11
Figure 7. Auto-Tuning
Before using the auto-tune function, you must set the cooking equipment up in the
exact configuration it will be used. For example, to tune a rice cooker, place the
sensor in the room temperature pot filled with water and plug the cooker into the
controller. If the cooker has its own thermostat or power control, turn both as high
as they’ll go. Set the controller to the appropriate power level (see next Section).
Turn the controller and cooker on, and then enter the desired set point
temperature close to your normal cooking temperature.
You should always write down your old PID parameters, before letting the
controller perform auto-tuning. This way if something goes wrong, you can always
go back to your old PID parameters. The water amount in the pot should be the
same volume as you would have normally used. Basically, you must setup your
cooking system close to your actual cooking environment.
The duration of auto-tuning depends on how fast the system is responding to the
heating and cooling cycle. If the temperature of the cooker takes a long time to
drop when the heater is off, the auto-tuning could be a very long tuning process.
This is especially true with a well insulated cooker. The auto-tuning should be able
to tune most of your chosen heaters/cookers/smokers with great results.
To activate auto-tuning, set A
to 1; then, exit the menu (see Figure 8.
Code 166
Parameter setup flow chart
). The display will start to flash alternately between A
and the current water bath temperature, which indicates auto-tuning is in progress.
When the display stops flashing, the auto-tuning is finished. Now, the newly
calculated PID parameters are set and are used for the system. The new
parameters will store in the memory even when the controller is restarted
T, cycle rate. The unit is in seconds. This unit determines how long for the
controller to calculate each action. e.g. If T is set to 10 seconds, when the
controller decides the output should be 10%, it will turn on the heater 1 second for
