Tony - I'm still on the analog stock controller. I haven't modified the smoker yet for PID control with the HM. I'm waiting a few weeks for some warmer weather and making sure I have all the parts I'll need to get it going. I'll be sure to post a follow-up of PID control when I get it all done. I'll also provide the pics of the smoker mods I make.
This was just a first presentation of watching the smoke from the comfort of my warm house. It was like 10º outside. My goals of this test run were to see how the battery pack (8 - AA's) performed while powering my HM controller feeding sensor inputs to a live webpage being continuously monitored during the smoke.
Here's my preliminary battery analysis:
I ordered the
2.1x5.5mm Plug Batteries Case Box w Cover for 8 x 1.5V AA Battery and did a HM battery test today. I smoked spare ribs and kept the HM on battery power ~7.2 hours (outside temp ~10ºF). I only had one probe hooked up to monitor the the internal smoker temp. I had 8 brand new AA NiMH batteries (Powerex 2700mah/2500mah minimum). I broke the batteries in with my MH-C9000 charger before the test and measured the charge capacity on each battery before the test. I will use the same charger to report how much capacity they accept on a follow-up recharge.
I should note I had LCD backlight at 3% for ~5 hours and 50% ~2 hours. Had client(s) connected to web interface almost 100% of the time to monitor.
Start (8-pack) combined voltage = 11.03V
Battery 1 capacity = 2553 mAh
Battery 2 capacity = 2529 mAh
Battery 3 capacity = 2522 mAh
Battery 4 capacity = 2484 mAh
Battery 5 capacity = 2532 mAh
Battery 6 capacity = 2528 mAh
Battery 7 capacity = 2552 mAh
Battery 8 capacity = 2508 mAh
Finish (8-pack) combined voltage = 10.36V
(recharged at 1300mAh via MH-C9000)
Battery 1 capacity accepted via recharge = 834 mAh
Battery 2 capacity accepted via recharge = 895 mAh
Battery 3 capacity accepted via recharge = 909 mAh
Battery 4 capacity accepted via recharge = 868 mAh
Battery 5 capacity accepted via recharge = 772 mAh
Battery 6 capacity accepted via recharge = 826 mAh
Battery 7 capacity accepted via recharge = 840 mAh
Battery 8 capacity accepted via recharge = 804 mAh
Overall I think the battery pack worked pretty good. It sat nicely on my smoker as follows:
