"Polder" Temperature Probe Function Board for Cooking Projects

[samdengler]

I'd love to see a temperature probe function board that has "Polder"-like probe used to measure food temperatures.  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002GUJ82I

I've had a grilling related project in mind, but have yet to be able to put together the EE, Arduino and time to make it happen.  This project looks like it gets me 99% of the way to my goal - just missing the right sensor.

Thanks

Sam

[zero*gx]

if you have access to a lathe, you could lathe a metal piece for the iobridge sensor. your accuracy is going to be a bit off however; considering this is going to be a food related project, that is not good.

if you are going to just measure the ambient temperature inside the grill, you could probably get away with the sensor being mounted, being careful not to let the wire touch the metal of the grill.

Your best option might be to connect the sensor you linked to to the analog input on a channel... im guessing that that sensor is just a thermocouple/thermistor based on how it only has two connectors in the plug. it probably wont be the same scaling that the iobridge sensor has, but you could pull the raw scaling from the iobridge, and apply math to it to scale it correctly.

[jason]

if you have access to a lathe, you could lathe a metal piece for the iobridge sensor.

An easier way might be to buy a piece of small diameter copper tubing and crimp the end to make it water-tight.  Then slide the sensor into the tube.  If you bend a hook at the other end, you could even "hook" it onto the side of the pot.

Although, you will need to be careful.  Get it too hot and you will melt the wire insulation. 

[nick]

I think you'd be ahead to buy the basic Polder thermometer for 18 bucks.  Attach the probe to the analog in of the ioBridge and see what it reads, then use the thermometer to calibrate the probe.

I'm dying of curiosity wondering what an Internet-enabled grill does ...

[jason]

I'm dying of curiosity wondering what an Internet-enabled grill does ...

Funny you should mention it.  My neighbor smokes meat in a low temperature egg grill overnight.  To control the temperature, he uses a servo connected to the damper and a temperature probe for feedback.  I saw the need for "on-board rules" when I saw his project.  If his network went down, he might lose a batch.         

[zero*gx]

if you have access to a lathe, you could lathe a metal piece for the iobridge sensor.

An easier way might be to buy a piece of small diameter copper tubing and crimp the end to make it water-tight.  Then slide the sensor into the tube.  If you bend a hook at the other end, you could even "hook" it onto the side of the pot.

Although, you will need to be careful.  Get it too hot and you will melt the wire insulation. 

of course you figure out a way to take my idea and make it easier  ... we have a lathe in our robotics lab so that was the first thing i thought.

the safest option would be to buy the polder temperature. It might end up being a little harder if you are not into the software side of things, but it will end up being the safest option.

[samdengler]

Funny you should mention it.  My neighbor smokes meat in a low temperature egg grill overnight.  To control the temperature, he uses a servo connected to the damper and a temperature probe for feedback.  I saw the need for "on-board rules" when I saw his project.  If his network went down, he might lose a batch.         

This is basically what I want to do.  I have a BGE and use it for long cooks, usually overnight.  I'd like to start with data logging and then monitoring (alerts, web, iPhone, etc).  The servo idea is definitely taking it to the next level.  There's a cool commercial product that does this: http://www.thebbqguru.com

I'd actually like to measure the temperature of the BGE at the grill level (vs the dome temp) AND the temperature of the meat.  Knowing these two temperatures, you can tell if the grill temp is in good shape, if the thing you're cooking is doing well, and potentially take action based on the temperature difference (and a target temperature).  This looks to be how the BBQ Guru works.

The ioBridge temperature probe page provides the specs on the thermistor (http://www.iobridge.net/wiki/_media/thermistor_2381-640-55103.pdf).  I wonder if there's another thermistor temperature probe with the same specs and a Polder style tip.

Just stumbled on the ioBridge today and it looks like a great platform!

Sam

[dsera]

What about the probes that we used to have in the older microwave ovens , they were thermisters and cased in stainless steel.
Or get a cheap grill probe and take it apart.

Just a thought
Dan