Is there a consensus solution on erratic readings in artisan

[JavaBuzz]

Both are magnetic but one should be more than the other. If you put a small magnet about equal distance between the two wires, it should pull more towards the more magnetic one.

Make sure you have the wires connected well to the posts/connectors too. If one of the wires is loose, that will cause strangeness.

If you are getting improper/unstable temp readings at room temperature, something is definitely wrong (polarity switched, wire not securely connected, ground issue, etc).

I'd try connecting one TC to start, test to make sure it reads correctly and stable at room temp -with as much completely unplugged as possible, esp the Huky motor and fans- then go from there... Just having the fan/motor powered off but not unplugged could still cause ground issues from those devices.

The Hottop is probably better grounded than the Huky, and/or might be using TCs that are less susceptible to ground issues, and that's probably why you experienced fewer issues. I've used both a Phidget and a TC4 on the Huky, and the Phidget is much less susceptible to issues.

[JavaBuzz]

Fyi, I actually had issues with (I believe) the motor sending a low current down the metal sheathing of the TCs, which was causing occassional read issues.

Wrapping a wire around the metal sheathing of the TCs and then grounding that wire helped me a lot (and switching to a Phidget).

Other people have had luck grounding the Huky body and I think the fan too (didn't help me, but didn't seem to hurt either). There's really no "one answer to rule them all". You just need to narrow things down with testing to see what works.

[yukoncornelius]

Readings are stable at room temp... I'm almost sure the connections at the terminals on the phidget are solid and secure.

This sucks. I'll try a different gauge wire for the grounding. I do wonder if it's my laptop and the USB isolator will help.

[edtbjon]

Readings are stable at room temp... I'm almost sure the connections at the terminals on the phidget are solid and secure.

This sucks. I'll try a different gauge wire for the grounding. I do wonder if it's my laptop and the USB isolator will help.

It seems like you've had a though start to your Huky adventure. Things will get better eventually.
Anyhow, as the readings are stable at room temp, you've got a stable starting point from where to start sorting this problem out. With Artisan started and in the "ON" and "START" positions, turn on the lowest heat you can manage (a steady flame below 0.5 kPa). See what happens to the curves and delta curves. Next turn on the motor, next turn on the fan... The trouble should be where you start getting irratic readings.
(The reason for turning on the heat first is to get some (positive) delta BT/DeltaET values to be shown and plotted before introducing other possible electric sources which can mess with your readings.)

[yukoncornelius]

Readings are stable at room temp... I'm almost sure the connections at the terminals on the phidget are solid and secure.

This sucks. I'll try a different gauge wire for the grounding. I do wonder if it's my laptop and the USB isolator will help.

It seems like you've had a though start to your Huky adventure. Things will get better eventually.
Anyhow, as the readings are stable at room temp, you've got a stable starting point from where to start sorting this problem out. With Artisan started and in the "ON" and "START" positions, turn on the lowest heat you can manage (a steady flame below 0.5 kPa). See what happens to the curves and delta curves. Next turn on the motor, next turn on the fan... The trouble should be where you start getting irratic readings.
(The reason for turning on the heat first is to get some (positive) delta BT/DeltaET values to be shown and plotted before introducing other possible electric sources which can mess with your readings.)

Thanks Jon... I ended up doing this last night and referenced it in my post.  I experienced big BT delta changes when the motor was turned on....then off. As well as when I turned the fan on. I wish I could see how it looks for one of your...properly working.. setups.

[yukoncornelius]

Ran home really quick after stopping at lowes (picked up some better quality galvanized steel wire) to do a quick test after reapplying the new wire as a ground from screw on huky to ground opening on power strip.

What do you all think?  Is it fixed?  This was just during a preheat with no beans, I turned on the drum and the BT seemed to stabilize much better, curve was smoother, etc.  What you see at the end is when I turned the fan on with j pipe connected (full fan, damper open all the way).  I'm guessing that crazy temp drop is normal. Artisan actually thought I charged beans heh.

edit: here is what the lines looked like in real time, I feel like the BT delta was MUCH crazier before this new grounding wire.  I think its fixed?!?!?

[jyalpert]

Looks pretty good!

My grounding issue with a TMD-56 was so bad, it would spike if I touched the machine, would spike if a USB wire brushed my laptop chassis, would spike if I turned on the cooling fan, etc.  The grounding wire fixed all of it 99%.  Hopefully it's the same for you!

[yukoncornelius]

I'm not sure - check it out from the actual roast I just did...  It still seems way too jagged like, basically no difference before.  Also below is an embedded picture I took before I clicked "off" in artisan.

[yukoncornelius]

The main thing I can think of is that maybe the outlet my powerstrip is connected to is not grounded (the wire is stuck into one of the sockets in the powerstrip).  When my "roasting cart" comes tomorrow I'm going to move everything to my garage.  Theres a GFCI outlet in my garage, which I believe all GFCI outlets are grounded.   I haven't heard anyone say they tried to ground their machine and still had problems.  So I'm thinking if I get it grounded properly, its gonna fix the problem. On the flipside, the usb isolator is here tomorrow so I'll try that too. 

[.]

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[Crzyworm623]

I had a similar issue,  erratic jagged readings.  Mine was as simple as moving the phidget wires away from all the other power cords.  Nothing was touching,  but just being close proximity was enough to cause interference.

Attached are before and after fixing.  Give you an idea if what your graphs should look like

[yukoncornelius]

I had a similar issue,  erratic jagged readings.  Mine was as simple as moving the phidget wires away from all the other power cords.  Nothing was touching,  but just being close proximity was enough to cause interference.

Attached are before and after fixing.  Give you an idea if what your graphs should look like

WoW that's amazing... what about the phidget wires touching the roaster?

No update from me because I haven't roasted another batch. I didnt have alot of time to test but I tried monitoring curves on my girlfriends MacBook during a preheat test... it DID seem to not have the inference my Dell has but that could be pure coincidence. I'd have to do a full roast with her macbook...not sure when I'll have that chance.

[yukoncornelius]

Well.. still no definitive resolution.  First roast in the garage on the new roasting cart, yay... tried to make sure phidget wires and usb cord were no where near the other power cords.  I do feel this is better...  but at this point I can't even imagine smooth curves, it would blow me away to not have the noise.  Although its not preventing me from getting good roasts, its very annoying. 

Sidenote - I can't believe how good my ethiopian aricha roast was... like dang, one of my best roasts ever.  I took this guatemalan a good bit darker than I should've (should've cut more heat and dropped 30-45 secs sooner) heres to hoping its not too roasty.

[edtbjon]

That RoR curve is still quite erratic. Looking at a finished graph is one thing, but how does it behave while you roast? My experience is that the RoR does tick up and down a little bit during the roast (for every 3 or 5 seconds or whatever value it's set to), but when the ticks are some 10-20 degrees it's not funny anymore.
The computer itself may very well be the source of the culprit. When I bought the Huky I got me a brand new Asus touchscreen "insert bells and whistles here..." laptop. It doesn't behave as bad as your computer does, but it's pretty much useless for using while roasting.
I then tried to install Lubuntu on my Acer laptop from 2005 (it didn't want to do Windows anymore). That computer isn't sensitive to anything at all. I always run it with the transformer connected, as it doesn't make any difference. I.e it works like a charm.

[yukoncornelius]

That RoR curve is still quite erratic. Looking at a finished graph is one thing, but how does it behave while you roast? My experience is that the RoR does tick up and down a little bit during the roast (for every 3 or 5 seconds or whatever value it's set to), but when the ticks are some 10-20 degrees it's not funny anymore.
The computer itself may very well be the source of the culprit. When I bought the Huky I got me a brand new Asus touchscreen "insert bells and whistles here..." laptop. It doesn't behave as bad as your computer does, but it's pretty much useless for using while roasting.
I then tried to install Lubuntu on my Acer laptop from 2005 (it didn't want to do Windows anymore). That computer isn't sensitive to anything at all. I always run it with the transformer connected, as it doesn't make any difference. I.e it works like a charm.

Now THAT is potentially interesting.  My dell xps 12 - is also a touchscreen.  I'm wondering if the touchscreen laptops emit crazy EMF or whatever we want to call this.  I was going to buy this $9 usb cable that goes usb to 3 prong outlet to ground the laptop.