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Using Old Linksys Routers to Control BBQ Smokers
mache writes "It's scary when you find two completely unrelated areas that you are passionate about merged. It happened to me with BBQ and hacking home network infrastructure. People have taken old Linksys WRT54G (and their derivatives) routers and made them into automatic temperature controllers for BBQ smokers. They support Wi-Fi and even have a web browser to monitor progress."
I like the cut of your gib.
Do these routers support Quality of Smoke? Pulled Pork Tunneling Protocol?
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
I tried this years ago with RFC 1149. I had to abandon my project, the smell of delicious smoked meat attracted hawks, which kept catching all the pigeons.
I just bought one brand new about two weeks ago. Don't have any laptops that support Wireless-N, it works really well with dd-wrt, and it was on sale. The way the article is talking about them makes them sound like they're ancient and outdated tech.
It seems to me that automating the operation of the BBQ is a Bad Thing as it eliminates the excuse that one needs to be out back drinking because the fire must be tended.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
Not only can Anonymous cause multimillion dollar embarrassment to fortune 500 companies, but now they can ruin a perfectly good batch of jerky.
I don't know what's more beautiful, the finished product or the documentation they put together on that forum.
1 (short ton / firkin) = 89.1432354 slugs / keg
Reusing, actually, which is better. But given that its new purpose is to make smoke, I'm not sure this is an environmentalist's dream application. Not all Green, sort of green and brown. Like avocado and bacon. Mmm, bacon.
Why on earth is this under idle? Isn't this the type of thing that everyone on here cries about not being on Slashdot?
For some reason exotic BBQ seems to attract geeks. It seems that a lot of the people who hang out on the Komodo Kamado forum are IT/math/... types. So of course there is discussion of homebrew controllers.
http://komodokamado.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=4126
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"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
Not that this isn't a sort of cool hack, but don't wireless food thermometer/probes already exist for this exact purpose? Is using your old router to accomplish the same thing really any better? I know we are nerds, but not having to install packages with dependencies and such to accomplish a simple task seems real appealing to me at times...
"But this one goes to 11!"
so now hackers can burn the BBQ down
A mismash of old and possibly current information split up over 20 posts on a dozen pages with disclaimers of "This is old, dont use it, but here it is anyways" interspersed with links to other posts that may or may not work anymore.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Why don't they just ban tobacco altogether?
And the "whoooooooooosh" going over the head of the clueless twonk who modded this obvious joke as a "troll" blows his barbecue over.... :-)
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
If it crashes, does it turn your barbecue into a literal firewall?
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
The WRT54G started going downhill when they started reducing the amount of flash and switched to VxWorks. On the other hand, my WRT54Gv2 (flashed with DD-WRT) has been rock solid. I recently tried replacing it with a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH (flashed with the Buffalo-branded DD-WRT), but wound up going back to the old Linksys, as the new router kept dropping the wireless connection for no apparent reason As it turns out, that's a known problem with the WZR.
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
If you flash it with custom firmware it makes a fine paperweight. I pretty much never have to reboot mine.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Don't you mean Web server?
Awesome!
I smoke stuff about once a month and this will really save me some time and effort.
Especially when doing a big cut like a brisket or a whole turkey.
"Murderer? Well, that's a harsh word. I prefer to think of myself as a Mortality Technician."
For health reasons I use artificial avocado made from more bacon. The sandwich shop down the block from my house (noblepigaustin.com) use both crispy bacon and what they call "house bacon" which is a thick slab of smoked pork. Their namesake sandwich includes ham, pulled pork and bacon. Maybe this project will interest them in providing WiFi, so I can surf the web while eating bacon.
"It's scary when you find two completely unrelated areas that you are passionate about merged."
But also mind-expanding
I'm still using my WRT54G to in my home network. What am I missing? I don't do much intra-network data transfer, and my bottleneck is my cable connection rather than the router itself... it is worth upgrading?
This is a DIY version of the Stoker from Rock's Barbeque (https://www.rocksbarbque.com/). It costs $340 to get the basics, pit thermometer, food thermometer, and fan. So add up the DIY costs and you could see some savings if your time is of no value or you just love doing things like this. I purchased the Stoker before its WiFi version was announced. I found a cheap WiFi adapter and hooked it up the the Stoker's Ethernet port. Once connected you can monitor your pit and food temperatures and control the pit temperature using any web browser and/or a program called StokerLog. If you really wanted to you can access it via telnet and do the same things. My Stoker keeps my large Big Green Egg to with +/- 3 degrees of my pit probe target over what is usually a 16 hour cook. Using my iPhone I'm able to check the food probe temperature and if needed change the target pit temperature, all from anywhere I have data access. With StokerLog running on my laptop it will create a graph of your cook showing the temp probe temperatures and fan power cycles over time. It also has open lid detection where it will pause the temperature control until you close the lid and the smoker stabilizes, not that you should be opening the lid during the cook. The main point of the ATCs is to give a steady pit temperature and allow you to get some sleep during the overnight cooks.
I use to use my Linksys Wireless router as a paper weight
One of my cats used mine as a litter box. Needless to say they dropped more than a connection.
Heat is important to control, no question, but just as important is the smoke! How can I control / detect smoke density automatically?
Not to be technical, but if this thing works by reducing the amount of time cooking, smoke, and all the other efficiencies gained in the process that was already going to be done by the cook, that is a green initiative. Going overboard is what gives environmentalism a bad name.
There is a similar project using these and other routers for remote monitoring of the Homebrewing process. Can't find the damn link...
Have you been able to program the thing so that it empties itself after the cats are done? It would be especially nice if it could empty itself wirelessly - perhaps sending the "contents" to the inbox of some poor unsuspecting soul on AOL.
Am I the only one who still has his WRT54G v2 in full service?
Its no longer a router, just an wireless access point and it runs dd-wrt.
Nevertheless, it is probably the only 9 year old device still in active duty without any problems.
Load New Commander (Y/N)?
And the damn fire kept going out, then it would come back for a minute, then it would go out...
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
n/t
I'm guessing you're from the *other* end of North Carolina.
Over towards the coast we save them for salads and use vinegar on the pig.
And you got to my pun before I did.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
...I may see how this can be applied to brewing beer. Been looking for a cheap temp control for a while.
Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.-rms
I am fairly certain Apple has the patent on this.....