New MES 40 turns off at 220

[elmwood]

I have the older MES 40 that I bought last year due to medical problems however I have not been able to start it until today. I purchased the Auber WSD 1500 GPH PID for it also. I am trying to season it right now but the MES keeps turning off when it gets to 220 degrees. When I assembled it I put the smoker's controller on it and plugged the two plugs together into the controller. When I use the PID am I supposed to not plug the smoker controller in? Does anybody have an idea of what is going on? the instruction booklet for the smoker States 2 have the smoker run at 275 for 3 hours to burn off any oils. I know this is old hat to everybody but it is the first time I am using it and trying to make sure everything works. I can't keep it running right now and cannot even get to 275. A little help please. The smoker power cord is plugged in the PID. PID temp probe is plugged into probe 1 and it is inside the smoker. PID is set to 275 for 3 hours.


Thank you for any and all help
Eric

 

[jted]

Eric , I am not sure you can piggy back the Auber PID with the MES unit but I would set the unit as you explained and set the MES for 275 for 3 hours and the Auber, The time must be set on both units as well as the temp. I would be interested to know if this works. Jted

 

[geerock]

Completely bypass the mes controller. The ideal way to hook up the AUBER is to get to the back of the mes element and snip the controller wires. Just leave the power cord connected to the element. You will also see some very thin gauge wire going to the element. Get some new spade connects, and crimp them onto your power cord. Remove the thin wires from the element and simply hook up your power cord direct to the element. Don't forget to hook up the ground. There are a couple of green screws to connect to on the rear of the mes. Plug the cord into your auber and you'll have rock solid temps.

 

[azbohunter]

Completely bypass the mes controller. The ideal way to hook up the AUBER is to get to the back of the mes element and snip the controller wires. Just leave the power cord connected to the element. You will also see some very thin gauge wire going to the element. Get some new spade connects, and crimp them onto your power cord. Remove the thin wires from the element and simply hook up your power cord direct to the element. Don't forget to hook up the ground. There are a couple of green screws to connect to on the rear of the mes. Plug the cord into your auber and you'll have rock solid temps.

Don't want to start a "your wrong" thing here BUT, I don't think I would hook up your power cord directly to the element as suggested. That element gets very hot, your power cord is not "high temp wire". I installed a Aubers PID on my MES but I went to hardware store and purchased some 14 gauge appliance wire and stainless high temp female spade connectors. If your going to do this mod, be safe and do it right!

Maybe someone else who has done this will chime in.

Good luck with your MES, I sure enjoy mine and with the PID it holds temps extremely well.

Dick

 

[geerock]

I HAVE done this......over 2 years ago and smoked LOTS of food. Did it to an mes 30 for a cousin also when his controllers were so far off temp to be laughable. The connections on the element are insulated both thermal and electrical are insulated and are thru the cabinet out of the cooking chamber. Part of the reason that the wiring fails on the mes smokers is because of that gauge reduction of cheap wiring and wire connectors that come stock on the masterbuilts. But what do I know?

 

[elmwood]

Geerock thanks for the reminder. When I bought this whole rig a year ago I looked into to everything and that is why I bought the Auber but forgot about how it hooked in. I'll get this all taken care of. Let me ask you, I saw a picture of your MES in one of your posts, what did you do about the hole on the top of yours where the original controls went? I was thinking about putting some aluminum tape over it.

Thanks for the reminder,
Eric

 

[azbohunter]

Not that this was my idea but it came off the forum from other members.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/129982/back-wires-of-mes-40-burning-up

Just my opinion.

Dick

 

[jted]

I followed geerocks direction and used a 14 awg power cord with high temp connectors and my MES w/ a Auber controller worked great. Since then I put the thermal overload switch back in line . That way if the worst thing possible happened it would cut the power off to the element. I posted a thread about this called MES 30 PID rewire.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/171352/mes-30-pid-rewire

I figured they included the thermal switch for insurance purposes but why not. I sleep better on long overnight smokes.  Jted