This has been a long standing debate as to whether PID or non PID is better. PID makes your smoker to be more like a oven and give you a more constant temp at the cost of getting less smoke. I have both a Camp Chef and a PitBoss neither have a PID controller and produce great barbecue with a nice smoke ring. If you want to increase efficiency install a high heat felt seal around your grill lid. I did this on my Camp Chef and was amazed at how much less pellets that I used. The green egg seal kit works as well as Aura seal kit pt no AOP-GSKT.
I like the pic controller for temps then use the cold smoker to add smoke I've also used the colde smoker to make smoked cheese without using heat from the controller. More attachments, but kind gives a best of two worlds situation.
PID control indeed stands for Proportional, Integral, and Derivative. In order for a controller to be a controller, it must have proportional control at a minimum. It can then have integral and/or derivative. Proportional control requires that a gain or proportional band be programmed into the controller, as well as a setpoint. In this case, we are dealing with temperature. The gain is effectively a multiplier that tells the controller how it should adjust its output for a given deviation between the setpoint and the actual temperature. The idea is to keep the temperature at the setpoint. However, proportional control cannot do this on its own. Using P only control, there will always be an error between the setpoint and the actual reading. This error is known as the offset. A high gain can help to reduce the offset, but will cause the temperature to surpass the setpoint and oscillate before settling. A lower gain will not surpass the setpoint, nor oscillate, but will take much longer to return the temperature to its setpoint and will result in a larger offset. One solution would be to adjust your setpoint until P only actually controls at the desired temperature. Another solution is to introduce Integral. Proportional sees the error itself and creates a proportional response. Integral sees the area between the offset and the setpoint. Because the area is a larger number than the offset itself, integral is capable of adjusting the output to reduce that area, and thus reduce or eliminate the offset. Integral is also known as reset, and uses units of repeats per minute, or minutes per repeat. Repeat refers to repeating the proportional response. Integral is capable of seeing the offset and seeks to adjust the output to eliminate the offset. It adjusts the output by repeating the proprtional action a number of times per minute. Integral, however, requires boundaries. A controller will only have a range 0-100%, where the output cannot be less than 0% and cannot exceed 100%. If the proportional response has already brought the controller to 0 or 100%, or if the integral has ramped the output to one of those limits and the offset has not yet been eliminated, the integral jumps from reality into theory. It theoretically changes the output to beyond 0 or 100%. When the temperature finally stabilizes and then changes direction, the opposite response is required. Unfortunately, integral keeps the output pinned at the limit it surpassed until it jumps from theory back into reality. In the meantime, the temperature is changing and cannot be controlled. This is known as reset wind-up. To help mitigate this, boundaries are programmed in so that the integral will stop trying to do anything if the output is already at a limit. D is for Derivative, but in most cases also stands for DO NOT USE. Derivative is a fortune teller in that it sees the rate of change from the setpoint, but never actually sees the amount of error. For this reason, it can eliminate an error before it actually becomes an error. However, if the thing you are trying to control is relatively stable, then derivative can cause it to become unstable. Derivative shines in situations where the thing you are trying to control tends to change slowly and takes some time to return to the setpoint. Something like temperature. Derivative will see that the temperature is starting to change at a certain rate, and based upon the proportional response, will further adjust the output to slow down and reverse the rate of change, hopefully without any error having ever really occurred. For the sake of control, PID can provide incredible control when tuned to do so. However, how important is the temperature of the cooking environment? Obviously we do not want low and slow to become fast and furious, but holding to within a few degrees of a setpoint is probably not going to improve your cook.
I got a PB Laredo 1000 with PID controller. My 4th pellet grill, so not a newb. Whomever programmed it had no clue. If I don't have it on high it will take hours to preheat. Even on high, it takes 45 minutes. Here's where I doubt the programming. As the temp is coming up on high, the fan is full speed, as it should. But say I want 350F. The temp is approaching at say 310. If I turn it down to 350 from the high setting, the fan speed drops to idle, it seems. Most of the time the temp starts to drop at this point, yet it is still 50 degrees below the set point. Frustrating. I would think the fan would stay on high speed until it is much closer to the set point. I learned to leave it on high until about 25F above my desired temp then turn it down to that 25F above my desired temp and I will get close to what I want. I could only live with that for about 18 months and went back to a PB700 with a standard controller. 12 min to get to 400F. That's more like it.
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This has been a long standing debate as to whether PID or non PID is better. PID makes your smoker to be more like a oven and give you a more constant temp at the cost of getting less smoke. I have both a Camp Chef and a PitBoss neither have a PID controller and produce great barbecue with a nice smoke ring. If you want to increase efficiency install a high heat felt seal around your grill lid. I did this on my Camp Chef and was amazed at how much less pellets that I used. The green egg seal kit works as well as Aura seal kit pt no AOP-GSKT.
I like the pic controller for temps then use the cold smoker to add smoke
I've also used the colde smoker to make smoked cheese without using heat from the controller.
More attachments, but kind gives a best of two worlds situation.
PID control indeed stands for Proportional, Integral, and Derivative. In order for a controller to be a controller, it must have proportional control at a minimum. It can then have integral and/or derivative.
Proportional control requires that a gain or proportional band be programmed into the controller, as well as a setpoint. In this case, we are dealing with temperature. The gain is effectively a multiplier that tells the controller how it should adjust its output for a given deviation between the setpoint and the actual temperature. The idea is to keep the temperature at the setpoint. However, proportional control cannot do this on its own. Using P only control, there will always be an error between the setpoint and the actual reading. This error is known as the offset. A high gain can help to reduce the offset, but will cause the temperature to surpass the setpoint and oscillate before settling. A lower gain will not surpass the setpoint, nor oscillate, but will take much longer to return the temperature to its setpoint and will result in a larger offset.
One solution would be to adjust your setpoint until P only actually controls at the desired temperature. Another solution is to introduce Integral. Proportional sees the error itself and creates a proportional response. Integral sees the area between the offset and the setpoint. Because the area is a larger number than the offset itself, integral is capable of adjusting the output to reduce that area, and thus reduce or eliminate the offset.
Integral is also known as reset, and uses units of repeats per minute, or minutes per repeat. Repeat refers to repeating the proportional response. Integral is capable of seeing the offset and seeks to adjust the output to eliminate the offset. It adjusts the output by repeating the proprtional action a number of times per minute.
Integral, however, requires boundaries. A controller will only have a range 0-100%, where the output cannot be less than 0% and cannot exceed 100%. If the proportional response has already brought the controller to 0 or 100%, or if the integral has ramped the output to one of those limits and the offset has not yet been eliminated, the integral jumps from reality into theory. It theoretically changes the output to beyond 0 or 100%. When the temperature finally stabilizes and then changes direction, the opposite response is required. Unfortunately, integral keeps the output pinned at the limit it surpassed until it jumps from theory back into reality. In the meantime, the temperature is changing and cannot be controlled. This is known as reset wind-up. To help mitigate this, boundaries are programmed in so that the integral will stop trying to do anything if the output is already at a limit.
D is for Derivative, but in most cases also stands for DO NOT USE. Derivative is a fortune teller in that it sees the rate of change from the setpoint, but never actually sees the amount of error. For this reason, it can eliminate an error before it actually becomes an error. However, if the thing you are trying to control is relatively stable, then derivative can cause it to become unstable. Derivative shines in situations where the thing you are trying to control tends to change slowly and takes some time to return to the setpoint. Something like temperature.
Derivative will see that the temperature is starting to change at a certain rate, and based upon the proportional response, will further adjust the output to slow down and reverse the rate of change, hopefully without any error having ever really occurred.
For the sake of control, PID can provide incredible control when tuned to do so. However, how important is the temperature of the cooking environment? Obviously we do not want low and slow to become fast and furious, but holding to within a few degrees of a setpoint is probably not going to improve your cook.
I got a PB Laredo 1000 with PID controller. My 4th pellet grill, so not a newb. Whomever programmed it had no clue. If I don't have it on high it will take hours to preheat. Even on high, it takes 45 minutes. Here's where I doubt the programming. As the temp is coming up on high, the fan is full speed, as it should. But say I want 350F. The temp is approaching at say 310. If I turn it down to 350 from the high setting, the fan speed drops to idle, it seems. Most of the time the temp starts to drop at this point, yet it is still 50 degrees below the set point. Frustrating. I would think the fan would stay on high speed until it is much closer to the set point. I learned to leave it on high until about 25F above my desired temp then turn it down to that 25F above my desired temp and I will get close to what I want. I could only live with that for about 18 months and went back to a PB700 with a standard controller. 12 min to get to 400F. That's more like it.