I've been the proud owner of a Traeger Lil' Tex Elite for six years now after purchasing it on a whim during a Costco roadshow. I had been listening to my brother-in-law extol the virtues of a pellet grill during the last couple of family reunions so I had been thinking about acquiring one for awhile, however, I hadn't done any research on the different manufacturers and buying on an impulse is typically not my style. Therefore my youngest son, who was with me at the time, thought for sure I had taken that Traeger sales pitch, hook, line, and sinker! Per the guidance of that very same salesman, the first thing I did after assembly was to test it with the Traeger Chicken Challenge. As soon as my son took his first bite of that succulent roast chicken covered with Traeger's Chicken Rub (the old rub recipe from back then and not the new one they reformulated last year, but don't get me started...), he was sold and thought it was the best purchase I ever made and has been the happy consumer of smoked meat of every cut and variety ever since!
Not long after I found out that my brother-in-law's pellet grill was a Green Mountain with built-in WiFi and meat probe, so I realized I had probably made a bit of a hasty purchase. Don't get me wrong, the Lil' Tex has served me well over the years, however, I couldn't help but be a little envious of the simplicity of WiFi control. The digital controller that came with my Traeger seemed to do the job well enough and once I learned about setting the P value I no longer experienced flame-out at low temp settings as I did during that first year. However, the temperature could swing as much as +/- 25 deg and I could never get the highest temp to more than around 400 deg so as I read more about PID controllers I continued to think about an eventual upgrade.
When Traeger came out with the Timberline series I was hoping they might offer a controller upgrade for models like the Lil' Tex, however, as suspected they'd prefer that you simply purchase a whole new grill. Consequently, I started researching potential PID controller options for a do-it-yourself mod to the Lil' Tex and found that Rec Tec was offering their latest PID controller, the RT-WFCON, for sale at a very reasonable price. This was the week of July 4th last month and they had just started selling these the week before in small production batches which would be placed on their web site each Wednesday at 12 noon EDT and would sell out in minutes. I missed the chance to order one that Wednesday but was one of the lucky few to make the purchase the following week. I've got to hand it to Rec Tec fulfillment however, they took my order online at 9 AM PDT on Wednesday, shipped the unit by 10:30 AM PDT the same day, and it arrived that Friday and in my hands in only two days!
Thinking this might only be a temporary upgrade and that I may want to put back the old digital controller if I were to use this Rec Tec controller in a different application, my goal for this mod was to have no permanent changes to the Lil' Tex. Therefore, I disassembled the Traeger digital controller to determine that they had used Molex, 2-circuit, free hanging connectors w/14-20 AWG .093" pins which I was able to find on Amazon for Saturday delivery. I also made a trip to our local Fry's to purchase a black anodized aluminum project box big enough to house the Rec Tec controller and fit over the rectangular cut out where the original Traeger controller was mounted. While I was there I also picked up 14 AWG stranded wire of various colors and Molex quick connect mating connectors for the board mounted tabs of the Rec Tec controller. I was able to make the necessary cutouts of the aluminum project box using a drill press and mounted the box to the Traeger pellet hopper using the same two digital controller mounting holes and the original mounting screws. Using the Molex connectors and wire I assembled a wiring harness which connected the new Rec Tec controller to the AC power, the auger motor, the fan motor, and the grill temperature probe of the Lil' Tex. For some reason the Traeger controller used a screw terminal block for the temperature probe therefore I couldn't use the Molex 2-circuit connectors as I did everywhere else. Instead I used a DC power barrel jack/plug pair that you typically see used in CCTV installations to maintain the temporary connection philosophy I used throughout. The project box I selected had two halves, each in an extruded U shape, that fit together at the top of the U with a tongue and groove and which are held in place with a screw on each corner of two side plates covering the ends. This made it ideal since I could mount the back half to the Traeger hopper, assemble the Rec Tec controller into to the front half, connect the wiring harness between the Rec Tec and the Traeger, and close it all up by securing the two side plates. A single complete box with open ends would have made assembly much more difficult. Once it was all assembled I plugged it in and it worked like a charm, from component order to completion in four days!
Rec Tec provides a free app for use with the RT-WFCON controller which gives you complete control over your grill. WiFi setup was easy but be aware that it will only use your local 2.4 GHz WiFi signal for improved range performance. With the app you can control your grill from anywhere inside and outside of your house using either WiFi or cellular connectivity. The app also provides a temperature charting screen which plots the set temp, measured grill temp, and both measured probe temps for detailed historical tracking of your cooking. And the accuracy of the PID controller is tremendous! I've experienced only +/- 1 to 2 degree variance once the set temp is reached. You'll also notice that it uses less pellets since it only consumes what is required to maintain the set temp. Where before I was never able to get above 400 deg with the old controller, I'm now able to reach and hold 500 deg without a problem.
After I purchased my Rec Tec controller they changed their online sales approach from where you had to log on to their web site exactly at 12 noon EDT each Wednesday to see if you can add one to your cart and become a lucky recipient that week, to where you can now order a controller at any time and just wait until stock becomes available. This is a much more logical and fair approach but it means that you just have to wait a lot longer to get one. As I write this the lead time for shipment is about 10 weeks after order. The web site claims that these controllers are currently on sale for $99, $100 off the MSRP. I strongly feel that it was money well spent because it has rejuvenated my Lil' Tex by bringing it into the 21st century of pellet grill performance.
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Topic: Lil' Tex Elite Cruise Control Mod (Read 10623 times)