# Masterbuilt 20070311 Smoker



## uskallen (May 30, 2021)

Hey guys, one of my neighbors put one of these out in his driveway with a note indicating the control board was bad.  I picked it up and started tinkering with it, and the control board beeps when you plug it in but doesn't respond to pressing any of the buttons and the display doesn't work at all.  I removed the control board and its in really great shape with no signs of anything wrong with it.  The capacitors don't look puffed up either.  Any ideas on how I can diagnose exactly what's wrong?  Thanks everyone!


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## SKade (May 30, 2021)

I’m not sure. I don’t know much about the electrical side of things. I know some people have built new controllers with raspberry pi’s or similar. They have done a lot of figuring out what all the wires control. Hopefully one of them will chime in. I know if you can get it up and running it will be a great little unit. I had mine for something like ten years and just passed it on to my baby brother. They can be a lot of fun.


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## motocrash (May 30, 2021)

Here's a good place to start.






						Electric Smokers
					






					www.smokingmeatforums.com
				




Edit: Welcome to the Forums.


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## tallbm (May 30, 2021)

uskallen said:


> Hey guys, one of my neighbors put one of these out in his driveway with a note indicating the control board was bad.  I picked it up and started tinkering with it, and the control board beeps when you plug it in but doesn't respond to pressing any of the buttons and the display doesn't work at all.  I removed the control board and its in really great shape with no signs of anything wrong with it.  The capacitors don't look puffed up either.  Any ideas on how I can diagnose exactly what's wrong?  Thanks everyone!



Hi there and welcome!

I don't have any insight for that board but also know there is another circuit board on the underside of the smoker.
Something could be going wrong there and be the reason no power is getting fed to the top controller unit.

If you want to buy or make a PID controller you could do the simple rewire down at that bottom circuit board (cut ends off4 wires, splice properly to make 2 wires).

To me the best electric smoker you can get is one like in your case... a free one hahaha.
But you then buy or build a PID unit for $150, rewire, and run the smoker that way for something that is 100X better than what Masterbuilt makes brand new :)

I hope this info helps :)


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## chef jimmyj (May 31, 2021)

Call Masterbuilt, they likely still stock those controllers since they were used on a few different models. There are several threads on changing to a PID controller...JJ


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## uskallen (Jun 1, 2021)

motocrash said:


> Here's a good place to start.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks, I'll take a look.


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## uskallen (Jun 1, 2021)

chef jimmyj said:


> Call Masterbuilt, they likely still stock those controllers since they were used on a few different models. There are several threads on changing to a PID controller...JJ


MB doesn't have the controller, but another website does.  I just want to do what I can to make sure it really is the controller as I don't want to end up getting it wrong and buying parts unnecessarily.


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## uskallen (Jun 1, 2021)

tallbm said:


> Hi there and welcome!
> 
> I don't have any insight for that board but also know there is another circuit board on the underside of the smoker.
> Something could be going wrong there and be the reason no power is getting fed to the top controller unit.
> ...


I located the board on the underside of the smoker and nothing appeared to be wrong with it either.  The capacitors I saw looked ok.  I'm going to look into the PID option, appreciate your help.


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## tallbm (Jun 1, 2021)

uskallen said:


> I located the board on the underside of the smoker and nothing appeared to be wrong with it either.  The capacitors I saw looked ok.  I'm going to look into the PID option, appreciate your help.



Check out this post for the simple rewire and the use of a plug and play Auber PID unit.
The money commitment may sound like a lot but honestly you get an electric smoker that performs 100X better than any brand new MES or any run of the mill electric smoker you could buy... which would also cost more money as well :)

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/mes-rewire-simple-guide-no-back-removal-needed.267069/


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## uskallen (Jun 1, 2021)

Is there a specific Auber PID model that seems to be the most popular for this purpose?


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## tallbm (Jun 1, 2021)

uskallen said:


> Is there a specific Auber PID model that seems to be the most popular for this purpose?



Yeah this one works for MES40, MES30 units, and most anything you could use it for.  Get the Multi-Purpose probe:  https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=110

Also when doing a rewire and using a PID controller you will want to also use an A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) tray or tube and burn wood pellets.  This is not a big deal because all of us MES guys do this anyway because it is far superior and hassle free to burn up to 12 hours of perfect smoke with the AMNPS tray (3hrs with tube) vs feeding chips every 30-45 minutes.  

I hope this info helps :)


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