I'm not sure how many of these have been made. I basically put together a $60 sous vide cooker that meets all the specs of the $450 "Sous Vide Supreme" that you can buy off amazon. Here are the links to the 6 part series I wrote on assembly and testing. Hope this helps/inspires someone like me, who prefers a screwdriver and an Arduino to shelling out hundreds of dollars.
Well, that's definitely something different, and I learned of a new cooking method - but I don't think it's going to replace smoker any time soon!
BTW - You are probably the first to have created such a homebrew cooker with an Arduino; I certainly didn't know such a method of cooking existed until I googled it - I doubt many regular "cooks" know of it (unless it has recently become the latest "fad" on Food Network - haven't watched that channel in years)...
While a PID controller would provide more stable operation (if correctly set up) I think your setup shows it to be unnecessary.
You could improve the performance of your Bang-Bang controller by setting it to control temperature within a band e.g. 60 to 65 degrees. You've kind of done this with your method, but as you can see, you're getting a number of relay activations just as it reaches operating temperature, this is undesirable as it reduces switch life. An improved controller would avoid this while maintaining the temperature within an acceptable range, and all it would take is a few software changes.
This would involve coding it to turn the heater on at lower limit, and evaluating the temperature more often (every 10-15s) until it reaches the upper limit, switching off. Leaving the evaluation rate at the higher rate all the time wouldn't hurt.
Alec,
While a PID controller would be ideal, finding one with the power to regulate ~12 Amps of AC current was restrictively expensive. I agree fluctuation above and below the desired temperature would be ideal. However the cheap and dirty method I use provides an average temperature less than half a degree above desired...so I'm gonna just go ahead and call it good enough!
Bjarnia,
The submersible fan I used is a battery powered "duck mover" that is basically a little submarine you strap to the bottom of a duck decoy so it will tool around the marsh and trick ducks into thinking the decoy is real. If you go to http://www.cabelas.com and search for "open zone explorer decoy propellor" you should find it. $10.99 new. An ebay/amazon search for "decoy propellor" might save you money.
In regards to your temperature controller link via ebay...I cannot speak to whether that would be easier to use than my setup. I wanted to do everything myself, not buy a handy kit that I could plug and play. Other people may want less front end labor, in which case immersion heaters/circulators, thermostats, and various pieces of built hardware might suit them better. Plus, the main reason I used the Arduino was because I already owned it.
Could you PLEASE supply some more info on that vacuum pump you are using to remove the air from your bags. I'm looking for something EXACTLY like that on you have pictured there. Please link me!
