Nickel Review - PitmasterIQ IQ110 for PBC

[gdsim1]

I’d been thinking about trying out a temp controller for the PBC for a while now, and when I saw in another thread that a manufacturer made one specifically for the PBC (no after market mods required), I had to pull the trigger.

This will be a "living" document that I will update after my first couple cooks. This initial review can be thought of as an unboxing / first impressions sort of things, since I’ve only set it up but will not be cooking with it tonight. Bought it myself, so no sponsor or manufacturer bias... just one backyard BBQ enthusiasts thoughts and opinions.

First impressions on unboxing were less than favorable, although that could be my own inexperience since I’ve never owned a temp controller before. The unit itself (controller and attached hose) are a little underwhelming... very lightweight plastic. Perhaps I’ve just become accustomed to products from Thermoworks over the years? When I bought my Smoke, the first time I held it in my hand I knew I’d purchased a quality product. The IQ110 did not give me that same warm fuzzy that the cash I plunked down was money well spent.

The intake cover / adapter is metal (appears to be stainless steel) and is of much better quality than the unit itself. Temp probe appears to be quality construction also.

Setup up was quick and easy - despite. Paper manual does not contain the words "Pit Barrel Cooker" or "PBC" anywhere... odd, considering this is marketed as model specific. 🤔 Installation section of the owners manual basically says visit the web site for your specific model (groovy), and there is a one page model specific insert included to help too (again, groovy). Whip out the insert - it contains instructions for Kamado’s on one side, and kettle cookers on the other side... again, nothing about the PBC. WTF? Jet on over to the web site, guess what? Nothing PBC specific there either. 💁*♂️

Luckily, the installation was simple enough that even a cro-magnon like me could figure it out. Literally as simple as pulling off the air intake cover / damper (one screw + nut) and putting the adapter plate in its place the same way. Hang the unit on the handle of the PBC, connect the hose from the unit to the nipple on the plate and that’s about it. A plastic collar is included to snug the hose to the nipple, but the hose fits very snugly so I doubt it’ll be needed - which is fortunate, because the plastic collar is EXTREMELY chincy in construction.

One thing i didnt bank on when I purchased this thing is that it runs off 120V AC house power, not battery. So I’ve gotta run an extension cord to the thing every time I want to use it? 💁*♂️ Cro-magnon not happy. 🤬

Overall first impressions - I’m pretty damn far from blown away. The lack of product specific PBC support to be had anywhere by the manufacturer is troubling, as is the adapter plate itself (see included pics). After installation, there was a fairly signficant gap left between the bottom of the adaptor and the barrel wall. The plate of the adaptor IS curved somewhat so it appears they tried (half heartedly) to make a good fit with the PBC, but a little more attention to detail in engineering during the design phase would have gone a loooooing way towards making a higher quality product.

The temp probe seems like it’s going to be a problem also. The business end is an alligator clip, which the manufacturer says should be clipped to the grill grate. Wonderful if I’m USING the grate on the PBC, but the clip is nowhere big enough to clip to the rebar if I’m hanging meat (which is 95% of the time for me). Will it work correctly if I just hang it in the Barrel, as I do the temp probe for the Smoke? I guess we’re gonna find out. 💁*♂️

The lightweight plastic of the unit, along with the idea of hanging it from the handle of the PBC, has me concerned as well. It’s a good thing that the body of the PBC does not heat up significantly or this thing wouldn’t make it through the first cook intact. It still may not... time will tell.

Could I do some backyard engineering, bend a little here, tweak a little there, modify the setup and make this thing marginally better? Sure. But when I drop $130 on a product that is purported to be model specific, I don’t feel as though I should have to.

All in all, this product feels like an afterthought by PitmasterIQ - "Oh we make controllers for all these other models, I GUESS we should slap some crap together for the PBC too." Or perhaps all PitmasterIQ products are this shabby? Or maybe this is how all controllers are constructed? I have no base of reference.

All these gripes and complaints will of course be mitigated IF the thing does what it’s supposed to do, and IF it survives long enough to justify the money spent...

TBD. More to follow after I cook with it this weekend, providing I get the weather to do so.

[JimLinebarger]

Interesting write-up. You can clip to the hook when hanging, but PBC hooks are rather thick and even the BBQGuru clip can slip off sometimes. But it usually works well. If needed, use a large paper clip to hang on the rebar and hook to that.

[gdsim1]

Thanks for the ideas JimLinebarger! I’ll definitely give them a go.

[AverageJoe]

I am looking forward to your after cook thoughts. I have this saved in my wish list on amazon and you have the best write up that I have seen so far.

[gdsim1]

AverageJoe - I’ll try to remember to tag you when I post the after cook thoughts so you know it’s available. If you have any questions I may be able to help with, just shoot me a message. 👍

[Polarbear777]

See post #9 for guru fan mounting option.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/grills-and-smokers/charcoal/pit-barrel-cooker/457459-pbc-calibration-tests

[Polarbear777]

I just drilled a 1” hole and installed the universal "Weber" adapter for the fan. I’ve seen a post where they have other adapters that may work in the stock vent as well, but can’t find it now. I re-did the stock vent with a sliding hole so I can seal it or actually run stock if I want.

[JimLinebarger]

AverageJoe I have the XL Grill Dome Adaptor Super Dome adapter that BBQGuru people said would work going thru the existing hole from the inside. I just drilled a hole thru the adapter thru the PBC screw existing hole. I don't have the option of reverting back to normal as Polarbear777 does, but that is just what we grizzlies do.

[Polarbear777]

I wonder what the intake area is of the open fan port vs the crescent shape of the stock opening at altitude. It might be just right to run "as stock"?

[fzxdoc]

I wrote to the Pitmaster IQ folks to ask about the PBC Adapter. They sent me this photo:



I wrote back and asked if it was curved to fit the PBC, whether it is inserted on the inside or the outside, and the diameter of the fan/hose opening. Haven't heard back.

So it was great to find this topic this morning, gdsim1 . Thank you for the writeup. I can see from the clearance of the port on the plate that it has to be installed on the outside.

Folks who have used the XL Grill dome adapter from BBQ Guru have mounted it on the outside, as dshein01 did here, using flue tape, or on the inside of the PBC as JimLinebarger described here . From what I can deduce, forcing the adapter into a gentle curve and then installing it on the inside, tucking it into the PBC seam appears to result in a relatively tight fit of the adapter against the barrel without having to make additional holes in the PBC. (correct me if I'm wrong, Jim).

supergas6 used the BBQ Guru XL Grill Dome adapter as well, inserted on the inside of the barrel, but drilled additional holes in the PBC and adapter to secure the adapter to the barrel, which he showed in this post.

I seem to recall that Spinaker had the Pitmaster IQ control but replaced it with the Fireboard driver for remote operation/monitoring capability.

I'd like to play with this option, but wonder if I would miss running my PBC in its natural state, sans fan control. I have to open the stock vent on the PBC to about 5/8 at my altitude. I would guess that the opening for the fan on an adapter might have a smaller open area, but it's something that could be tried.

Kathryn

[gdsim1]

fzxdoc, if I have time this evening I can get you the diameter of the hose opening. And I’m not entirely sure the adapter plate WOULDN’T fit inside the barrel also... I’ll give it a whirl and let you know.

I saved the the original intake cover, in case I don’t like this contraption. If you look on the pic I took of the unit, just under the big "110" marking in the middle, you’ll notice a "selector switch" for lack of a better term with five positions. In the web surfing I’ve done, this seems to mimic the cover opening positions Pit Barrel recommends - 0 (closed), 1 (quarter open), 2 (half open), 3 (three quarters open) and 4 (wide open). Between that and the fan, finding a sweet spot to replicate you 5/8 open should be possible I would think.

More to follow! 👍

[fzxdoc]

Thanks for the additional information, gdsim1 . I'll stay tuned!

Kathryn

[jhapka]

Thank you for this post. Very interested to follow along because I was thinking of pulling the trigger on one of these or a similar unit for my PBC. I must say the DC power cord is a feature that does not appeal to me.

[gdsim1]

Yeah, I’m not nuts about it either @jhapka... like I mentioned above, I didn’t realize how spoiled I’d become by ThermoWorks products until I made this purchase.

Kinda feel like that ones on me though - I should have read more fully before ordering.

[gdsim1]

Sorry folks. I didn’t forget about you, but I AM running out of daylight... honey-do list was a bit longer than I planned on this evening. 😇 I will update as soon as I’m able, hopefully tomorrow.

[fzxdoc]

No hurry, gdsim1 . We're a patient bunch around here. Your honey-do list is not only keeping you busy, it's helping to keep my MCS under control by default.

Kathryn

[gdsim1]

UPDATE - 1st Cook
6/22/2019

Conditions: 88F ambient outside temperature, 64% relative humidity, partly cloudy skies, wind SSW 15MPH

Notes: First time I’ve attempted to do a "review" like this and wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. I decided on a somewhat chronological format.. I say "somewhat", as it may have been helpful if I’d recorded the amount of time between notes. 🙄 Figure somewhere around 15-20 minutes between notes, unless otherwise noted.

In addition to the IQ110, I used my ThermoWorks Smoke to monitor the barrel temp.

In the notes, when I refer to the "lights", I’m referring to the system of colored LED on the IQ110 unit, which tells you what it’s seeing temperature wise. An actual display on the unit that tells you what temp the probe is at would be great, but given the results below I think it’s obvious why the Pitmaster company didn’t go that route. With the LED light alone, the indications are more "ish" than dead on accurate since the only temp the IQ110 gives you is the temp you set it for - unless you use a known good probe beside it, hence the Smoke unit I used.

Target barrel temp: 275F.

Lit 25 coals to put in the coal basket of the PBC, as Pitmaster suggests starting lower than usual, and letting the IQ110 bring the barrel up to temp. Makes sense - easier to bring it up to a steady temp then level it off, instead of starting high and trying to choke it to the right temp.

Set the IQ110 to 275, with the vent selector at 2. (Vent selections are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, for closed, 1/4 open, 1/2 open, 3/4 open and full open). IQ110 temp probe was hanging from the rebar in the barrel, right next to the temp probe of the Smoke unit.

1) With no meat in the barrel and probe hung from rebar, Barrel took ~20 minutes to come up to, and level off at, 273 according to the Smoke. How easy is that! I thought. 😃

2) I put my meat in the barrel (one rack of beef ribs hung, and 6 more boneless beef ribs on the hinged grate), and clipped the temp probe of the IQ110 to the grate per Pitmasters instructions. 20 minutes later, IQ110 is giving me a green light ("at temp") at a setting of 275F. Smoke says 245F. (30F off desired temp of 275F)

3) Unclipped the IQ110 probe, and hung it next to the probe of the Smoke. 20 minutes later, IQ110 is giving me green light - Smoke says 250F. (25F off desired temp of 275F)

4) Bumped vent setting on IQ110 up to 4 (full open) and set it to 300F to bring barrel temp up. When Smoke read 275F, I turned the IQ110 temp back down to 275F, and it gave me the green light (at temp), which meant it agreed with the Smoke that barrel temp was 275. Except...

5) Barrel temp continued to climb. When the Smoke hit 282F, I backed the vent setting on the IQ119 back to 2 (half open) to throttle it back a bit. Barrel temp came back down to 270F according to the Smoke.

6) Barrel temp continued to hover in the 265-272F range. Interestingly, IQ110 showed a steady green light throughout this entire period, meaning it was seeing the barrel temp at the 275F it was set at. It begins to dawn on me that I’m going to have to settle for a range instead of a dead-on temp, and I’m going to need to rely on the Smoke unit to do it effectively.

7) When barrel temp drops to 262F (13 degrees off desired temp (and set temp on the IQ110), I bump the setting on the IQ110 up to approximately 285. This raised the barrel temp to 269F.

8) Bumped the IQ110 setting to 300F. For the first time in all the steps above, IQ110 finally starts flashing green (low temp, at 31 degrees lower than set point).

9) When barrel temp hit 275F according to the Smoke, I dropped the setting on the IQ110 to juuuuuuust under 300. IQ110 stopped blinking and went solid green, meaning it saw a barrel temp of ~295F, when it was actually 275F (20 degrees off, high). The past couple steps were small and incremental, done over about 15 minutes apiece, but at least I’ve got this thing somewhat figured out and dialed in now. 😊

10) NOT SO FAST SPORTS FANS! Barrel temp began to climb, and when it hit 286F according to the Smoke, I dialed the IQ110 back to a setting of ~285, trying another small incremental change to dial it back in to an actual temp of 275F... resulting in the IQ110 giving me a high temp alert. Barrel temp continued to climb to 292F according to the Smoke before it started to come back down again. 😱

11) When Barrel temp hit 280F according to the Smoke, IQ110 went to a solid green light (at temp). Not bad, considering it was now set to ~285. 💁*♂️

12) Hold the phone again... Barrel temp continued to drop with a range of 262-271F. 🤬 IQ110 shows steady green light ("at temp") throughout, even though the actual temp is now between 14-23 degrees off. 😡

13) Continue small incremental changes thru remainder of cook, with similar results.

THOUGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS

- This is definitely not a Thermoworks product. The amount of variance in actual temp (~15-25 degrees on either side, high or low, for a total range of 30-50 degrees) versus your set temp on the IQ110 when it will show you a steady green light (indicating you are at the temp you selected and all is well) is HORRENDOUS in my opinion. And if you’re not monitoring it with something like the Smoke... and just took the IQ110’s word for it... you’d never have any idea.

- You’re never going to get anything close to a steady temp out of this thing, you’re going to get a range. I was never able to get a range where the median (centerpoint) was the 275F I was shooting for either. I had to settle for a range of around 4-25 degrees lower than I wanted, or 4-25 degrees higher than I wanted... meaning a centerpoint of 10-12 degrees off, with it fluctuating pretty wildly around that, instead of your set point on the IQ110.

- One place the IQ110 did shine was choking the coals to control temperature spikes when checking the meat. PBC owners know that when you remove and replace the lid to check your meat, it results in a temp spike to 350-375F or even past 400F, which then slowly... ever... so... slowly... comes back down to around 275F over the course of an hour or so.

When I checked my meat, I set the IQ110 to its lowest temp setting and set the vent to 0 (fully closed). Temp spike when I put the lid back on never broke 300F, and came back down into the 275F range in about 15 minutes.

- When the cook was over, the rubber on the hose did NOT want to come off the nipple on the intake cover plate. On the upside, that means it had a great seal. On the downside, I had to twist, turn, and use a lot more muscle than I wanted to in order to get it off. This may have resulted in my bending and / or loosening the cover plate... it was dark by the time I broke it down, so I’ll find out how bad it is the next time I use the barrel.

FINAL VERDICT FROM THE COOK WITH THE IQ110 - I am COMPLETELY underwhelmed with this product. Wouldn’t hold anywhere near an ACCURATE temp. Wouldn’t hold anywhere near a STEADY temp. And the fact that a consumer would never know the difference without monitoring it with another device (which shouldn’t be necessary in my opinion) pisses me off on behalf of my barbecue brethren.

An actual LED readout on the unit, showing you accurately what the temp inside the cooker is, would be a nice touch. I feel like PitmasterIQ didn’t include this feature because 1) it would’ve cost extra money per unit in production, and 2) they don’t WANT you to know, because word would get out and nobody would purchase this shabby product.

And why would you? Between the cheap construction, the obvious lack of thought in design, and the terrible performance, you’ve gained exactly nothing for your $130. Is that a ton of money? Depends on the person I suppose... but considering what you get from the product, I feel like it’s overpriced by about $131. LOL

I bought the IQ110 so I wouldn’t have to go through the couple-times-a-cook rigamarole of cracking the lid of the PBC to bring the temp back up to where I wanted it. So I could do that 3-4 times over a 6 hour brisket cook, OR I could spend an ENTIRE cook fiddle farting with the IQ110. You be the judge of what is the lesser evil.

Just for science’s sake, I think I’m going to pick up another ambient temp probe from ThermoWorks and try it in place of the alligator clip probe that comes with the IQ110 to see what if any difference it makes. Might at least tell me if it’s a garbage probe, or a garbage unit that makes this such a shoddy product.

If Im putting money down on which it is, I know which way I’m betting. LOL. I guess we’ll see...

[gdsim1]

Tagging AverageJoe and fzxdoc to let them know the follow-on review is up.

[AverageJoe]

gdsim1 Thank you for the tag. That is a very in depth write up. I was hoping that it was going to be a bit less fiddly than what you went through. It almost sounds like they used a raspberry pi circuit board in it with bad language in the programming. Looking forward to your next input. I kind of hope that the better quality probe helps it out some.

Nice work on the nickel review.

[fzxdoc]

Thanks for the excellent writeup and review of your first use of the IQ110, gdsim1 . The unit does sound fiddly. I agree with you that for $130 one should expect more accuracy/reliability than shown in your first run.

I wonder what the 110 would do if set to 275 and you let it run at that for the whole cook, recording the temps displayed on your Smoke probe throughout the cook as well. I wonder if there would be any variations in the temp, or if it would just run at one rock solid (but not exactly accurate) temp. It could be that the thing just needs to be calibrated over the course of a few cooks, assuming the Smoke probe reading as the accurate one.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I've seen any temperature control unit graphs shown here on The Pit that are compared against the reading of a second ambient probe placed nearby.

... PBC owners know that when you remove and replace the lid to check your meat, it results in a temp spike to 350-375F or even past 400F,!which then slowly... ever... so... slowly... comes back down to around 275F over the course of an hour or so.

FWIW, on my PBC, seldom does the temp spike in the mid to high 300°s when I lift the lid to check the meat, and it never takes an hour or more to come back into range. It surely can do that if the lid is left off for several minutes, but not for the short period of time it takes to check on the cook. I'm wondering if you are reseating the lid nice and tight after checking the meat. You probably are; the difference in our experiences may be just the difference in our two PBCs.

Kathryn

[gdsim1]

AverageJoe - see, this is where I struggle as a low tech man living in a high tech world...

”It almost sounds like they used a raspberry pi circuit board in it with bad language in the programming.”

Is there any way you could find out about the circuit board? Maybe go the extra mile and find out which temp controllers have the best ("smartest") ones?

In my cro-mag head, temp controllers are fairly simple setups - brain (unit), temp probe and fan. Fan seems like it’s probably not a suspect... so long as it’s moving air, it’s good. So it’s either gotta be the probe (which I’ll experiment with), or the unit (where I’m pretty much lost and useless).

Any interest in doing a little research? 😊

[AverageJoe]

I can poke around and see if there is anything online in regards to it. Also I am looking forward to your test with using a better high quality probe. Something as simple as a bad sensor in the tip could throw it off as well.

[gdsim1]

fzxdoc :”Come to think of it, I'm not sure if I've seen any temperature control unit graphs shown here on The Pit that are compared against the reading of a second ambient probe placed nearby.”

Well how bout we make us one then Doc? 😃 Should be pretty easy for me to record the temps on the smoke throughout a cook, though actually plotting them on a useable graph might be tough for me... is it okay if I use crayon? LOL

I’d actually had the same thought as you did on one of your points... maybe the IQ110 needs a few cooks and more data to figure itself out and start performing better? Then I took a look at the basic construction of the unit itself and went "Mmmmm, probably not". BUT since I’m dragging you and AverageJoe along with me on this little journey and more experiments will be taking place, I suppose time will tell somewhat. A little (read: ANY) support for this unit on the part of the manufacturer would be helpful, but between the godawful literature that comes with the unit and the equally useless website, I guess we’re on our own.

Not simply setting it to 275 and letting it go owes to my Type A personality - "see problem, fix problem, no more problem, on to the next problem." LOL I will try to be more patient as we continue moving thru this, but no promises. 😇

The temp spike on the PBC is definitely me, not the PBC. I’m terrible about leaving the lid off when I pull meat to sauce or probe instead of putting it back on while I’m doing those things. 😖

[fzxdoc]

gdsim1 , you may want to take a look at this topic which discusses comparing a probe readout with a temperature control unit's readout:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/accessorize-your-pit/digital-thermometers/708307-weird-inconsistencies-with-digiq-and-thermoworks-smoke

Your Pitmaster IQ110 seems to be doing the same thing that other temperature control units do.

Have you done any more cooks with your setup?

Kathryn