# Wifi Pit controller suggestions for Vision Kamado Grill?



## badutahboy (May 5, 2020)

Hi all, 

I'm looking for a good pit controller for my Kamado at a decent price. I've been using a HeaterMeter for a couple years, but it's just too finicky and requires a fair amount of DIY troubleshooting, etc.... The market has evolved and I'm ready for something more turnkey. 

Wondering if anyone has suggestions... I've looked at the DigQ stuff, the SmartFire, and the FlameBoss... But wondering if there's anything else out there that I should look at. 

Any suggestions?


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## yankee bill (May 5, 2020)

Not WIFI, so you may not be interested. But lots of folks like this Temp controler for $35'ish. https://tiptoptemp.com/


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## fivetricks (May 5, 2020)

If you don't mind, I'd like to hear a bit about the problems you've had with heater meter. I've been considering one and would love to know the pitfalls


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## badutahboy (May 6, 2020)

fivetricks said:


> If you don't mind, I'd like to hear a bit about the problems you've had with heater meter. I've been considering one and would love to know the pitfalls



To be honest, it's been pretty good. However, it's a DIY product, so there's some troubleshooting involved. Problems I've had:

If I set temp via the Pitdroid app (made by a user on the TVWBB forums... It's the unofficial heatermeter app because there's not an official one), then manually put the heatermeter into open lid mode, it resets the set temp to the heatermeter's default (255 in my case)... This has caused some significant temperature overshoots when I'm trying to smoke at 200-225.  I was informed yesterday that the pitdroid app is kind of outdated, so if you build one, plan to use the webui to control it (which is much, much better, but less convenient on a phone)

I've had issues with my probes occasionally reading crazy values, even though the probes themselves aren't bad. I've never had it interfere with a cook, but for example, yesterday my pit probe was reading 600 degrees when I fired it up, so I had to use a food probe as a pit probe yesterday. Next time, the pit probe will probably work again.

The case for my fan has warped due to heat, so I need to reprint it (note, if you get a heatermeter, make sure all the 3d printed cases are done in PETG, rather than PLA or ABS.

All in all, it's done exactly what I want it to do. But it's a DIY project and requires a little bit of knowledge and tinkering. Any sort of support is done via the TVWBB message boards or by messaging Bryan, the creator directly...

My feedback on buying/building one: If you want to use thermocouple for a pit probe, I think it might be your only option.

If you're using thermister style: If it's a substantial savings compared to a similar product, it's worth it. If it's not, I'd probably buy a commercial product. I think when I got mine, I spent about $250 for pre-soldered boards, raspberry pi zero W, someone to 3d print the case for my fan and heatermeter, 3 thermoworks pro temp probes and a pit probe, and the other odds and ends. If I had a 3d printer and soldering skills, I probably could have done it for $175-200.

That said, you can buy a smartfire board for $228 right now, or I stumbled onto the Thermoworks Signals/Billows combination yesterday, which was on sale yesterday for  $188 (Signals) + 59 (billows). Both come with 3 temp probes and a pit probe, which are worth about $70 themselves (based on the cost of thermoworks pro series probes, which you should buy if you build a heatermeter)....

Personally, if I were buying today,my feeling would be to go the thermoworks route.. They're a company that's well established, very well respected in the thermometer industry (I'm sure you've read 50 recommendations to buy a thermopen), etc. But I'd watch for a sale. Yesterday you could have gotten the thermometer/blower for about $230, today it's $290 ($230 for Signals, $60 for Billows).


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## fivetricks (May 6, 2020)

Well thank you for that extremely detailed and insightful right up. I genuinely appreciate it!!!


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## holyfeld (May 22, 2020)

I currently use the DigiQ on my Vision Pro C. I use other devices (Inkbird/iGrill) for monitoring the temperature. 

I'm still learning how smoke with charcoal. The MES is soo much easier, but I want the taste of wood/charcoal and the visual smoke ring.


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## Inscrutable (May 23, 2020)

I sprung for an UltraQ for my BGE. Hasn’t stopped raining since I got it, hope to try it out tomorrow or Monday and report in (I started a thread here a couple days ago).


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