# Temp probes that can handle higher temps



## its a gas (Nov 17, 2020)

Im a newb, so bare with me. Camp Chef 24 dlx probes can handle  up to 350 deg smoke temp while cooking. Some meals (whole turkey)  go up to 375-400  for 1.5 hours, so this is beyond what the probes will handle

.  Are more robust probes available? Or would I be better off just spiking the meat with a separate digital therm.  Id hate to lose all the heat lifting the lid to check.

Best


----------



## smokerjim (Nov 17, 2020)

inkbird probes work well for me


----------



## TNJAKE (Nov 17, 2020)

I wouldn't worry about heat loss when lifting the lid on your pellet smoker. The temp recovers almost immediately


----------



## chilerelleno (Nov 17, 2020)

Thermoworks Smoke is my primary digital thermometer for both cooking temp and meat temp.
It uses Thermoworks pro series probes which are good to well over 600°.

Cables are rated for 700°, 
Probes are rated for over 600°
Probe accuracy is supposed to be between -58° and 500^+

Just take one thing into consideration, probes are consumables.
They will need to be replaced, they do not last forever.
No matter what their ratings are.


----------



## normanaj (Nov 17, 2020)

Site sponsors ThermoPro and Inkbird both make probes that handle the temps you require.


----------



## olaf (Nov 17, 2020)

Surprising a "deluxe" probe is only 350⁰ I just checked my Inkbird manual and they are good to 482⁰ continuous. They are available with bluetooth or wifi capabilities they work great.


----------



## bill1 (Nov 17, 2020)

My $8 made-in-China Ikea thermometers ("Fantast" per Swedish name, price includes the digital wired/remote readout display) is good to 480F/250C.  You sure your probe isn't limited to 350C?  That would be 660F.  

OTOH, the limit on these things is usually the insulation on the wiring coming from the probe.  Teflon should be good for repeated excursions to 250C so is presumably what most probes use, even cheap ones, since the cost of the wires is pretty minimal.  However if your probes used a cheaper silicone insulation, 180C/350F wouldn't be an unreasonable rating.  A lot of us don't exceed 350F in our smokers so that wouldn't necessarily be a show-stopper for some customers.  (And I suspect most customers don't bother checking specs anyway.)  

Not all things sold for ovens go to "normal" oven temperatures.  I learned that the hard way after cracking my wife's favorite pie plate at just 375F.


----------



## its a gas (Nov 17, 2020)

olaf said:


> Surprising a "deluxe" probe is only 350⁰ I just checked my Inkbird manual and they are good to 482⁰ continuous. They are available with bluetooth or wifi capabilities they work great.


I know, I was surprised as well. I even called customer service about it to confirm.


----------



## SmokinAl (Nov 18, 2020)

I use a Thermoworks Smoke too. They are a bit pricey, but will take the heat & are dead on accurate.
Al


----------



## Displaced Texan (Nov 18, 2020)

I just received a ThermoPro TP-19H. Says it will go up to 572°F.


----------



## chilerelleno (Nov 18, 2020)

SmokinAl said:


> I use a Thermoworks Smoke too. They are a bit pricey, but will take the heat & are dead on accurate.
> Al


And the Thermoworks Smoke is on sale for 30% off right now, that is a great deal!


----------



## Steve H (Nov 18, 2020)

These are the stock probes that came with the camp chef? Seems strange that they wouldn't meet the smokers highest temp rating.
Thermo works and inkbird both have good probes.


----------



## bill1 (Nov 18, 2020)

Just to ensure we're all on the same page, the poster appears to be looking to replace JUST the two-wire temperature sensor that came with a commercial CampChef unit, not the sensing and display electronics as well.  So a replacement probe has to match both the mechanical interface, which is probably 1/8 phone plug, now usually called 3.5mm, but also the electrical interface.  These are probably Pt RTDs, but the bridge and power supply are part of the display package (ie separate from the probe) that is read on the pellet unit itself, and this feature may be of value to the poster.  If the probe resistance and bias current design isn't exactly what the CampChef original used, it probably won't work right.  If it's approximately close, some units allow you to balance the bridge (by calibrating at easy to create standards at 32F and 212F) but I'm not seeing that in the manual. 
I overlooked that in my earlier post because I'm an Old Nut who never uses the factory probes or iPhone interfaces and I just use cheap (and plenteous!) probe/display packages like the Ikea.  (In fact I keep the factory probe connections plugged with rubber plugs at all times to keep weather and critters out.)  But a lot of folks want their meat probes to be compatible with their expensive cooker itself, if only because they don't want their guests to see something looking like a science experiment with wires and gauges galore strung all over.  So matching the RTD electronically will be important to them. 
Another subtle point is that these cookers have a near-permanently-mounted temp probe in the cook chamber that is used by the PID or other controller to reach and maintain setpoint.  It's safe to assume CampChef uses a similar RTD and wire insulation on this probe. 
So even if, like me, one is willing to ignore the factory meat probes in favor of a "better" standalone probe/bridge/display package, that factory chamber probe will be subject to the same concerns. 
I'll bet this is bigger than CampChef and is one of these unintended consequences of "market development".  These pellet cookers started as basic ease-of-use smokers and chamber temperatures in excess of 325F was just not part of their feature list.  So I suspect there could be other designs based on using silicone insulation on the probe wires and thereby have ~350F limitations whether it's admitted or not.  And now that the feature set includes things like slots in heat diffusers to permit "grilling" temperatures, that limitation becomes important!   And analogous units like Weber SmokeFire and Masterbuilt Gravity Feed are now marketed touting even higher cooking temperatures.  I gotta' wonder what they're using for RTD wiring insulation! 
_Caveat emptor_ would sure seem to apply here.  Before plunking down big bucks on a cooker, it's worth checking into what the sensors are, and the details of their wiring...many cookers are approaching mica or fiberglass insulation realms but may be using something less.  I think the original poster has done us all a favor.


----------



## Steve H (Nov 18, 2020)

I understood that Bill. I was curious why the probes included could not suit the design of the smoker. If I read this right. That would be like buying a Z06 Corvette with tires that can only handle speeds to 120 mph. Not what this car can do.


----------



## olaf (Nov 18, 2020)

I just did a quick search "camp chef probe upgrade" and while I didn't get much there are a couple of probes that are sold on amazon that claim to be compatible with a higher temp rating. The merchant in the two that I looked at never stated the temp rating.


----------



## Winterrider (Nov 18, 2020)

Think I would make a phone call to CC , they should be able to get you outfitted with proper equipment. Is strange they aren't rated for higher temp though


----------



## its a gas (Nov 18, 2020)

Winterrider said:


> Think I would make a phone call to CC , they should be able to get you outfitted with proper equipment. Is strange they aren't rated for higher temp though


I agree, I may call them again and see what they can do


----------



## its a gas (Nov 18, 2020)

olaf said:


> I just did a quick search "camp chef probe upgrade" and while I didn't get much there are a couple of probes that are sold on amazon that claim to be compatible with a higher temp rating. The merchant in the two that I looked at never stated the temp rating.


I think I saw those too. They were rated over 400 deg if I recall.


----------



## its a gas (Nov 18, 2020)

Steve H said:


> I understood that Bill. I was curious why the probes included could not suit the design of the smoker. If I read this right. That would be like buying a Z06 Corvette with tires that can only handle speeds to 120 mph. Not what this car can do.


You know, it DOES feel that way. Iam going to reach out to them again


----------



## bill1 (Nov 19, 2020)

I'd ask them if it's a Pt100 or Pt1000 sensor.  They all (e.g. ~95% of the DigiKey catalog) seem to be one or the other.  (ie is the probe resistance at 32F 100ohms or 1kohm?  Pt means the resistor at the sense end is platinum wire.)  There are a few with 2.5mm plugs instead of 3.5mm (1/8") but I assume you know that already.  

With the exception of this one Amazon listing, it appears no one tells you this electrically critical detail.  It's a little depressing to this American to have to shop on Alibaba to get electrically meaningful info.  

Although many USA vendors do tell you cable temperature ratings, which seem to always be >>400F. (Except your factory original, sorry)

Not sure I've got this figured out yet, but it appears Traeger started out using PT100.  When "they put the band back together" at Pit Boss they chose PT1000, which is a better choice in this application for a couple reasons.  Since then, the tendency for most new models is to go with Pt1000 but this business (certainly the Chinese mass producers) started out copying Traeger pretty slavishly and it's hard to make changes until you start with an all-new model.  I think yours is a Pt1000.  But you'll be the one out $15 if I'm wrong.  You can probably return them...it will read wildly crazy at room temp if you guess wrong.  

You may also want to ask them if you can calibrate probes via the controller, and if so, how.  There are usually dozens of extra features available in these Chinese controllers...you just have to know the magic key sequences to access them.


----------



## bill1 (Nov 19, 2020)

Well this stuff is a little subtle.  If you search specifically for Traeger replacement probes, they tend to be 3-wire RTDs...ie the plug has 3 separate conductors.  3-wire designs allow you to subtract out the effect of the leads, which is one of the advantages of Pt1000 over Pt100. 
So a quick check is to look at the plug:  If it's two-conductor (ie just one black insulating ring) it's probably Pt1000.  If it's 3-conductor (like a stereo headphone plug), it's probably Pt100.  
But again, I guarantee nothing.


----------



## its a gas (Nov 19, 2020)

Just wanted to update everyone. I emailed camp chef and mentioned why in the world would they make such a limiting temp probe. In the end, there is no updated one available from them.  So it looks like I have a sports car with bias ply tires.


----------



## bill1 (Nov 20, 2020)

I suppose CampChef could argue that if their probe temp ratings _exceeded _that of their controller's capabilities that people would then complain the controller is lacking and therefore claim this is all sophistry.   (A Miata comes with W-rated tires...is that a guarantee the car should be capable of 168 mph speeds?)  
Life is kinda' _caveat emptor_ and I'm not sure more government control of such things helps product development/improvement in the long run so that's not necessarily the solution either.  At least changing probes costs only 2% of the total cooker's cost so if that's all it takes to get a successful purchase it's maybe par for the course.  

Do you have access to an ohmmeter or multimeter?  With a few simple measurements, we can help tell you which replacement probes should work for you while being capable of handling >400F temps.  

Whether you can then get them calibrated to within 20F of a 212F boiling water standard is another matter...I'm not seeing that in their manual and it doesn't sound like you're getting very technically competent personnel in your calls to CC.  Personally I use lots of probes so figure I'm kind of averaging out all those 20F errors.


----------



## smokinsullivan (Nov 20, 2020)

its a gas said:


> Im a newb, so bare with me. Camp Chef 24 dlx probes can handle  up to 350 deg smoke temp while cooking. Some meals (whole turkey)  go up to 375-400  for 1.5 hours, so this is beyond what the probes will handle
> 
> .  Are more robust probes available? Or would I be better off just spiking the meat with a separate digital therm.  Id hate to lose all the heat lifting the lid to check.
> 
> Best


I use Meater every single time. They say the probe can go to 600 and change and I can attest to roughly that same temp when I do some thick steaks. Some of my cheaper probes may have held up from a sensor standpoint but they begin falling apart immediately.


----------

