40" MES mods

[Courser]

Before Christmas my wife asked what I wanted for Christmas and I'd been complaining that I was going to have to overhaul the MES because it was popping the GFIC on the smoking patio. SO...I told her I needed 3 things...a new heating element, an Auber PID controller, and Auber's little circulation fan to turn the MES into a sausage makin' machine! I finally got all the mods done this week and figured out how to run the controller (I didn't spring for the wifi one with the easy-peasy phone interface).
The first run had me less than excited because it wasn't even close. But after running the auto-tune on the PID....damn!...what a difference. The temps were within a couple of degrees all over the cabinet. The top shelf was nearly the same as the rest. I was impressed that the temp didn't ever vary more than 2 degrees unless you open the door. No more huge temp swings! And the controller can be set to 6 steps so I can start the sausage at 100F for the first hour, 120 the second, 130 the third, etc.....
I've got some bacon that I'll hang in it tomorrow for a bit, but I think I'm going to like this new toy! I just won't mention to her that the controller and fan cost more than the smoker did new.

[TKOBBQ]

Sounds good but we need pictures. Is there a tutorial about doing these mods?

[Texas-Hunter]

Oh wow, sounds like it's tuned in now.. Nothing better that a good smokehouse to do sausage in.. I know before I built mine what a pain it was to do it on the Longhorn.. Sat there and babied it till they were done..

[crusty ol salt]

Merry Christmas

[Flatbroke]

Sounds like a winner

[Courser]

Sounds good but we need pictures. Is there a tutorial about doing these mods?

I'll work on getting some pics of it soon. As for a tutorial...I've not found any. I kinda took bits and pieces from several different builds I've looked over. Really all I did was direct wire the element with a power cord (and inline fuse) and plugged it into the Auber WS controller. It's plug and play but comes set up for a Bradley smoker. The MES is now nothing more than an insulated box with racks, vent, and the element in the bottom. The Auber controller has an auto-tune feature that is really pretty amazing. It took several hours for it to go through all its machinations, but I was really impressed how it works. It learns when to stop giving the element full power and starts to pulse it on and off so that it doesn't overshoot the target temp.
After having used the MES since it was new, I knew that the temp variations from place to place in the cabinet needed some help and I found that Auber also sells a small squirrel-cage fan that mounts in the bottom of the cabinet to circulate the air through the entire box. The install on the fan is pretty straight forward. It mounts to the back and through the left sidewall. The motor and the switchbox sit on the outside. The biggest issue I had was with my fat fingers dropping and losing the tiny M4 hex nut when I was trying to hold the head of the machine screw with one hand and reach around to the back to put the nut on. The mods cost me about what the smoker cost new but make it so much more accurate. This was the plan the whole time. I knew the MES was going to crap out sometime and I have been looking at doing this for quite a while.
Hope that answers some of your question.

[TKOBBQ]

Thanks for the information. Looking forward to seeing the pictures.