Now the App won’t start up

[Robnjay]

So I’ve been having long fight with my Pit Boss grill (PB1150PS2)…
I don’t use it to smoke meats very often, I mostly cook steaks, burgers, chops, etc. I almost always cook at 450 or 500 degrees.
When I first bought it it would get to temperature in about 20 - 30 minutes and was pretty stable, although the internal temperature varied a lot from one end to the other. But I could still cook great steaks, burgers, chops, etc.
Then the App updated and forced a firmware update and everything changed. I would have to log into my WiFi every time I started the app, if I didn’t, the grill would disconnect as soon as I got out of Bluetooth range.
At this point I started on this forum and I learned some stuff.
I also called Danson’s tech support and did some diagnosing over the phone and they sent me a new controller. I have to say that I am VERY impressed with their support and the way they stand behind the warranty. I installed the controller and I started noticing that the temperature would rise to about 60% of the set temperature and then hang.
So I called support and a very helpful guy changed the way I start up

 

[Robnjay]

So a big chunk of my post got cut off (sigh) missing the whole point…
Changed the startup (lid open) told me to unscrew the chimney cap until there’s a 2 finger gap between the bottom of the cap and the pipe and remove the diffuser plate. Also, I installed an aftermarket stainless fire pot and the air gap mod. Now my Pit Boss takes about 15 minutes to get to 500 degrees, is rock steady on temperature and has about a 10 degree difference from one side to the other. I am very happy with the way it cooks

 

[Robnjay]

About the app - I still have to reconnect to my WiFi every time I start a cook. My WiFi is a brand new Eero 6E Pro with 2 modes, the grill connects with the node in my garage. The WiFi chip in the controller is an “Expressif” chip and I have 2 other IOT devices with Expressif chipsets in the area that connect to the same node with no problems.
Today I started a cook and the app came up with a Server Error and wouldn’t start up until I logged into (Pit Boss/Danson?) and wanted to help me change my password. So no go…
I don’t give a rats hooty-hoot about the wonderful graphics show or “recipes”. I just want to cook while I monitor the grill with the app. It is pathetic to think that I need to log into anyone’s remote server to cook on my grill