Need help power wise

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Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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Hey guys,

This is going to sound strange. I got a new pellet smoker, a GMG Jim Bowie Prime Plus.

Interestingly enough, it uses a DC input. The power input is basically a car cigarette lighter input.

I looked it up, and these smokers use very little power. The majority of the cooking is done by the fire. Electrically, it is powering:
  1. Auger to move pellets from hopper to fire pot
  2. Igniter to start the fire
  3. Fan to force air through the unit
  4. WiFi for remote monitoring and control.
Rumor has it that the whole setup uses maybe 70W max at the wall on AC, maybe less using straight DC.

So my summer fun video/ idea is I wonder if an IEEE 802.3bt PoE++ port and a splitter could power the smoker. Does anyone have experience with the higher power PoE++ splitters? Heck, if someone has a list of things to buy that would be even better. On the one hand, it is a silly idea. On the other hand, perhaps remotely powering on/ off the smoker is not a bad idea.
 

BlueFox

Legendary Member Spam Hunter Extraordinaire
Oct 26, 2015
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I think you'd be looking at the wrong voltage with PoE. It's very likely to be 12V, not ~48V. Fortunately industrial 12V power supplies are really cheap and generally fanless at that power level. I have a few DIN mounted ones for some of the embedded PCs I own. I have one of these for 12V gear and it has been plenty: Mean Well MDR-60-12 100-240VAC, 1.8A 50/60Hz Power Supply | eBay

If you want to remotely control it, not hard to hook up a relay to a Raspberri Pi and have it control the DC output lines. Not as clean as a single device, but very easy to implement (another thing I've done at home to control some DC devices).
 

legopc

Active Member
Nov 2, 2014
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The Netherlands

WANg

Well-Known Member
Jun 10, 2018
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New York, NY
Hey guys,

This is going to sound strange. I got a new pellet smoker, a GMG Jim Bowie Prime Plus.

Interestingly enough, it uses a DC input. The power input is basically a car cigarette lighter input.

I looked it up, and these smokers use very little power. The majority of the cooking is done by the fire. Electrically, it is powering:
  1. Auger to move pellets from hopper to fire pot
  2. Igniter to start the fire
  3. Fan to force air through the unit
  4. WiFi for remote monitoring and control.
Rumor has it that the whole setup uses maybe 70W max at the wall on AC, maybe less using straight DC.

So my summer fun video/ idea is I wonder if an IEEE 802.3bt PoE++ port and a splitter could power the smoker. Does anyone have experience with the higher power PoE++ splitters? Heck, if someone has a list of things to buy that would be even better. On the one hand, it is a silly idea. On the other hand, perhaps remotely powering on/ off the smoker is not a bad idea.
Hmm...you went with the Bowie but not the Wifi model?

I am going to assume you already have a 802.3bt capable switch somewhere (didn't you do a video on the topic not too long ago?)

In case you need a spare power brick for the Bowie, it's a YU12010A - 28 bucks on eBay if you can tolerate slow boat shipping from China.

As for the equipment that you need...

This splitter should do the job -
Amazon.com: PoE Texas GBT-12V60W | IEEE 802.3bt POE++ to 12 Volt Splitter with 55 Watt Output and Gigabit Data: Computers & Accessories

Unless you want to modify the chassis on that Bowie to bypass the cigarette lighter socket, you'll probably want a cigarette lighter socket, something like this:


My guess is that the red goes into the positive pickup on the splitter, and the black to the negative. The plug is center positive.

As for questions:


Their techies should be able to answer questions - and hey, they are located in Texas. Maybe they got recipes for beef ribs.

Ooh - now I want one for my home - well, not the apartment, but maybe Joes beach, a city park (tailgate at Citi field?), a USB-PD power pack + USB-C to cigarette lighter outlet, a Davy Crockett, a large bottle of Grace jerk seasoning for a pack of chicken thighs...? Mmmmm...
 
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Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
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Austin, TX

Tech specs say 100w on start 16.6w continuous, which is just shy of the top 95w bt standard so you might be SOL.
 
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Spartacus

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2019
788
328
63
Austin, TX
I will say thanks for opening my eyes to new smoker possibilities, I hated the idea of having to babysit it overnight but if it could be automated and alert me on my phone if it needs adjusting that sounds amazing. I always just opted for sous vide instead.

What kind of pellets do you normally use? Hickory or Mesquite were my go to for making chili back in the day.