MES 30 Electrical Mod

[maineac]

I’ve been wanting to get into smoking sausage and the Bradley that I have has smoked nothing but fish for years (http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/265678/opinions-on-fish-and-meat-in-the-same-box) so I was looking for another smoker that would fit into my setup.  It looked like a 30” MES would fit the bill for about $140 so I got one.  I use a PID controller so I modified the MES by cutting out the OEM controller and connecting the PID directly to the heating element.  While there are several ways to do this I wanted to do it at the site of the element connections behind the 6-screw plate on the back.  I needed a big electrical box to cover that hole and a normal 4” square didn’t work so I got a 4x6x3” on Amazon for about $9 () and cut out the backside and drilled 6 holes to attach it.  The OEM power cord is rated for 221*F so I planned on using it with the new electrical box.  I cut the high temp leads that attached to the element and butt-spliced them to the power cord.  Completed, I did the initial 3-hour burn-in at 275* but watched the temperature inside the electrical box.  At 1 hr it was 113*F and at 3 hr it was 113*F.  Ambient temp was 75ish.  This is quite a bit lower than I anticipated so my heat concerns are gone.

So if you have a PID this mod. can be done very inexpensively and it works great.

box%20temp.jpg

• maineac
• Aug 5, 2017

 

[daveomak]

......

.....   Great test and the results will be comforting to our members.....  Dave

 

[maineac]

I forgot to mention that I will never use the OEM controller and would ship it to anyone for the price of the postage if you can use it.  It is for Model#  20070910.  PM me if you are interested.

 

[nunk]

Interesting I'm going to have to check into the pid

 

[tallbm]

Welcome to the world of the PID on an MES!!! Makes up for all the shortcomings especially if u use an AMNPS to generate smoke.

Just an FYI, there is a way to rewire the MES so that the rollout limit safety switch is still in the loop to cut the power to the heating element should the smoker overheat causing a fire situation or due to a flame in side the smoker situation.  

You have gone beyond that point but I just wanted to mention it in case you or anyone reading this thread in the future were ever interested in that rewire method.

Congrats on the steady temps and you will be smoking sausage like a champ very soon :) 

 

[maineac]

 
Welcome to the world of the PID on an MES!!! Makes up for all the shortcomings especially if u use an AMNPS to generate smoke.

Just an FYI, there is a way to rewire the MES so that the rollout limit safety switch is still in the loop to cut the power to the heating element should the smoker overheat causing a fire situation or due to a flame in side the smoker situation.  

You have gone beyond that point but I just wanted to mention it in case you or anyone reading this thread in the future were ever interested in that rewire method.

Congrats on the steady temps and you will be smoking sausage like a champ very soon :) 

Thanks for the heads-up on the switch.  If Masterbuilt had used screws instead of the 445 rivets I would still have that snap switch in the circuit.  But they chose the attachment method that allows the least tinkering by the average Joe and I understand that.  I just didn’t feel like drilling them all out and replacing with screws.  However, if I ever do the 800 to 1200 watt heater mod, I will go through the trouble to put the snap switch back into the circuit but I’m thinking the 800 watt element will suit my needs since it will only be used for sausage and jerky.  I have other smokers/cookers for main meats.

Actually, I have been using the PID for about 7 years with a Bradley OBS which has a snap switch and a fusible link.  Both failed, as well as many other parts on that smoker over the years.  So today it is hard wired like the MES.

PIDs are terrific tools.  All electric smokers should come with a PID and an A-Maze-N device (tubes for me); then most of the problems commonly associated with electric smokers would vanish.  At least, that’s my opinion.  They are also great for sous vide.  If you have a PID controller and an analog crockpot, you can sous vide.

My first and second sausage attempts have been chosen, but I am currently reworking my setup to accommodate both smokers.  Then onto the fun stuff!

 

[tallbm]

 
Thanks for the heads-up on the switch.  If Masterbuilt had used screws instead of the 445 rivets I would still have that snap switch in the circuit.  But they chose the attachment method that allows the least tinkering by the average Joe and I understand that.  I just didn’t feel like drilling them all out and replacing with screws.  However, if I ever do the 800 to 1200 watt heater mod, I will go through the trouble to put the snap switch back into the circuit but I’m thinking the 800 watt element will suit my needs since it will only be used for sausage and jerky.  I have other smokers/cookers for main meats.

Actually, I have been using the PID for about 7 years with a Bradley OBS which has a snap switch and a fusible link.  Both failed, as well as many other parts on that smoker over the years.  So today it is hard wired like the MES.

PIDs are terrific tools.  All electric smokers should come with a PID and an A-Maze-N device (tubes for me); then most of the problems commonly associated with electric smokers would vanish.  At least, that’s my opinion.  They are also great for sous vide.  If you have a PID controller and an analog crockpot, you can sous vide.

My first and second sausage attempts have been chosen, but I am currently reworking my setup to accommodate both smokers.  Then onto the fun stuff!

PIDs are awesome!  I use the HeaterMeter on my MES40.  It is a bit of overkill but man I love all the features of the dashboard, wifi, phone accessibility, internet accessibility (if I enable it), etc.

I also love having my whole cook logged by the dashboard like so:

chuckieSmoke.png

• tallbm
• Jun 24, 2017

Best of luck on the smoking and keep it up :)

 

[mtmcbr]

I forgot to mention that I will never use the OEM controller and would ship it to anyone for the price of the postage if you can use it.  It is for Model#  20070910.  PM me if you are interested.

Still have that controller? I would take it!