that can be purchased that's comparable and good value for money and easy to get hold of... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 HI Scott, I have the Senior and Lite. For the money the Lite is a good controller. You can buy a cheap enough 12v supplier in this country. The only thing to check is the temperature, I had to calibrate mine after a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Cheers Steve. Is your Lite the standard fan unit etc or the upgraded 50CFM fan? Is it a fairly simple process to recalibrate the temperature (is that what the advanced instructions are on the website?) Did you get yours through Ebay or from their direct website? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 It's the Standard fan, I don't think you will need that much air flow. On the Senior I have set the fan to run at 40% of maximum. I have full instructions if you need them.Purchased of eBay, but I do have his email if you want to buy direct, via PayPal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Thats great, I figured it would probably be ok to use the standard fan as neither of my bbqs is very big. Think I'll go via the Ebay route just to give me a little peace of mind should I run into any issues. Going to go for the adapter D I think so it'll fit over one of the vents on the Callow and I'll look into making up a plate so I can also use it with my bargain basement kettle too. One other question, is the power supply you use one from him or one from the UK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 I Think it was from him, but I have used a 12v of my own on them. They are a Standard 3.5mm input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Cheers Methinks I'll get one ordered up this evening if I get a moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 Just heard that my Q Master Lite has arrived in the post. Can't wait to get it set up and give it a test! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Looking forward to seeing the photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 I had a very quick look and a play with this last night, tis very simple to set up and get working. I stuck the probe in my oven to give it a test, set the temp on the device, turned my oven up and watched what the fan was doing. All seems to work fine, as the temperature rose in the oven and went above the temp I'd set on the QMaster the fan stopped and when I opened the oven door to bring the temperature down as it dropped below my set temp the fan started again. So all functioning nicely. Hoping to give it a try on my Callow this weekend (depending on the weather) and will try to get some photos of it in action. On 8/30/2017 at 2:18 PM, Smokin Monkey said: I have full instructions if you need them. Any chance you might be able to upload or email me a copy of the instructions? There's sort of instructions on the ebay listing but no explanation of what they're for? Seems you can set 'P', 'I' and 'D' - whatever they relate to ?, and can also calibrate the probe though I'm not sure how you'd do it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 I've just been thinking about how to get this set up with my kettle bbq which has it's air inlet in the middle at the bottom of the kettle along with the ash collector as shown below: My initial thought was to simply attach the fan mount to a plate of metal (with a hole in it naturally) and put it in place of the ash collector (below): I realised of course that this would end up with ash falling into the fan and getting blown about everywhere in the bbq which would not be great. Having had a bit of a rethink I've come up with a design that I think might work but I'd like to get some thoughts from you guys as you have a lot more experience than me and might see issues which I've not thought of or indeed come up with something far more simple/effective/better... My current idea is to mount the fan mount underneath the ash collector with a snorkel like pipe running up through the bottom of the ash collector and above the bottom of the bbq and angled at the top to allow directing the air towards the coals. Quite how I'd make this I'm not sure as yet, and whether it would require butchering my existing ash collector in such a way that would still allow me to use it without the temp controller at times. Would this design work do you think? And would it be feasible to create? Any thoughts would be very welcome indeed. A couple of pics of the bbq to show what it looks like and how the airlet/ash collector is setup in case it's of any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 2 hours ago, valve90210 said: I had a very quick look and a play with this last night, tis very simple to set up and get working. I stuck the probe in my oven to give it a test, set the temp on the device, turned my oven up and watched what the fan was doing. All seems to work fine, as the temperature rose in the oven and went above the temp I'd set on the QMaster the fan stopped and when I opened the oven door to bring the temperature down as it dropped below my set temp the fan started again. So all functioning nicely. Hoping to give it a try on my Callow this weekend (depending on the weather) and will try to get some photos of it in action. Any chance you might be able to upload or email me a copy of the instructions? There's sort of instructions on the ebay listing but no explanation of what they're for? Seems you can set 'P', 'I' and 'D' - whatever they relate to ?, and can also calibrate the probe though I'm not sure how you'd do it? I will dig them out and either post them or send them to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 That's be great, cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liomer Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 Question - is the Qmaster Lite a better controller than the PartyQ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 3 hours ago, valve90210 said: That's be great, cheers. Scott, could not find the Manual, might of been mistaken with the Senior Manual. These are the only setting available, and to be honest adjustment of the last two is all that's needed. Settings for Qmaster-Lite P= Proportional Value. Setting 30 Seconds I= Integeral Value. Setting 240 Seconds D= Derivative Value. Setting 60 Seconds CF= Temperature Scale. Centigrade or Fahrenheit Pb= Probe Calibration. + - to adjust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 No worries, I figured it was pretty simple. Any thoughts on my issue with mounting the fan on my kettle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 On 9/15/2017 at 3:33 PM, Smokin Monkey said: Scott, could not find the Manual, might of been mistaken with the Senior Manual. These are the only setting available, and to be honest adjustment of the last two is all that's needed. Settings for Qmaster-Lite P= Proportional Value. Setting 30 Seconds I= Integeral Value. Setting 240 Seconds D= Derivative Value. Setting 60 Seconds CF= Temperature Scale. Centigrade or Fahrenheit Pb= Probe Calibration. + - to adjust. Steve, any chance you might be able to check the settings for P, I and D on you Qmaster Lite please? I was fiddling around the other day trying to calibrate my probe and I think may have accidentally changed something as when I was using it it seemed slow to react to changes in it's temperature reading when the fan was blowing, which it didn't seem to be when I initially tested it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 Ho Scott the settings are as above Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 My one just comes up with numbers - I think P = was something like 5 or 6 rather than values like 30 seconds... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted September 19, 2017 Share Posted September 19, 2017 Best think to do is contact supplier, do you have the email address or do you want me to contact him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 19, 2017 Author Share Posted September 19, 2017 Good thinking, I'll drop him an email. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 21, 2017 Author Share Posted September 21, 2017 I had a look at my QMaster Lite last night and as I suspected, I had accidentally changes one of the settings while fiddling which will have had some effect on it's operation and kept the fan running much longer than necessary once temperature had been reached. For future reference, the supplier recommends the settings below but says that with trial and error the settings can be changed and optimised for your own smoker (if you feel so inclined): P = 5 I = 0 D = 2 Having reset mine back to these settings and giving it a test using my oven, it was definitely behaving itself better last night. I will try to get photos up later of it how I set it up on my Callow. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin Monkey Posted September 21, 2017 Share Posted September 21, 2017 Hi Scott, just collected a few fittings from the supplier, and put this together. Blanked the holes with plugs all but one.In the airflow hole there's a coupler and 90' elbow. Under neath 90' elbow and fan housing. Doing a test run now! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valve90210 Posted September 21, 2017 Author Share Posted September 21, 2017 That looks great, will be interesting to see how well it works. what happens with the ash in your kettle? Sadly I can't do the same on my kettle as the bottom where the ash collector is and where the air inlet is, is a 3 inch hole... I'm wondering about just drilling hole and mounting the fan adapter on the side bu opposite where the coals would be, I probably wouldn't even need the snorkel type thing I've designed as I think the fan blows hard enough to push air all the way to the coals... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liomer Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 (edited) I've decided to throw caution to the winds, and I've ordered one of these. Up to now I've used the PartyQ on one of my Weber 57s, together with the Slow 'n' Sear and Drip 'n' Griddle, and results have generally been good. The problem I have with the PartyQ, though, is that I'm never sure of the state of the batteries - the display shows the same thing whether they are new or nearly down - and they have run out mid-cook on a couple of occasions, so I ordered the UK AC/DC adapter - I've got electric points in the BBQ shed. I also sometimes have problems setting a max temp on the PartyQ For the PartyQ I drilled a 7/8th" hole below the coal grill, so on the seller's advice I ordered Adapter C, with the 1" hole, so I can increase the diameter of the one already there. Looking forward to getting it, and fingers crossed! I haven't used my Callow for hot-smoking yet, so that'll be the next step. Edited September 22, 2017 by Liomer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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