1150 Temp Issues

[SteveKitella]

I have the 500 lxw and my door Guage reeds 40 degrees lower than the digital display temp is that normal. Which one do I go by??? Help

 

[SteveKitella]

Did you try it and did it work?

The door guages are junk, go by the probe always. I have the 2 ELECTRIC and mine is 50 F low. From day one. Also the high temp is around 260f. I'm going to move the probe higher and see if that works?

 

[spyem1]

Ok as most posts state the temp can be an issue. As in too low. I'm going to try to relocate the probe higher away from the element and see if that works. In thinking it will. I smoke jerky and salmon so I don't usually need anything over 250-300F. But even getting to 300 can be an issue. My turkey had to get moved to the oven this xmas. If moving the probe doesn't work I'll invest in a new oven one.

Hey I'm a new member but have been following this thread. I am currently in the middle of doing the 3 burn off process but I don't think it's gonna work. I have a inkbird probe setting near the grill probe and it's reading is almost 50 degree difference. I also think the grill probe needs to be moved. There seems to be a hot air draft coming up from under the diffuser plate that blows right on the grill probe. If we can relocate it to get a more accurate reading then I think this will all be fixed. The question is where do we relocate it? And how much is pit boss paying us for R&D?

 

[spyem1]

Also is anyone else having a lot of unburnt wood dust all over their grill? I season my meats I don't need the pellets to dust it also.

 

[RCAlan]

Hey I'm a new member but have been following this thread. I am currently in the middle of doing the 3 burn off process but I don't think it's gonna work. I have a inkbird probe setting near the grill probe and it's reading is almost 50 degree difference. I also think the grill probe needs to be moved. There seems to be a hot air draft coming up from under the diffuser plate that blows right on the grill probe. If we can relocate it to get a more accurate reading then I think this will all be fixed. The question is where do we relocate it? And how much is pit boss paying us for R&D?

If you’re looking for away to fix the gap near the RTD Probe... Here’s two options..
1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pit-Boss-Austin-XL-Pro-1100-Air-Gap-Heat-Deflector-Plate-Mod-/223831019275

2. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pit-Boss-A...d-Air-Gap-Mod-Temp-Probe-Shield/143899278095?
Seems to be a good Mod used by a member here, Camp Boss. Here’s the link to his thread. https://www.pitbossforum.com/threads/pit-boss-austin-xl-mods.710/

Good luck.

Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[Timbo 57]

Just purchased an 1150 a week ago and without going into details I am having similar problems. Not sure if I have a new or old controller. Left a service request on the Pit Boss website.

 

[johndeg]

Has anyone done this? Pit Boss told me to do this and it would take care of my issues with low temps....From Pit Boss "If you're having issues with the grill holding temp on the lower settings, there is a 3 step burn off process we'd have you do. If after this you're still having issues, please let us know as we will have a plan in place to reprogram the board in just a few days. If you do this in a single day, expect it to take about 5 hours. Set the grill directly to 350° instead of Smoke and run it at that temp for 40 minutes. After that, drop the grill down to 200° and let it run for an additional 40 minutes. Shut the grill down and let it cool down. After that, turn the grill back on to 350° for another 40 minutes, then down to 225° for 40 minutes and shut it down again after that. Then start up to 350° for a final 40 minutes, then down to 250° for 40 minutes. After that's been done, the board should "learn" from that and your temps may be more in line. This will take a bit of time, but there have been quite a few people who've stated this works very well for them".

Didn't work for me! I'd love to know just a few of the "quite a few people" who've stated this works very well for them! What a wast of time and pellets. I ended up getting my controller reprogrammed - while not perfect, it's much better.

 

[Lock Popper]

Good evening everyone. First post on this forum not new to smokers but am new to pellet smokers. Almost pulled the trigger on a pellet last summer but coming off stick burners I decided to build an UDS ugly drum smoker due to long cooking times on little fuel and forgiving temp swings even in the cold. No regrets on doing that and will keep it for a long time since I have over $350 in that build. I was really looking at the Z Grills 1000 but after deciding I wanted WiFi I purchased the 1150 pro yesterday afternoon at my local Lowe’s. Received 20% off $599 using my Lowes CC and that was the deciding factor. Since the new firmware update is available, I called Pitboss yesterday after afternoon and had them send me a 2 day Fedex return label to ship in my control panel. The girl asked me if I was having temp issues I said no, never even plugged it in yet but I wanted the new firmware or updated board and she said no problem. Mailed it out this afternoon. Should be at their facility on Thursday in Oregon and I should see it back middle of next week. 2 day Fedex each way. This fix should add the 5 degree increments from 200-300, fix the cruise control on the auger times and hopefully fix the WiFi issue with IOS from what she said. I also ordered the temp probe heat shield from Smokeslikeaboss.com for $36 dollars and am gonna remove the stock shield off the probe. Hopefully before next weekend I’ll have everything back to start the burn in process. From what I see when the controller comes back PB should include a small assortment of trial size rub packets which will be nice. She even registered my grill when I was on the phone. So far my experience had been good. Looking forward to returning back to this thread to update next week. I also lucked out and found the last 3 20 pound charcoal PB pellets in my local Walmart’s . Gonna mix them in with my competition blend pellets which I currently use in the smoke tube I use in my kettle, gas and drum.

 

[TekVu]

The fix for me was to disable Bluetooth. I did some troubleshooting and noticed something was adjusting the temps too low or too high. I set the smoker manually with just controls and it would hold but the temps would move when I used the app. With Wi-Fi only the app will still report temps and allow temp control. BT is not needed. Either turn it off on the phone or block the all from connecting to Bluetooth. I blocked BT from the Smokeit app so I could still use BT with my other temp probes.

 

[johndeg]

I'll throw in my .02 for what it's worth. I had nothing but bad luck with my 1150 that I bought in December. The igniter was dead out of the box. Pit Boss immediately sent a replacement, and I was good to go. Then I started having the issues with not holding temps below 250. Pit Boss had me return the controller for reprogramming. When I got it back, it seemed to work fine. After 5 cooks with the new controller, it still seemed to be having issues holding temps below 300 degrees. One cook was at 280 degrees, and at times it struggled to get to 240. I contacted Pit Boss again, and they said that I must have a bad temperature probe, which they sent out. No luck, same problems. They now decided that I must have a bad controller, so they sent me a new one. I tried the burn offs again. It took 1.5 hours to get to 350 the first time, then eventually got to where it took 45 minutes to get to 350. Not great, but it was holding all temps, so I dealt with it. Did some tri tip and pork butt, seemed good. Then I tried some chicken wings. 250 for 30 minutes, held that temp fine. Then tried to turn it up to 425. Got to 300, and would never get above that. Called Pit Boss again. They tell me that I must have a bad temperature probe. I explain that I already replaced that, but they want me to try again. Fine - they send me a new temp probe, and a 20 lb bag of pellets that I asked for instead of the rub they wanted to send. I install the new probe, fire it up again. Set it straight to 350 like they said. It takes 1 hour and 36 minutes to get to 350. Leave it at 350 for 40 minutes, then down to 200 for 40 minutes. Try the second burn. 1 hour 5 minutes to get to 350. Decided to try to get to 400. After 20 minutes, the temp had dropped to 310 degrees, and was still dropping. Back to the phone! This time, they send a new controller and temp probe together. Insist that it will fix the problem - so now I'm on my third controller and temp probe. NOPE! Similar issues - takes forever to get to 350, then can't go from 250 to 450. I call again, tell them that I must have a lemon, and that I'm done. I want my money back. They can't do that, but they'll be happy to send me a brand new 1150! Not happy about this, but OK, I'll play. New grill arrives a few days later. The replacement grill that they sent me still took 40-45 minutes to get to 350, and 25 minutes to go from 250 to 425. The supervisor that I spoke to admitted that they were having issues with the PID controllers, and offered to send me a Navigator 1150 instead since it doesn't have a PID. While I appreciated the offer, I insisted that I wanted my money back. They told me that if Lowe's would take it back, they'd give me a return authorization. Lowe's said that they would, so I dropped it off and got my money back. I have a Camp Chef Woodwind WiFi 36 and I couldn't be happier. Pit Boss customer service tried to make it work, so I don't have anything against them. This PID is clearly not ready for primetime. I know that it works for many, hopefully you're one of the lucky ones!