Only had the grill for one week. I’m about to lose it. I set the grill to 225. It goes up to 270 and back down to 175. Back and forth. Called RT and talked with 3 different folks. Nothing helps. We’ve moved the MFR in every direction and nothing. Ran tests and all came back fine. Gonna call Monday and try to get a replacement for this giant paper weight. Tried steaks, pork chops and a Boston butt. All cooks had terrible temperature swings. Pisses me off.
Patio legend 410 huge temperature swings
- Thread starter Seaduck
- Start date
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On the first temp swing I could understand maybe the lid is open too long. That can take 30-40 minutes to settle down and acquiesce at 225.
If it’s still doing that for long periods without opening the lid, I’ve heard long pellets could be clogging the opening from your hopper to the auger. Maybe the auger is jamming some trying to get pellets to the fire pot.
I hate blaming pellets above never had an issue with my old RT-700. With my new B380X, I can hear crunching sounds sometimes. Makes me worry that the auger may not be as heavy/strong as in the bigger grills or whether the auger motor is as strong.
When the grill is off and fully cooled down, you might vacuum out your fire pot, leave the deflector, grease drip tray, the grates out and the lid open, put the grill in self test mode and do the auger test. Let it run a while (5 - 10 minutes?) and check to see if those same pellets are coming through okay. Listen for any crunching noises. Keep an eye on the bottom of the hopper.
(Note: Be sure to scoop out all those pellets from the fire pot before going back to using your grill under normal operation.)
That’s what I recommend to try to isolate that as a potential problem.
Beyond that, the RTD probe could be sending incorrect input to the controller board. Make sure it’s not touching any metal directly.
Double check where you have all your wires plugged into the controller board. There have been odd things from something plugged in wrong because the customer didn’t have the correct wires plugged into for his specific model. (I think it was actually a case of replacing something and the diagram with the replacement part was incorrect for that model grill.)
That’s all that I can think of at this moment.
If it’s still doing that for long periods without opening the lid, I’ve heard long pellets could be clogging the opening from your hopper to the auger. Maybe the auger is jamming some trying to get pellets to the fire pot.
I hate blaming pellets above never had an issue with my old RT-700. With my new B380X, I can hear crunching sounds sometimes. Makes me worry that the auger may not be as heavy/strong as in the bigger grills or whether the auger motor is as strong.
When the grill is off and fully cooled down, you might vacuum out your fire pot, leave the deflector, grease drip tray, the grates out and the lid open, put the grill in self test mode and do the auger test. Let it run a while (5 - 10 minutes?) and check to see if those same pellets are coming through okay. Listen for any crunching noises. Keep an eye on the bottom of the hopper.
(Note: Be sure to scoop out all those pellets from the fire pot before going back to using your grill under normal operation.)
That’s what I recommend to try to isolate that as a potential problem.
Beyond that, the RTD probe could be sending incorrect input to the controller board. Make sure it’s not touching any metal directly.
Double check where you have all your wires plugged into the controller board. There have been odd things from something plugged in wrong because the customer didn’t have the correct wires plugged into for his specific model. (I think it was actually a case of replacing something and the diagram with the replacement part was incorrect for that model grill.)
That’s all that I can think of at this moment.
- Thread starter
- #3
I’m thinking it’s the temp probe or something. I’ve got my smoke digital running inside. Had to go to -8 on calibration and 3.5 MFR and it cooked about 20 degrees cooler than the smoke said but it was at least consistent. So I went back down to 220 and it’s doing the same shit. Falls down to 195 or so then climbs back up to 245. Jesus this thing is aggravating. Damn charcoal and wood wasn’t this damn hard. I’ve clean the pot while on the phone with recteq and we tested everything. Auger runs good and fan is blowing. I’m lost. Hope this goes well on the phone tomorrow or I’m driving to Georgia. Haha
- Thread starter
- #4
It ran at 350 great and even 450 for some ducks. When I came back down to 350 I was opening the lid with chicken so I understand that one. But look when I came back down to 220. It goes back and forth. Right now it’s at 264 and still cranking while set on 220.
Personally, I don’t see anything terribly unusual about your chart. Initially, when you set the temp to 300F, it got there pretty darn quick…almost unusually fast. It overshot but it ping-ponged back and forth until it acquiesced at 300F. It took it about 30-40 minutes to do so but it got there. That’s a bit long period of time to acquiesce at that somewhat low temp. Maybe the lid was left open longer than just the initial fire up.
You had a quick but smooth transition to 350F.
When you changed your “set point” up to 400F the grill appeared to shoot up there pretty quick…much faster than I’m used to. And, as a result, it overshot the set temp but then appears to ping-pong trying to acquiesce at that 400F or 450.
It wasn’t long before you dropped the temp set point down. Your grill seems pretty responsive and does what it needs to to get down. But again, there’s a lot of that bouncing (ping-pong effect) when you make those significant temp changes. But the chart shows the grill is trying to settle in (acquiesce) at its new set temp.
My take on your situation looking at your chart is there are two possible issues with one exacerbating the other. First best guess is your MFR (minimum feed rate) is high. Whether it came from the factory that way I don’t know. But your grill shoots up quickly when you adjust the set temp up. Interestingly, it dropped pretty quickly too. But there’s that darn ping pong effect with most of the temp changes. MFR? RTD response time to the controller could be slow?
Second best guess is the lid being open “too long” (very subjective) causing some of that ping pong effect. This could be the one exacerbating the situation if indeed your grill is feeding pellets at a fast rate.
Everything I’m saying is just my opinion based on how I understand the underlying theory of how these grills operate. And that’s affected by my experience with logic controllers in systems I’ve worked with at various points in my career. I could be out in left field.
Thoughts…
…if this is a new grill, verify your wires to the controller board are plugged into the correct pins…per the manufacturer for your specific grill model.
…make sure your RTD probe (that checks the ambient temperature in the cooking chamber) is mounted properly and isn’t touching anything…otherwise it could be heat sinking and messing with it’s feedback to the controller.
…check your specific grill’s minimum feed rate (MFR) setting against what it should be from the factory for your specific model grill. You may need to adjust this…even if the current setting is the factory setting. I would lower it in modest increments (25?) and keep checking your charts. Your goal is to reduce the amplitude and the frequency (?) of those spikes when you make temperature changes. I think those should be more of a smooth sinusoidal “bounce” that smooths out in about 15-20 minutes.
…outdoor temps could impact the bouncing effect when you change your set temp.
…there’s a chance the pellets you use burn hotter causing some of this bouncing. I tend to think that would simply increase or decrease pellet usage more than those temp spikes. Others on this forum may have a better feel for that.
They could very well have a better feel for your situation than I do as well. There’s some great bbq’ers on this forum with much more RecTeq experience than I do. I have owned my RT-700 almost 5 years and I have a new B380X I’m still getting used to. Your 410 model may work very differently and I just don’t know that.
Here’s a link to a RecTeq YouTube video on changing your MFR if you decide that’s something you want to try.
I hope this helps. I’d love to hear how this progresses for you. Good luck.
You had a quick but smooth transition to 350F.
When you changed your “set point” up to 400F the grill appeared to shoot up there pretty quick…much faster than I’m used to. And, as a result, it overshot the set temp but then appears to ping-pong trying to acquiesce at that 400F or 450.
It wasn’t long before you dropped the temp set point down. Your grill seems pretty responsive and does what it needs to to get down. But again, there’s a lot of that bouncing (ping-pong effect) when you make those significant temp changes. But the chart shows the grill is trying to settle in (acquiesce) at its new set temp.
My take on your situation looking at your chart is there are two possible issues with one exacerbating the other. First best guess is your MFR (minimum feed rate) is high. Whether it came from the factory that way I don’t know. But your grill shoots up quickly when you adjust the set temp up. Interestingly, it dropped pretty quickly too. But there’s that darn ping pong effect with most of the temp changes. MFR? RTD response time to the controller could be slow?
Second best guess is the lid being open “too long” (very subjective) causing some of that ping pong effect. This could be the one exacerbating the situation if indeed your grill is feeding pellets at a fast rate.
Everything I’m saying is just my opinion based on how I understand the underlying theory of how these grills operate. And that’s affected by my experience with logic controllers in systems I’ve worked with at various points in my career. I could be out in left field.
Thoughts…
…if this is a new grill, verify your wires to the controller board are plugged into the correct pins…per the manufacturer for your specific grill model.
…make sure your RTD probe (that checks the ambient temperature in the cooking chamber) is mounted properly and isn’t touching anything…otherwise it could be heat sinking and messing with it’s feedback to the controller.
…check your specific grill’s minimum feed rate (MFR) setting against what it should be from the factory for your specific model grill. You may need to adjust this…even if the current setting is the factory setting. I would lower it in modest increments (25?) and keep checking your charts. Your goal is to reduce the amplitude and the frequency (?) of those spikes when you make temperature changes. I think those should be more of a smooth sinusoidal “bounce” that smooths out in about 15-20 minutes.
…outdoor temps could impact the bouncing effect when you change your set temp.
…there’s a chance the pellets you use burn hotter causing some of this bouncing. I tend to think that would simply increase or decrease pellet usage more than those temp spikes. Others on this forum may have a better feel for that.
They could very well have a better feel for your situation than I do as well. There’s some great bbq’ers on this forum with much more RecTeq experience than I do. I have owned my RT-700 almost 5 years and I have a new B380X I’m still getting used to. Your 410 model may work very differently and I just don’t know that.
Here’s a link to a RecTeq YouTube video on changing your MFR if you decide that’s something you want to try.
I hope this helps. I’d love to hear how this progresses for you. Good luck.
- Thread starter
- #6
Talked with recteq today. They looked at the chart as well and from my cook Saturday night. They said the grill should not be going from 280ish down to 180ish when my set point is 220 and it did that for 14 hours straight. We ran the MFR at 1.5% all the way to 6.0% per their request and it never changed the ping ponging. They are sending me a new controller for the grill. They believe it’s where I updated the unit when I got it and a glitch is in the update. So they told me to install the new controller but don’t update it. So we will see. I appreciate them reaching out and working to fix the situation.
Yikes! Your chart only showed the (ending) erratic behavior starting around 2:15PM (or thereabouts) and didn’t show anything past about 3:30PM. But during that time, your temps were as erratic as I’ve ever seen on any cook charts.
Hopefully, the controller replacement will solve the problem.
Open question…..how does one update the controller board in the first place? I’ve never done anything specific to upgrade the firmware on the controller of my 5-year-old RT-700. I’ve upgraded the app on my phone. But that’s not the same as upgrading firmware on the grill itself…unless something is happening in the background that I’m not aware of. And, if that’s how it happens (automatically?), how do I stop it from happening automatically?
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The older 700's do not have upgradeable firmware. This came out a couple of years ago with the 1250 and 1070. It has since been folded into the 700 before it's replacement), BFG, etc. Presumably if you actually physically replaced the controller, you'd have the new version which supports the firmware updates.
That’s probably why I’ve never had any problems.
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Amen! My 2020 version of the 700 cannot be upgraded and just keeps on cranking along quite well.That’s probably why I’ve never had any problems.
hfactor
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I'm having similar problems with 380, my first bag of pellets are over 1", so I'll by vacuuming all of those out, and trying 1/2".On the first temp swing I could understand maybe the lid is open too long. That can take 30-40 minutes to settle down and acquiesce at 225.
If it’s still doing that for long periods without opening the lid, I’ve heard long pellets could be clogging the opening from your hopper to the auger. Maybe the auger is jamming some trying to get pellets to the fire pot.
I hate blaming pellets above never had an issue with my old RT-700. With my new B380X, I can hear crunching sounds sometimes. Makes me worry that the auger may not be as heavy/strong as in the bigger grills or whether the auger motor is as strong.
When the grill is off and fully cooled down, you might vacuum out your fire pot, leave the deflector, grease drip tray, the grates out and the lid open, put the grill in self test mode and do the auger test. Let it run a while (5 - 10 minutes?) and check to see if those same pellets are coming through okay. Listen for any crunching noises. Keep an eye on the bottom of the hopper.
(Note: Be sure to scoop out all those pellets from the fire pot before going back to using your grill under normal operation.)
That’s what I recommend to try to isolate that as a potential problem.
Beyond that, the RTD probe could be sending incorrect input to the controller board. Make sure it’s not touching any metal directly.
Double check where you have all your wires plugged into the controller board. There have been odd things from something plugged in wrong because the customer didn’t have the correct wires plugged into for his specific model. (I think it was actually a case of replacing something and the diagram with the replacement part was incorrect for that model grill.)
That’s all that I can think of at this moment.
That isn't going to fix your steady low temp issues, your grill simply isn't intended or designed for low and slow cooking.......I don't care what the marketing for Recteq "claims".
Where can you buy pellets by length? 
hfactor
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I purchased two bags of pellets, one of cherry/apple blend, most pellets are over 1", second bag of hickory and mesquite are all in the 1/2" range.. go figure... warming the boat anchor up now to see if there is any difference...Where can you buy pellets by length?
hfactor
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Call Recteq customer service 3 times today, unable to get through to a live person.. now closedEvans Ga.
hfactor
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"your grill simply isn't intended or designed for low and slow cooking" is that the consensus among most 380 owners? Do I throw in the towel, and try to get an exchange? if so, do they have any reliable smokers where I can 'set it, and forget it'?
Kinda like contacting their server on the weekend.
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I own both a 700 and 380X. The 700 is a Rockstar for low and slow. 10 minutes from start up you are locked in at 225 and good to go. The 380X can hold at low temperature but it is not a 10 minute job. It is more like a half hour or more to stabilize on the low end. It can be done but much better for higher temperature cooks. I am happy with the combination of the two units.
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