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Unsuccessful controller upgrade.

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    Unsuccessful controller upgrade.

    I bought my Woodwind SG24 in Feb 2019. It's been a winner so far with many racks of ribs, pulled pork and several briskets. I'm still trying to perfect smoked salmon and jerky, but my Bradley does a much better job on those two items. I decided in June 2020 to upgrade my controller to the newer digital controller with wifi. The first one I got was non-functional and would not software update at all. After about 3 weeks of playing with it, the screen went black and it was dead. Camp Chef replaced it with a new one that they said had the latest software update already installed. I also went through a new android phone upgrade to the newly released Samsung Galaxy A21 from T-Mobile. Great phone for us old folks with many more features than the replaced Galaxy J7 Primes we were using. When I got the replacement unit installed and tried to use the Camp Chef App to tie into the wifi at home, the app kept stopping about 5 seconds after starting it. I tried contacting Camp Chef support on the phone several times and was placed in a que and would be caller number 30 plus. 20 minutes or so into the hold, their system would drop me and I'd have to redial them and go back into the que.

    Decided to write them an email and I was blunt (but civil) about the experience. Several days later I got a support section call from Camp Chef. After explaining all that had transpired, she tried to pass me off to an IT engineer. Ended up getting his voice mail and left a message asking for a call back to discuss the problems/solutions with the app. 4 days latter I hadn't gotten a call back so called the lady I had talked to before and explained the situation. She said she would contact the engineer personally and ask him to call me. Waited 4 more days and never got a call back. Called her back and asked for a refund. She sent my an RA and postage label for FedEx which I used that day and returned both units to Camp Chef. I got my refund posted to my card yesterday.

    To be honest, I really like the grill and it has turned out some really good eats. I had to replace several mechanical parts during the first 6 weeks I owned the grill, but everything is good now and I haven't had any issues at all until I tried to upgrade the controller. But it would be nice to be able to monitor everything from inside the house using bluetooth/wifi instead of going out side to do so. I do have an Inkbird. 3-probe, bluetooth thermometer that allows food temp monitoring indoors, but it doesn't tell me what the grill temps are doing. The grill temps aren't necessary to have; but it would be nice to know.

    So, I'll leave you with this question. Are there any aftermarket controller upgrades that are Camp Chef compatible that have a bluetooth/wifi function that actually works with an android phone?

    #2
    I upgraded my controller to the 4 probe PID version. I’m using an iPhone. Once installed I updated the app. It takes about 3 updates to get it current.
    I suggest, if you are on Facebook, to join the Camp Chef Smoker Smokers group. A couple of people in the group have used a rec tec controller, and a couple have used savannah smoker, I think.
    The group also has at least 1 Camp Chef engineer that reads the posts. My guess is that the Camp Chef app would have needed to be upgraded to work with your new phone. I think the app is 2.4 hrz and your phone is probably 5.0 hrz. Good luck.
    Last edited by Randy-Phx; August 27, 2020, 02:45 PM.

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    • dubob
      dubob commented
      Editing a comment
      I'm SOL as I refuse to have anything to do with fakebook. Some of us old farts are like that. 😁

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