Actually, it never really died, but for the last year or so it has been used just as a hot grill, with the auger always powered.
I can't recall when, but a few years back, the controller died. It was the old 3 way controller (smoke/medium/high), which I know a lot of people didn't like, but I learned to get on with. It was replaceable, but at the time only with another 3 way controller (all UK kit is 240V, so I can't import from the States).
So I did 3 things.
1. The fan was wired direct, so as long as the Traeger had power, the fan ran. I think this is a good thing, as leaving it running after stopping the pellet feed prevents the risk of auger fires. Also, it is a good reminder to turn off the power.
2. The igniter was wired to a momentary push switch that required me to stand with my finger on it until I saw smoke. Again, I was happy with this.
3. The auger motor was wired into the switch power, so when you flick the switch it came on; but with a relay inserted, with a cable coming out of the grill. This let me plug it into my home-brew Arduino controller, but the relay was wired as "normally closed", so if nothing was plugged in, the Traeger just worked at full power.
I played with the Arduino code for some time, and ran into some problems you will be familiar with - it's all very well writing code that switches your auger off and on with the temp, but it isn't as simple as that. I suffered over-runs, and I can hear many of you yelling "Get a PID!".
But then I bought a GMG Davy Crockett, and that actually started taking care of my low and slow cooking, and stuff that needed precision. My Traeger worked excellently as a place to grill steaks, chicken and burgers at high heat (well, high for a pellet grill). So the Arduine got put in a box somewhere, and since then my Traeger has just been a grilling machine.
This changed recently with my experiments with my
Firebox Pizza Oven add-on, where I decided that I actually needed to give my Traeger more temperature control again.
I've gone for a simple solution again. The relay in the Traeger has been replaced with the one in the first picture. The reason for this is that my new solution uses 12V to trigger, the new relay can use this AND 5V should I move back to an Arduino solution.
The external controller is in the second picture a 12V timer/relay. It has 4 programs, I am using program 3, which runs on an infinity loop - off T1 seconds, on T2 seconds - the time is easily configurable with a couple of buttons. The whole thing is powered from a splitter running off the GMG DC's 12V power supply (the power is tiny, so makes no difference).
So how does this work?
T1 = 1 second, T2 = 999 (or anything large, in fact) - the equivalent of High on the 3 way controller. Pellets being fed all the time.
T1 = 60 seconds, T2 = 60 seconds - the equivalent of Medium. Pellets being fed 50% of the time.
T1 = 180 seconds, T2 = 60 seconds - the equivalent of Smoke. Pellets being fed 25% of the time.
But I also have all the settings in between.
So set to smoke (T1 180/T2 60) on a cold day, and the temp is low? Just boost T2 until it gets to heat. For somewhere between Smoke and Medium, try 120/60.
It is a purely timed (not temperature controlled) system, but that is what I had in the first place, and was relatively happy with.
But yes, the relay in the Traeger will handle anything from 3-32V, so if I decide to go for a PID in the future, I'll just wire into what I have got.
