Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Fireboard + Drive + Pit Viper issues

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Fireboard + Drive + Pit Viper issues

    I have previously mentioned I had issues with getting my Fireboard + Pit Viper to run. I contacted support several weeks ago, and I got one reply saying "you should know that the fan turns off when it reaches target temp". That's it. Doh! I know that it winds down and turns off, the issue is that I was 60+ degrees from target temp, and it never started again. I waited 20 minutes. I sent two more replies, all very friendly asking for more help. Radio silence. It has now been 4 weeks.

    I did a test run again yesterday, and emailed support again. I have attached the chart below. It still doesn't work. As you can see the fan stops at 6:16pm, and never starts. The grill temp is 55 deg C, and target temp is 130 deg C.

    Here's my two issues

    1. When in auto mode, the fan turns off after 10-15 minutes, even though the target temp is still far off. It typically stops running around 60-70 deg C, even though target temp is 130 deg C. In the current state, it's useless, as the fan never kicks in again.

    2. I can never get it to switch to manual mode. I can click the mode button in the app, and set a fan speed, but nothing ever happens. The UI doesn't update to display "Manual".

    I have checked the version to make sure i have the latest (using this page: https://docs.fireboard.io/reference/firmware.html)

    I have a fully charged battery. Now my question to the pit: has anyone else seen this? Do you know of a way to resolve this by myself?

    Click image for larger version

Name:	Skärmavbild 2019-04-19 kl. 08.44.53.jpg
Views:	2925
Size:	49.5 KB
ID:	666780

    #2
    Hmm i was looking to get me this combo..
    Think I'll wait abit..
    Can't help you Henrik but that answer you got from support.. I hope they misunderstood your question..

    Comment


      #3
      I had that happen to me about a month ago. It has a auto shut off mode when I open my lid to my wsm. I thought it was strange when I noticed it did not kick back in after about 15 minutes. I went into fireboard and reset it to manual mode and it fired back up. Then shut off again. My only explanation was that it was windy that night and I figured the wind was blowing in 1 vent triggering the auto shut off.
      The manual worked fine which took about a min to kick in
      so the next cook when It did it was I disconnected the blower while the fireboard was on and waited a min then plugged it back into the fireboard and it ran all night. But the wind was calm.
      As for the manual and auto mode on the fireboard, I thought something was wrong with it or a glitch which never happened before. So I reset it and checked for updates etc. since it was an up to date version it checked itself and I didn’t notice a difference.
      So when I did my last cook they both worked fine. My problem was I did all these together so I don’t know which one was the problem. However I do think it was when I disconnected it from the fireboard while it was still on and plugged it back in that solved the problem.
      I will be cooking again next Friday night so I’ll pay close attention to it and if it does it again then I’ll report back to ya

      Comment


        #4
        I’ve used this combo for a year and have experienced lots of similar issues. It’s definitely not the fan, because all that is is a motor wired to run at whatever voltage is sent (there’s nothing to go wrong unless it shorts out).

        I’ve generally had luck pulling power and rebooting the unit, or hard-killing the app and restarting it or both. Then the cook seems to proceed just fine.

        I think the drive cable + fireboard is just buggy and they haven’t worked out all the use case states it can get in.

        There’s a lid detect setting and I have had that cause issues so I turned that off as well. I really don’t want it to stop and wait before kicking on the fan no matter what I’m doing, the way I’ve rigged my cookers they come back down to temp no problem. On a kamado this is probably a useful feature.


        Let let us know if you get a solution. I always get mine to work after various reboots and starts but it is annoying. To be fair I had similar issues with the cyberQ I used to use.

        Comment


        • Henrik
          Henrik commented
          Editing a comment
          I haven't opened the lid or anything, it just shut off. How do I turn on/off the lid detection setting? Is that in the app?

        #5
        I just had a different issue with mine last cook. It wouldn't shut off. The Fireboard said zero fan speed but it kept blowing. lightly but still blowing. So I wound over shooting my target temp by a lot and never got it back down where I wanted it.
        I had to remove from my BGE and go manually. Haven't tried since. Actually I forgot about it until this post. Thanks for reminding me Henrik I gotta look into this over the weekend before my next attempt.

        Comment


          #6
          Henrik is this FireBoard support or Pit Viper/ BBQ Guru support you're having trouble with?

          Comment


          • Huskee
            Huskee commented
            Editing a comment
            Hmmm, this is quite surprising based on all the other customer service praises I've read about them. Henrik

          • Henrik
            Henrik commented
            Editing a comment
            Yes, cannot but agree with you.

          • Steve B
            Steve B commented
            Editing a comment
            Maybe cause you’re on the other side of the planet so they don’t give a rip. 😂😂

          #7
          Click image for larger version  Name:	6484A8C9-6857-4968-AC35-3355673D96C3.png Views:	1 Size:	83.2 KB ID:	666860

          The above pic shows a 5-hour rib cook using the FireBoard, Pit Viper fan and one pit probe. I have done 15 cooks since I purchased the product, and they have all shared the same profile........fan speed set to AUTO; the device makes many small fan-speed adjustments and maintains a pretty solid and consistent pit temp. I never use MANUAL on fan speed since my whole intent in buying this was to automate my cooks as much as possible.

          I HAVE discovered that, with my BBQ (Weber Summit Charcoal), equipped with a Slow and Sear Low Profile, it’s best to start a cook with bottom and top vents fully open, turning on the FIreBoard (but not the fan) and watching the pit temp until it gets to around 175F. Then, I close the bottom vent completely, and close-down the top vent to about 75%. At this point, I use the app to select DRIVE and then enter my set point and set fan to AUTO. The point is to not let the grill overshoot your set temp initially at the start of the cook. The fan does a fine job of automatically bringing the temp UP......but not great at bringing temp DOWN if it is already too high. Say your set temp is 225F. Get your grill to 175F with no fan. Then shut your bottom vent totally, leave top vent open a bit, and turn on the fan to AUTO and set the app to 225.

          The green "spikes" at beginning and end mark when I put food on/took food off. Otherwise, smooth as silk.

          Comment


          • JPGators17
            JPGators17 commented
            Editing a comment
            Call me picky, but it still looks like 40-50 degree ups and downs on the extreme end. Is that what's expected?

          • Henrik
            Henrik commented
            Editing a comment
            JPGators17, are you looking at the grill temp (smooth) or the fan speed (green, up and down)? The green, fan speed, follows the right hand Y axis (percentage).

          • JPGators17
            JPGators17 commented
            Editing a comment
            My bad, i was looking at the fan speed. Wow, grill temp consistency looks crazy good.

          #8
          I have had zero issues with the same combo after dozens of cooks. Are you using the (ridiculously priced) Fireboard cable that connects the fan to it?

          Comment


          • Henrik
            Henrik commented
            Editing a comment
            Yes, the expensive Drive cable.

          #9
          I have not had these issues, but is FB not getting back to you? I have always found them to be very responsive. I know some others have had issues similar to this.

          Comment


            #10
            Henrik go to the Drive mode in the app and click on Settings in the upper right corner. At the top is the Lid Detection button to turn it on or off. Below that you can set the number of minutes you want to have the fan cut off once the FB detects the drop in temp. I set mine to one minute, I want the fan to kick on as soon as possible.

            I have not encountered the issues you are having but had other issues ( which I posted) that were apparently not fixable because they replaced my unit (still under warranty at that point).

            It sounds to me like the logic in your unit or fan cable is faulty. You probably need to send it in. Every issue I’ve had they’ve resolved to my satisfaction, but you will have to get it to them. If you need me to intervene to save you the long distance phone call I’m happy to do so. PM me and let me know.

            Comment


            • Henrik
              Henrik commented
              Editing a comment
              Thanks for the offer, very kind. I’ll wait til after Easter to see if they reply.

            #11
            Just curious.....have you tried running off the AC power supply instead of the battery? Happy Easter, BTW!

            Comment


              #12
              So, the first response I got was:

              "When I look at your past logs, it looks like your set point was set to 130. That means that once the grill or smoker gets up to 130 the fan will shut off because it has reached it's set point (max) temp. Am I seeing this correctly? "

              The second reply I got (today) was:

              "Sorry to hear you are having issues! I am happy to help troubleshoot further. Does your fan ever get to 100%? I would suggest plugging the 12V charger into the Drive and see if the fan can get to full capacity.

              The 12V charger that came with the Drive is more powerful than the usb charger. Be sure to unplug the fireboard charger before plugging in the 12V charger. "


              To me it seems they are both missing the main issue: the fan doesn't run at all, and manual mode never works.

              I'll try to see if I can find the charger for the Drive cable, can't remember getting one, but it could be in one of my electronics drawers. Will see.

              Comment


                #13
                So, I have finally gotten a good reply from FireBoard. They found a bug, here's the reply:

                "we found there was an issue in celsius mode and how the control logic was being calculated. The bug was fixed a short time ago and we are were wrapping up a few other changes and then will be releasing the new update. For the time being, I went ahead and queued up your FireBoard to download the latest firmware which should solve the issue for you. It should automatically update when you power up your FireBoard next.

                We'll have another release in the next week or so with a few more updates, but this should resolve the issue for now. Please let us know if this doesn't do the trick!"


                Sounds very promising - me happy

                I will update my Fireboard and give it a test run. Yay!

                Comment


                • mjkelch
                  mjkelch commented
                  Editing a comment
                  So, that makes sense and I'm glad Fireboard Labs has made the corrections. I cook in Fahrenheit so I never would have been exposed to this bug. Hope the fixes resolved your issue.

                • Henrik
                  Henrik commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Yep, works like a charm now.

                #14
                Well this is worrisome. I just got the same combo in the mail last week, but haven't used it yet. Thanks for sharing, hopefully I won't have to find this post again for future fixing. I hope they're suggestion fixes your problem!

                Comment


                • Henrik
                  Henrik commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Yes, I'm sure it'll work now. Except for this hickup the FireBoard has worked flawlessly for me for the last two years (since I got it).

                #15
                I finally punched a hole in my kettle and hooked up the Viper for a cook. I can't believe how steady it held the temp for 11 hours.
                Attached Files

                Comment


                • JPGators17
                  JPGators17 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  oh this is way better than my oven. that was the first thing i tested when i got the fireboard. As expected, my oven runs at lease 25 degrees hotter than what it's set at, and not nearly as consistent.

                • Troutman
                  Troutman commented
                  Editing a comment
                  It's a beautiful thing

                • mjkelch
                  mjkelch commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Fireboard is, hands-down, the best controller I've used.

              Announcement

              Collapse
              No announcement yet.
              Working...
              X
              false
              0
              Guest
              Guest
              500
              ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
              false
              false
              {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
              Yes
              ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
              /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here