As I mentioned at the start of summer, while my GMG DC is fully WiFi equipped, my old Traeger is currently running on a timed relay of my own devising. It works fine, but it doesn't give me the ability to monitor the grill while in the house.
So, a while back, I bought an inexpensive bluetooth thermometer, with 4 probe channels.
This works great when I am at the grill, it has a large display that switches through the probes.
I can also call it up on my phone or tablet; and it works fine at the back of my house. However, bluetooth being what it is, and because my BBQ is behind my garage - at the foot of my garden - the signal doesn't extend to the front of my house, where the lounge and my office is. It has too many walls to go through. This is a pain, as I do a lot of my cooking during the day, while I work from home.
I wondered if there was such a thing as a bluetooth relay, and googled for one for some time without luck.
Then it came to me.
5m 2.5mm jack to socket extension leads, 4 of them, each costing just over a pound. This lets me simply move the thermometer device along the side of the garage, visible to the garden, 4m closer and in direct sight to the house.
Result, I can now look up and see temps from anywhere in the garden, and I am getting a strong bluetooth signal all the way through to the office. The one downside is that I no longer have a direct view of the device when actually fiddling with the BBQ, but that isn't a problem, as it is more for monitoring than setting up.
I wasn't sure if the longer lead might affect the connection between the probes and the thermometer. But it seems perfectly happy.
Sometimes, simple is best.
