# MES 30 Digital to PID



## morkfrompork (Jan 15, 2020)

So the display on my smoke box went all wonky. Looked like hieroglyphics. Guess it got wet. Anyway, found a placement here..https://www.appliancefactoryparts.com/gasgrillparts/masterbuilt/20078715.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgrWWtZr44wIVBYbICh2oFA4GEAAYAiAAEgKM9fD_BwE..
But as long as I was going to have to work on it anyway, I went looking around for alternatives.
Enter the PID controller.  A proportional–integral–derivative controller.
In human being speak, it turns your heating element on and off at a set temp. range.
This is the one I got and have been using for the last few months.
Install was a snap. Used the MES power cord directly wired to the heating element You plug it into the PID and you plug the PID into wall or extension cord.
Install done.
Took all of 5 minutes to program it to start heat until hitting 250 Deg. Shut off until cooled to 245 deg. and come back on.
Total time from install to use, less than  an hour.
This thing rocks. So glad I got this and not any OG replacement parts.
So, if your electric smoke box control system takes a hike, you could do a whole lot worse than going the same way I did.


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## Electric88 (Jan 15, 2020)

I'm guessing it does a much better job of keeping the temperature stable and is more accurate than the original controller.


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## Braz (Jan 15, 2020)

Good move. I converted my 40" MES to PID (Auber) even before it died on its own.  It holds temp within 1 degree +/- and turns the MES into a fine smoker.


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## fivetricks (Jan 15, 2020)

So you wired around the hi limit switch ? That's a bit risky. But to each their own


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## Electric88 (Jan 15, 2020)

fivetricks said:


> So you wired around the hi limit switch ? That's a bit risky. But to each their own



I could be mistaken this time, but in most cases there is no rewiring really needed to the controller. A temperature probe attached to the PID is placed in the smoker, and the smoker plugged into an outlet on the PID (think power strip, but only one receptacle). The PID is then plugged into the wall, and you program the PID to the temp you want. It then controls the heating element and turns it on and off to maintain the programmed temperature.


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## morkfrompork (Jan 16, 2020)

fivetricks said:


> So you wired around the hi limit switch ? That's a bit risky. But to each their own


Direct wire to the heating element, that plugs into the PID. The PID has internal controll systems. The PID completely bypasses all of the MES controls.


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## morkfrompork (Jan 16, 2020)

Electric88 said:


> I'm guessing it does a much better job of keeping the temperature stable and is more accurate than the original controller.


It is, much better control. It really is set it-forget it.


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## morkfrompork (Jan 16, 2020)

Braz said:


> Good move. I converted my 40" MES to PID (Auber) even before it died on its own.  It holds temp within 1 degree +/- and turns the MES into a fine smoker.


Since all the MES are essentially a smoke box, with different sizes and control systems it became a no brainer on what to do when the original system went kaput. Certainly when looking at the dollar amounts involved, again, no brainer.  Kudos to you..not sure I would have done this if my original system didn`t go belly up. Doing the mailbox mod and adding the PID to my MES turned this into a first rate smoke box


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## morkfrompork (Jan 16, 2020)

Electric88 said:


> I could be mistaken this time, but in most cases there is no rewiring really needed to the controller. A temperature probe attached to the PID is placed in the smoker, and the smoker plugged into an outlet on the PID (think power strip, but only one receptacle). The PID is then plugged into the wall, and you program the PID to the temp you want. It then controls the heating element and turns it on and off to maintain the programmed temperature.


Spot on. The ease and simplicity was a big factor in my choice.


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