Drive Settings

Several options are available to customize how the FireBoard Drive operates. These options can be found on the FireBoard App by tapping the “Tool” icon in the top right when a fan is connected.

If you have more than one FireBoard with Drive active, the Drive Device dropdown allows you to choose which device’s Drive settings you wish to adjust.

Lid Detect

FireBoard Drive automatically detects a rapid drop in temperature and assumes a lid has been opened. Normally, the PID control algorithm would add fan power to compensate for the drop in temperature; however, this is the incorrect response to a lid opening. Since a lid opening adds a lot of oxygen to the smoker, the fan should instead turn off and wait for the lid to close and the temperature to stabilize.

In some cases, a rapid drop may occur without a lid opening, which is usually a sign that the smoker isn’t holding temperature without the fan. In this case, efforts should be made to stabilize the cooker. Remember, building a good fire and maintaining a steady temperature without a fan is the best recipe for success with a fan.

The lid detect feature can be turned off completely, or the length of time the system pauses when a lid opening is detected can be changed.

Advanced Settings

Several features are available which further the ability to customize how FireBoard Drive operates.

PID

One of the most important settings is the PID Mode, which changes how the PID algorithm operates. We continue to test and improve upon how the PID system works. For more information about the PID algorithm, see About PID (/drive.

The choices for the different modes are:

• v3.0: Recommended and default setting, major improvement in PID logic. Should be more responsive and pro-active about making adjustments to fan speed, which should result in better temperature control.
• v2.0: This improves upon v1.0 by adding back in a weight for the time-based error correction, which helps keep the temperature closer to the setpoint and not above, as could happen in v1.0.
• v1.0: Still a good choice; however, this contains a high weight on the Derivative PID component which could result in the temperature remaining above the setpoint in some cases.
• v0.7: This is a combination of the v1.0 and v0.5 and has not been extensively tested.
• v0.5: May result in slightly more oscillation due to a higher weight in the Proportional component. This is a safe choice if the v2.0 or v1.0 settings aren’t working well.

About PID

The FireBoard Drive Fan Control system uses a PID algorithm to maintain a steady temperature. The PID control algorithm is made up of three main components:

• Proportional (current error from setpoint)
• Integral (summed past error over time)
• Derivative (current rate of change)

We have continued to improve the control logic while preserving existing behavior for those who find their current settings work. The latest PID mode version is always recommended.
Learn more about the PID here.

Each of the components of a PID can be tuned in order to get the system to maintain a steady temperature. The FireBoard Drive system has several presets which can be changed; read more about how each of the presets operate here.

Fan Mode:

• Normal: For most fans up to 25CFM
• Large: For fans larger than 25CFM or that require a larger input voltage to start turning; the large fan speed will start a fan at 30%

Max Fan Speed

This will limit your fan to running at the speed percentage indicated and is a good option if you continually overshoot your set point.