FE going into reset mode at comp

Sometimes they don't set the voltage very well on those portable gennerators and you'll hardly ever see them drive a ground rod. Music people hate them because they put out some very trashy power because of that. The brain on the controller doesn't like them that well either. I'll bet it's fine when you run it at home. The #1 best way to run the FEC100 in contest is a Battery inverter set up. It would be well worth the investment.

I don't have a lot of experience, but I've always used battery/inverter, or if it was raining, the generator on my trailer. I just never trusted the reliability of the power supply at comps.

Thanks Eddie, that is what I suspected . Any particular things to look for in an inverter set up?

The problem didn't hurt us too bad, we had 4th in chicken, 9th in ribs and 5th in brisket. This was at Douglas Ga, where you only cook 3 out of 5 categories.

Years ago when I asked, got a great suggestion and it's mounted in my trailer.

I bought a triplite inverter/charger. I have it mounted in the trailer and connected to two marine batteries in series. At EVER contest I run off this set up by plugging my smokers into the charger/inverter.

It senses 1) if the batteries need charging, it charges them 2) if the power drops it cuts to batteries automatically. The IQ's didn't even notice the change when I've tested it.

There's a post here from me if someone wants to look for it, it has more details.

Here's the thread where Smokin provides a link for the Triplite.

http://forum.cookshack.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/560103888...721008054#3721008054

Thanks Trucky, I updated the photo in my post also.

I used the inverter/battery setup for a long time.
It worked fine except for the night at Plant City where my inverter failed.

Then, my partner found a Yamaha 1000 quiet generator on Craigslist for $300.
Only had 10 hours on it.
I did a "test burn" powering the FEC (IQ 4) and a 60 watt light bulb.
Sucker ran 17.5 hours on 0.6 gal of fuel!!!

Life is great now.

TIM

quote:

Originally posted by KAPN:
...where my inverter failed....

There are always options. What happens when the generator doesn't work? Had that happen at my last contest (batter had died).

Two comments.

What inverter? I've found that the cheaper the inverter the more likely it is to break. And usually it's the fuse inside. I had one stop working but it came with a fuse to replace and that worked fine.

Generators are fine, but they burn gas and I don't like the smell of generators. I have one and take it every time in case there isn't power at a contest.

So, I went with both.

Great deal on the Honda, if I saw one for $300, I'd buy it and probably resell it and make some cash, that's a steal.

You might also want to consider using a Maverick ET73 inside your FEC during comps. You can set a high and low temp alert on the remote that will let you know if the FEC goes outside your desired range of temps. Can't hurt to be safe.

OK I ran the FE for 18 hours yesterday at home with no problems. Clearly the problems I had at the contest were caused by the generator power.

Looks like a marine battery, invertor and charger will be about $200, or would the xantrex 1500 portable power system at $300 work better?