My BBQ cooking monitor - ESP8266 dual K-probe via MAX31855 & OLED display

Projects made with Blynk
61

“digital out” = “signal out” = “data out”
“clock” = clk/sck
“chip select” = unique identifier for each sensor

These are the three pins per sensor, first two are shared, CS determines the sensor…

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Get the sensor working first the add the oled…

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Yeah - I thought those photos would give the wrong idea.

I had originally put together a protoype with that had everything but not the k-probes and MAX boards. I have the Blynk UI close to being finished. I had it reading temporarily from two DHT sensors while I waited for the parts to arrive. I’ve since disconnected everything and added just the one MAX board.

Strange. I’ll give it another go tonight! I’m sure I had it nailed…

Thanks for responding :slight_smile:

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Brendan,

I am using a Quad Max31856…but it should be similar. I have two of the probes connected in my code, as well I am using a Adafruit Huzzah ESP8266 Feather with their with their motor shield to control a blower and also a servo to use for a damper. But here is how I connected my K-tc code together. You can look up the Huzzah to compare pinouts with the ESP8266 you are using.

#include <MAX31856.h>
#define SCK 14 //SPI setup for Huzzah ESP8266 Feather Chipset.
#define SDI 13
#define SDO 12

#define NUM_MAX31856 2 //Defines number of probes used in cooker.
//Chip selects for Quad MAX31856.
#define CS0 0 //Probe #1…Pit Probe.
#define CS1 2 //Probe #2…Food Probe #1.

**Remember I have four sensor and using two of them with two chip selects.

MAX31856 *TemperatureSensor[NUM_MAX31856] = {
new MAX31856(SDI, SDO, CS0, SCK),
new MAX31856(SDI, SDO, CS1, SCK),

***I have a routine to INIT the TC’s that runs from Setup()

 void Init_TCs() {
        ** Initializing the MAX31855's registers and Holding variables
          for (int i=0; i<NUM_MAX31856; i++) {
            TemperatureSensor[i]->writeRegister(REGISTER_CR0, CR0_INIT);
            TemperatureSensor[i]->writeRegister(REGISTER_CR1, CR1_INIT);
            TemperatureSensor[i]->writeRegister(REGISTER_MASK, MASK_INIT);
          }
        }

** Here is my routine to read the TC’s. Yours wont look like this, because I am taking 10 readings of the TC’s and running through a 10 slot FIFO and doing an average to filter out bumps. Also, I wrote a Lift Lid routine that turns off the PID, when the lid goes up.

void readTempSensors(){
	  for (int i=0; i<NUM_MAX31856; i++) {
	    Probe[i] = TemperatureSensor[i]->readThermocouple(FAHRENHEIT);
      if (Probe[i] == NO_MAX31856) continue;
      print_Temps(Probe[i],i);
      TempAvg[i].addValue(Probe[i]); 
      Probe_Avg[i] = TempAvg[i].getAverage();
      tempBelowTarget = pullTemp - Probe[1];
    }
    Serial.println("");
    Blynk.virtualWrite(V11, Probe_Avg[0]);
    Blynk.virtualWrite(V12, Probe_Avg[1]);
    
    if (startFood == 1) {
      Blynk.virtualWrite(V7, tempBelowTarget,"'F");
    } else {
      Blynk.virtualWrite(V7, "'F");
    }

    Fill_FIFO();  //Fill 10 position FIFO Table for Lid Open Detection
    Check_Lid_Open();  //See if the Lid has been opened and then go to manual
}
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Hi Dave,

I’m just curious to know if the Arduino code you posted originally, can be used with the 1.3" SH1106 OLED display that you use, or does it need modifying? I discovered I also have one of those larger screens in a box of stuff and I’d rather use it.

Cheers.

Jon.

66

Hey mate, how’d you go? I’m using the 1.3 screen OK with a verrry similar project & code , but might have made some tweeks…

Lmk.

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hi can someone pls help me, I’ve uploaded the code and have it connected to WiFi however that’s all i get. the oled and temp probs work with other sketches, I’m using a wemos d1 mini. the serial monitor only displays

Cooking heat & food temp MONITOR
File name: C:\Users\the rest of the file name

Thanks

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Yeah you might need to check the libraries version currency and stuff like that… I won’t be able to check my one for a few days, so won’t be able to confirm the code is still good.

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i started from scratch and installed all libraries again but no change, If you could cheek when you have a chance that would be greatly appreciated. I cant wait to get this going.

Thanks

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Have you modified the code with your WiFi etc?

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Did you buy already the beef? :yum:

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yes i modified the code with my wifi details and blynk key… and yep i have brisket and ribs for the weekend

73

Maybe you can post your code?

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the only part of the code i changed was

const char* ssid = “MY SSID”;
const char* password = “MY PASSWORD”;
char authBlynk[] = “MY BLYNK”;

otherwise it was a direct copy and paste
there wern’t to many options for the libraries i had to get from the net so i assume i have the right ones ie SimpleTimer.h, MAX31855.h, TimeLib.h, RunningMedian.h. but if somone was willing to upload there working libraries ill give that a shot

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Code is for local server only,

If you are not running local server - read the whole thread… Look for “blynk cloud”

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Can’t believe I missed that, I must have went through the code 50 times, anyways I changed it to work with the cloud and all is working. Turns out in my rush to make this I bought the max6675 not the one described, hopefully I can get it to work with these otherwise I’ll get the right one.
Thank you very much for your help

1 Like
77

super!

yes, the MAX type sensor libraries are very close… you should be able to work around any issues by substituting the proper library… i think the variable declarations are very similar…

78

Hi Dave, I just found your post, I have been trying to figure out on the best parts to use for a long time now and I am still a little bit confused. Your setup looks awesome, but I just have one doubt: for the probes, were you able to find the ones that have the sharp tip?.. I am guessing those are the best ones to use with food. Thank you!

79

yeah mate, its the non-sharp “1.5mm k probe” on eBay.

if you can’t get that into your raw meat, just use a normal skewer to start a hole, then the 1.5mm probe will fit in fine!

(i don’t put the food probe in until the meat has started to cook anyways…)

80

Hi Dave,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I highly appreciate it.

Here is my story:

I have a bbguru temperature controller and the temperature takes forever to read a “stable” temp, compared to my Thermopro bbq Thermometer that is pretty fast and accurate. So, I was wondering were the difference relied, and from my POV, it seems it’s the thermocouple… The bbqguru uses K-Type and the other one uses Platinum RTD (or PT100)… I am highly OCD and want my project to be “perfect” or at least as good as I can so I am using these materials:

Anyways, I just wanted to give you the insight. In case you want to play around with something like this in the future.