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[InThePitBBQ]

When I was shopping for my PG 500 there are some features of the controller and some outstanding testing procedure results for zone temperatures that other people have compiled and shared and it was a huge help to come across this information after my cooker showed up.

I just wanted to share it here for new owners to gain some knowledge they won't find in the manufacturer's manuals and many thanks to pmillen and lowslowjoe for sharing this with me originally hopefully they will find this thread and lend some more knowledge you guys were a huge help to a newbie owner! 

One of best features is the LHT/HHT settings on the controller, it allows you to select not only the duration of auger time during a fueling cycle above or below selected temp but also can be pre-programmed across three ranges of temperatures so you can just dial in what you want for a set temp and walk away while it delivers your preferred settings.

There are 3 ranges that you can program as follows:
170-280*F
285-350*F
355-600*F

You press and hold the up/down arrows for 5 seconds to access the LHT and 10 seconds to access the HHT settings.

I have my controller currently set at the following, been working really well for me so far:
170-280*F LHT 10 & HHT 40
285-350*F LHT 10 & HHT 70
355-600*F LHT 10 & HHT 100

So what do these settings really mean you ask? Take the first range of heat preset's (170-280*F) and a user specified temperature setting for this cook for 225*. The control board calls for input from the remote probe to cycle the auger every 15 seconds, when it see's the temp is above the desired setting it will cycle the auger for 1 second, when it see's the temp is below the desired setting it will cycle the auger for 4 seconds.

Same for the next two ranges I posted, 1 & 7 second cycle times and 1 & 10 seconds for the third range.

Here's a zone temperature chart that shows internal temperatures at various controller settings, credit due to (? it was pmillen or lowslowjoe) for originally sending this to me thanks again guys!

[pmillen]

Here's a zone temperature chart that shows internal temperatures at various controller settings, credit due to (? it was pmillen or lowslowjoe) for originally sending this to me thanks again guys!

That's not mine.  I think it's LowSlowJoe's work.

[InThePitBBQ]

Paul you had emailed me some other charts that were really helpful, possible to format those to post here?

[MadFoodScientist]

Thanks for all the info guys! I will be studying these in preparation for my PG500!

[pmillen]

Several years ago, when the PG500 was rather new in the marketplace, a member of another forum, Mack, recorded the temperatures he measured on his PG500.  He shared his results on that forum.  I captured the image and underlined the entries so that I could more easily follow across the page.

Here's the image.  PM me if you want a copy as a file.  Just tell me what format you prefer, PDF, DOC, DOCX or...



At about the same time Shelly recorded several members' controller settings and resulting temperatures in a coalescent document.  I screen-captured his work, too.  It follows.  I'll provide a file copy of this one, too.  PM me.



Fairly recently LowSlowJoe posted that it's his observation that as you move back one zone you'll see 20% higher temperatures each time, i.e., if zone 4 is at 170°, zone 3 will be ~204° and zone 2 will be ~245°.  I find this information more useful than the charts.

[InThePitBBQ]

Thanks Paul! Your the man, that is a very helpful chart as well appreciate you following up with it.

[MadFoodScientist]

I like the 20% rule. Seems like that should get you close enough. Thanks for all the tips/ advice.

[LowSlowJoe]

So... the data originated from a Pellethead user known as Mack...    Mack hadn't been active for some time , by the time I got interested in all this.  Someone , maybe Paul, had saved screenshots of Mack's data.  I took that data, and made some of my own charts , trying to wrap my head around it ... Here are the charts that I created from Mack's data.

 by the way... Mack did one heck of a job, it must have taken a LONG time to collect that data... 

I'm going to try and upload the JPEG images that I have ... I haven't done this yet, so if it fails, I may have to figure it out.

[LowSlowJoe]

So here's my rule of thumb for summer time LHT/HHT settings... ( OK, well mostly for HHT ).

  I have found that on a reasonably nice day ( 70F, not to windy... or better ).  My PG500 will reach 170F with a HHT = 15...  250F with HHT = 25 , and I've hit 650F with HHT = 55.   

  Oh, the rule of thumb... Multiply HHT * 10  and that will be very close to how hot the PG500 can reach in Fahrenheit. 

 So... HHT = 15, the PG500 should easily hit 150F.  however I can tell you from experience on a hot day, running HHT = 15 , sometimes you can't really get bellow 200F depending on the pellets your using.

  HHT = 25 , should get you up to at least 250F...  HHT = 35 , should get you up to 350F pretty easily. etc....

  Winter, all bets are off... sometimes I have to run HHT = 50 to get up to 250F on a cold winter day, and wind will only make it harder... but basically I can't give you rules of thumb for the settings in winter.

  Another rule of thumb I use...  not really related to HHT or LHT...     Zone 3 will be roughly 20% hotter then zone 4... Zone 4 should be pretty close to the grills set temperature, zone 3 will be roughly 20% above the set temperature.

   In general for summer time cooking , I don't run HHT any higher then I need to... that is, if I can hit 250F with HHT = 25, I rarely set HHT any higher.  The only real exceptions are... if I expect it to get colder, or for the wind to get strong and temperatures are not at least 72F.    ( again, I'm not talking winter, winter gets tricky ).     For the most part, unless your trying to heat the grill up hot for searing, there's never any really good reason to use HHT > 60...   If your cooking bellow 400F, really not much reason to set HHT > 40.

   About the only thing I'll say about winter cooking... you often need to at least double those summer time rules of thumb.  Things are probably a lot different on a PG1000 for winter, but not likely that much different in summer.

[LowSlowJoe]

I should clarify one thing... when I said in the summer, that you can't get bellow 200F sometimes, when running HHT = 15...   What I mean is...  if you were to set HHT and LHT both equal to 15, so that the grill ran at a constant feed rate where the auger ran for 1.5 seconds , then was off for 13.5 seconds...  Then the grill may never drop down bellow 200F, if your burning pellets that produce a decent amount of heat.  The grill can drop down bellow 200F, if LHT is set lower... 

  I don't like to run LHT at 10 very often...  I tend to like to run it at 15, unless I just can't get down to the temperature I desire... Like, if I'm trying to smoke something like jerky and want to run at 170F or maybe even slightly lower, then I will run LHT = 10.  But if I'm making standard BBQ, and don't need to go bellow 225F or so... I'll run LHT = 15, as long as I can get down to my lowest desired temperature that way.

[MadFoodScientist]

LowSlowJoe- thanks for all your tips and rules of thumb.  These will be really helpful as I learn my PG500.  My grill has not yet arrived but is getting close according to the tracking info!

[pmillen]

My grill has not yet arrived but is getting close according to the tracking info!

I hope you have some help if you have to move it from the un-crating location.  It's HEAVY.

Assembling it is a one-resin job.  Moving it, unless on fairly smooth level surface, takes two.

Burn the oils off and smoke something for us to envy.

[AZRaptor]

Hey guys,

I remember seeing this back on PH, but what I hadn't heard before was that you can have 3 presets for LHT/HHT values for temp ranges. How do you set these presets?

[pmillen]

The preset capability is part of a rather new controller vintage.  As I recall, your PG500 is a about two years old and I think that's about the time the feature was added.

My PG500 doesn't have it.  Another user with the newer controller may be able to tell you how to test for it.

Also, the factory may offer some help.

[LowSlowJoe]

Hey guys,

I remember seeing this back on PH, but what I hadn't heard before was that you can have 3 presets for LHT/HHT values for temp ranges. How do you set these presets?

Yes, if you have a relatively new controller ( about two years old or less ) you can have 3 separate presets-...  Each preset is associated with a unique temperature range on the grill, whatever set temperature you have at the moment, will be effected when you go into adjust the LHT/HHT.  So, if your bellow 285F, then you press the up and down buttons at the same time, hold them for 15 seconds ( or whatever the time period is..)  you can adjust the settings for 170 to 285F range...   If you are between 285F and 350F , you're adjustments will effect that range alone, etc... Then of course if your above 350F when you make the adjustments, those adjustments will only affect the upper range.

 Does that make sense?