lemisfits Posted July 15, 2019 Report Share Posted July 15, 2019 Dennis, When will this be available for us to purchase? From thermoworks website. Will billows work with a Komodo Kamado grill? Enrico D on Jul 7, 2019 BEST ANSWER: Yes, it will. We will have an adapter to make it easier to attach to your Komodo Kamado. It is on the way from the manufacturer and will be available soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alohapiggy Posted July 15, 2019 Report Share Posted July 15, 2019 I inquired before it was available. According to Thermoworks they will have adapters for certain grills available soon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonj Posted July 16, 2019 Report Share Posted July 16, 2019 I'm following the roll-out of this fan, although a bit miffed about its lack of compatibility with the other three ThermoWorks BBQ temperature devices I already have (all but Signals). Oh well, at least most of the probes are compatible. However, I don't think I am going to be an early adopter this time... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted July 19, 2019 Report Share Posted July 19, 2019 On 7/15/2019 at 11:52 AM, lemisfits said: Dennis, When will this be available for us to purchase? From thermoworks website. Will billows work with a Komodo Kamado grill? Enrico D on Jul 7, 2019 BEST ANSWER: Yes, it will. We will have an adapter to make it easier to attach to your Komodo Kamado. It is on the way from the manufacturer and will be available soon. They have not contacted me.. So I have no idea what is on the way from what manufacturer... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 My Billows arrived today and the spring arrangement they have to hold the Billows in place simply does not work on the KK, you cannot get a tight or any where near a tight fit. It flops all over the place. I contacted Thermoworks and they apparently are not familiar with the KK or at least the tech I was speaking with wasn't. I am going to contact someone I know who is a machinist and see what he says on Mon. The two wings of the SS spring are too short to go thru to the inside of the KK and the point of contact is soooo small on the side walls that there is not enough friction to hold the unit in place. In my opinion those wings need to be a good deal longer so that they go right into firebox of the KK. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 (edited) That is a bit of a bummer. Unfortunately they designed it for standard vents that are basically credit card thick SS not a tube type arrangement. I wonder if your friend couldn't just make you a new set of wings that were longer? The pin that holds the wing spring in place is probably just pressed in. He should be able to knock the pin out, install new wings and bang the pin back in. Just a thought. Edited July 20, 2019 by ckreef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 If I read the Thermoworks site correctly, you have to have both the Billows™ BBQ Temperature Control Fan and the Signals™ 4-Channel Wi-Fi/Bluetooth BBQ Alarm Thermometer. Then you have to figure out how to make it work since Thermoworks had not done any investigation into the inter-operability with the KK brand. There are other wifi, blu tooth systems out there that arae already compatible with the KK. What is the difference of the TW device that makes it attractive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 (edited) I am thinking that too, CK. That axial with the spring wings arrangement is just held in place by a small bolt so it can be easily removed. I won't know until Mon. if he is able to make a new spring. Edited July 20, 2019 by MacKenzie 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 Tucker, I already have Signals so I thought this would be easy. My Digi Q is before the days of WiFi and blue-tooth so I thought this would be the easiest way to up grade since I have Signals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tucker Posted July 20, 2019 Report Share Posted July 20, 2019 Thx Mac, the approach makes more sense now that I understand you have the larger portion of the solution. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 I'm probably asking the obvious, but will the electrical plug on the Guru fan fit in the Signals controller port? If not, could you wire up an adapter set to match each plug? Would that adaptation be easier than trying to retrofit the spring to work in the KK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 The electrical plug idea won't work. Right now my Signals is locked. Have to solve that problem first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alohapiggy Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 How are y’all like your signals? I’m considering getting one. Thermoworks always makes great products. Right now I’m undecided it’s a toss up between signals or the Cyber Q. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 I have been liking my Signals but this is not a good day to ask me as I've tried to hook up Billows and my Signals is now frozen and I will need to call Thermoworks. Any time I have called they have been very helpful so I am expecting to get a fix for this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisLinkletter Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 Doug over at the Naked Whiz just posted this http://www.nakedwhiz.com/p…/thermoworksbillows/billows-1.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 Dennis that link is not working for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 4 minutes ago, MacKenzie said: Dennis that link is not working for me. Try this link http://www.nakedwhiz.com/productreviews/thermoworksbillows/billows-1.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 Thanks, ck,I just found it now need to read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 21, 2019 Report Share Posted July 21, 2019 (edited) That is a great article. I am torn, pretty sure I'm not going to like the temp. fluctuation. Edited July 21, 2019 by MacKenzie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted July 22, 2019 Report Share Posted July 22, 2019 Resident mathematician here. Any pit controller (BBQ Guru, Billows, ...) is implementing a classic feedback mechanism: proportional–integral–derivative controller If your fan is always on at 200 F, always off at 240 F, and on part of the time in between, proportionate to the pit temperature, then your pit will stabilize at some temperature between 200 F and 240 F. Where? It depends on everything. Same as a hiker climbing a mountain, and a hiker descending a mountain, they have to cross paths somewhere. Not necessarily at the halfway point, just somewhere along the trail. Suppose that you want to stabilize at exactly 220 F? The PID mechanism learns the system it's controlling, and adjusts the fan rate to nudge where your pit stabilizes. Every pit is different. It doesn't matter, the PID mechanism figures it out. I have several sizes of fans for my BBQ Guru. It doesn't matter, the PID mechanism figures it out. Here we get abstract. Abstraction is easy, it's forgetting part of a problem that turns out to be irrelevant. Here, your PID controller sees the effect of turning a system on and off at regular intervals, as measured by the pit thermometer. It has no clue what your pit looks like. It has no clue what your fan looks like. It sees a system, as a black box that it controls. Where am I going with this? If the Signals fan output is 12V like all standard computer case fans, then it can control any fan you like, such as a BBQ Guru fan that happens to perfectly fit the existing Guru port in our KKs. There are several complications here. First, there are two flavors of fan control: On/off, and pulse code modulation. In other words, one could run a fan faster or slower as needed, rather than cycling it on and off. The BBQ Guru fan doesn't support this. Can anyone who has a Billows tell us? Does it run at a variable rate, or does it cycle on and off? Second, we have a cabling problem. The Billows connects via a USB-C cable to the fan adapter. Now, frequently USB-C is used merely for charging, in which case we need to splice the appropriate wires on a USB-C cable to make something a Guru fan can plug into. Billows Replacement Fan Adapter (Single) Third, the Signals needs to recognize that a Billows is attached. Here, hopefully it actually detects the fan adapter. Can anyone who has a Billows play with this? Does Signals "see" a Billows attached when the fan adapter is attached, but the Billows itself is not? I'm not hopeful here. Many devices can tell when a USB cable is successful. We're talking a ten cent circuit, to insure that the Signals handshakes with the Billows via the adapter. If they engineered this way, then we can't swap in our fan of choice. If the handshaking is only with the adapter, then swapping in our fan of choice will be easy. The PID mechanism doesn't care, it sees a black box. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
