I hate Fireboard. Their customer service has sucked for me. Anybody want a nearly new Fireboard 2 Pro?

[mgood777]

I have a Fireboard 2 Pro. For most of this year I have been in a back-and-forth with their customer service people (rather I should say *person* because it seems to be only one guy) to try and diagnose the erratic temperature swings that I had been getting. I was 100% convinced it was bad probes. They were 100% convinced that the unit just needed to be tested and recalibrated by them. I sent it back to them twice. They recalibrated both times. Both times they *claimed* to have tested the probes and told me the probes were good. But both times as soon as I got everything home I experienced the same erratic temperature swings. My probe tests (in a glass of ice water) were all over the place. It got to the point where I truly believe they were telling me they were testing the probes but I don't believe they were. Finally, after two go-rounds of this and dozens of emails back and forth, they said "Fine we'll just send you a new unit." I was pleased until I got the new unit. They only sent the unit and no probes. No matter how hard I tried, for some reason they refused to acknowledge that the probes could be the problem. I really didn't care that they weren't giving me new probes. I would have been willing to order them and pay for them. What I really wanted was for them to put in the effort necessary to help me accurately diagnose a problem so I knew for sure what was going on, and clearly they couldn't or didn't. Either way, I am done with Fireboard. I have the new unit they sent me. I don't want it. It has never been used except to validate that when I use this with my old probes I still have a problem. I refuse to buy new probes for it because I don't want to give them another penny. I have already moved on and replaced it with a Thermoworks Signals. So somebody can have this. You need to buy new probes for it, but that's going to be a fraction of the cost of buying a new unit. If you want it, reply below and send me a PM with your address. I'll put it in USPS Priority Mail and send to you. Merry Christmas!

EDIT: This has been spoken for and is going to a new home today.

[Andrrr]

Alright, ya got me. Sending PM now.

[Bogy]

I have a Fireboard 1 and a Fireboard 2. I have a bunch of probes, and some of the older ones have gone bad, giving me readings of 700 degrees when the cooker is just warming up. It's too bad they won't admit that the probes went bad, when that's an easy fix. I bought extra probes when I bought the Fireboard 2 at the St. Louis BBQ Store, and more when Fireboard was running a sale. As soon as I changed probes everything read accurate again. I threw all the old ones in a drawer and someday when I have some free time I'll test and see which ones are bad.

[Andrrr]

Ah yes, the ‘ol “These don’t work but I don’t want to throw them away” routine. I’ve got a lot better at not doing that but I’m still guilty.

[Bogy]

Andrrr I'm not going to say that I never succumb to that routine, but in this case when I was in the middle of a cook and had a probe go bad I yanked out and replaced it. But then it got mixed in with the other "old" probes. Some are good, some are bad, I've just been using the "new" ones, but I need to sort out the ones that are still usable. Defense rests.

[mgood777]

Alright, ya got me. Sending PM now.

OK it's yours.

[gboss]

https://www.fireboard.com/probes/

It looks like the Fireboard can support the Thermoworks probes through settings. (I believe that the Thermoworks probes are 10k vs the 100k that Fireboard ships with.

If you test it with the probes from the signals and it reads correctly, that will give you a definitive answer regarding the probes.

Alternatively, you could measure the resistance of the Fireboard probes. They should be close to 100k ohms at room temperature and the resistance should not vary as you move the wire around.

Edit: this is only true for the "regular" Fireboard. The "Pro" uses thermocouples and they not interchangeable.

[Richard Chrz]

+ 1

[rlozinak]

Sorry you have had some much issues. I have one and love it. Works like a champ.

[mgood777]

https://www.fireboard.com/probes/

It looks like the Fireboard can support the Thermoworks probes through settings. (I believe that the Thermoworks probes are 10k vs the 100k that Fireboard ships with.

If you test it with the probes from the signals and it reads correctly, that will give you a definitive answer regarding the probes.

Alternatively, you could measure the resistance of the Fireboard probes. They should be close to 100k ohms at room temperature and the resistance should not vary as you move the wire around.

The Fireboard 2 Pro uses a different style probe. The Thermoworks probes are completely different.

[gboss]

My bad, I didn't see that it was the "Pro" version which seems to use type-k thermocouples. You can make a rudimentary type-k test probe by twisting type-k extension wire and crimping it in a ring terminal.
Type-K in the USA has Yellow as the + and Red as the -.

[Attjack]

That sucks. I just sent my unit in because it tuned itself right back on when I turned it off with my Drive cable plugged in. They said there was no fix for it but that one would come later. They also reimbursed me for shipping.

[realdocBBQ]

The Fireboard 2 Pro uses a different style probe. The Thermoworks probes are completely different.

I bought this set of Thermoworks probes and they work 100% with my original Fireboard out of the box.

In addition, I bought this Thermoworks TP25 and the same probes work fine in my original Fireboard.

[GolfGeezer]

I believe the Pro uses K-style probes. The single plug are not compatible regardless of resistance. Of course, I could be wrong.

[mgood777]

I bought this set of Thermoworks probes and they work 100% with my original Fireboard out of the box.

In addition, I bought this Thermoworks TP25 and the same probes work fine in my original Fireboard.

I do not have an original Fireboard. My trouble is with a Fireboard 2 Pro. It's a totally different kind of probe.

[mgood777]

I believe the Pro uses K-style probes. The single plug are not compatible regardless of resistance. Of course, I could be wrong.

You are correct.

[TripleB]

Can you use your Fireboard probes on the Thermoworks Signal? If you can, see if they are off.

[mgood777]

Can you use your Fireboard probes on the Thermoworks Signal? If you can, see if they are off.

No. They are completely different probes. Not compatible.

[gboss]

I see now that they are Type-K thermocouples.

You can read DC mV signals from those and get a good idea if they are good or not. It won't be accurate without cold junction compensation but it should be sufficiently precise not to have erratic readings.

[GolfGeezer]

mgood777 I am sorry your experience with FB has been so poor. My experience over the years (since buying the original version, now the FB non-Pro and the Spark) has been very good, including replacements for probes that have gone bad. Some exhibited similar issues to what you are having, and those were the non-K styles (RTD, 10K and 100K). One thing I seem to recall is someone here on The Pit had issues with their K-Style probe(s) and discovered that the tiny screws on the connector end were loose. Tightening them resolved the issue from what I recall.

As for the Signals - I also have one. It is fine - works as advertised. I tend to not use it mainly because the App s**ks, both Android and Apple versions. it is not very good at allowing you to do much - no editing notes, no added pictures, and it only saves a very limited number of cooking sessions. No access via a regular web browser either. Of course, you may find it fits your needs perfectly, so take my input for what it is - just IMHO.

Good luck!

PS. here is the post I referred to about loose screws in the K-probes:

PSA for Fireboard K-Probe owners - Pitmaster Club (amazingribs.com)

[gboss]

That's honestly a very good point. Those connectors are dead standard and they are a huge pain to wire. The TC wire is nearly always solid core and getting them to stay under the screw terminals in the plug can be a challenge.