[HN Gopher] Dad and the Egg Controller (2018)
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       Dad and the Egg Controller (2018)
        
       Author : wrong-mexican
       Score  : 99 points
       Date   : 2025-04-26 20:09 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.pentadact.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.pentadact.com)
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Discussed at the time:
       | 
       |  _Dad and the Egg Controller_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18710205 - Dec 2018 (49
       | comments)
        
       | seafoamteal wrote:
       | This was an absolutely beautiful eulogy.
        
       | JohnMakin wrote:
       | This is cool but I just wanna say as an avid bbq-er this sounds
       | like one of those cases of optimizing the fun out of something.
       | babying a grill for 6 hours in the sun as a tired dad getting an
       | excuse to drink a modelo and nurse a crappy cigar getting away
       | from the stresses of raising a family is a feature, not a bug -
       | but also as a fan of perfectly smoked meats, I get it. This piece
       | speaks to me.
        
         | IncreasePosts wrote:
         | You can drink your beer while avoiding your family just as
         | easily with a controller. Also, egg (kamado) style grills are
         | very good at holding a specific temperature if you get the
         | inlet/outlet airflow dialed in
        
           | staticautomatic wrote:
           | Disagree. The heat tends to spike when the fire hits a piece
           | of wood.
        
             | fdhfdjkfhdkj wrote:
             | You dont use wood in the Egg, you use charcoal, and not the
             | petroleum infused stuff. Natural hardwood lump charcoal.
             | You can smoke stuff for 6 hours not really touching it once
             | it is dialed in.
        
               | staticautomatic wrote:
               | I use hardwood charcoal and some lumps of wood, as do
               | many people.
        
             | IncreasePosts wrote:
             | I use charcoal generally but have had no problem with my
             | kamado Joe holding a temperature within 10 degrees of a set
             | point for 3+ hours
        
         | SamBam wrote:
         | I expect that building and optimizing this thing _was_ the fun.
         | 
         | And perhaps where you see alone time while grilling, OP's dad
         | saw alone time for hours in his workshop tinkering with things
         | like this.
        
       | tofof wrote:
       | Those wanting to duplicate the electronic bbq idea can build
       | themselves a HeaterMeter.
       | 
       | https://github.com/CapnBry/HeaterMeter/wiki
        
         | phinnaeus wrote:
         | Those wanting an off the shelf product can purchase a smart
         | fire gadget. https://smartfirebbq.com/
         | 
         | I have one and it's incredible.
        
           | mhb wrote:
           | That site is desperate for a paragraph about what the product
           | does.
        
             | LeifCarrotson wrote:
             | It's buried pretty deeply, but the product page does say:
             | 
             | > _Monitor and Control your BBQ Smoker from your phone,
             | anywhere!_
             | 
             | > _Smartfire regulates the BBQ temperature on your behalf
             | by automatically controlling the smoker airflow supply so
             | you aren 't up all night adjusting vents._
             | 
             | It does feel like the kind of product where everyone
             | involved in the company and most of their potential
             | customers know what it is, why they want it, and how it
             | works.
             | 
             | The ad copy focuses on making it attractive to people who
             | arrive by searching for "BBQ Controller" and aren't sure
             | which one they want. There's no real reason to try to make
             | it approachable to people who don't even own a smoker, it's
             | not like someone's going to impulse buy a $400 gadget to
             | improve their experience with an activity they've never
             | done.
        
       | yapyap wrote:
       | Truly a delightful read. Also after having seen the video, that
       | is a really neat gadget! The knobs, the wires, the not having a
       | (predictable) 3d printed case you'd kinda mentally intertwine
       | with the idea of DIYing electronics like this nowadays.
       | 
       | Chef's kiss
        
         | aidenn0 wrote:
         | It's been long enough since I did a DIY electronics project
         | that I used a plastic case bought at Radio Shack (or maybe
         | Marvac?) for my last one.
        
       | ang_cire wrote:
       | Great story, nice humor, very touching. Thank you for sharing!
        
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       (page generated 2025-04-27 23:01 UTC)