Entropy

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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

another attack of entropy... I just got back from the market with two packages of day old uncooked chicken (marked down), and decided to throw it right into my slow cooker to not temp fate. Chicken can be nasty with bacteria.

Of course the only reason I am writing about this is that my slow cooker's internal microprocessor refused to boot up (again). The power company swapped out my meter for a smart meter this morning. The brief power interruption was not well received by the processor that apparently runs 24x7. When I cycle the power off and on again I get a brief flash of back light then nothing.

I tried several different secret handshakes (Like I would design in). If I hold down the on/off button and the up arrow button while cycling the power it boots up in some non standard state. Cycling power while holding down only one button does not work. Pressing any other button from the on, but not operating state wakes it up and it starts working as expected again.

This is already on my long to-do (someday) list, but hard to trouble shoot, when it is working, and with a cooker full of raw chicken is not an ideal opportunity to take it apart.

The likely culprit is a power on reset cap that most microprocessor circuits use. A faulty cap or bad solder joint could be the issue.

JR

PS: Parts arrived to replace my car's 20 YO radiator hoses. I also bought new temperature sending units that I am suspicious of, maybe this weekend but probably not.

PPS: received my first phone call on my (porcelain) throne phone, mission successful.
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billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

Why does a slow cooker need a microprocessor? Mine has a 3 position bakelite knob such as you would find on a guitar amp. off/low/high. When you are cooking something for 8 hours precision is not a requirement.

These days it only gets used for chickpeas mind.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

billshurv wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 5:19 pm Why does a slow cooker need a microprocessor? Mine has a 3 position bakelite knob such as you would find on a guitar amp. off/low/high. When you are cooking something for 8 hours precision is not a requirement.
Because they can... :lol:

They probably have more precision than they need, and more features.

I probably wrote about it here but years ago I rolled my own slow cooker... My trick idea was to use a peltier heat transfer cell so i could slow cook food and cool my kitchen at the same time... Not a bad idea but not very practical... but as usual I learned a lot about peltier technology. :oops: I eventually bailed on the trick peltier unit and went with a bunch of power resistors bolted to an aluminum plate. I coded up a very powerful multilevel temperature cooker programmed for 15 minute temperature intervals. I used a diode junction voltage to sense temperature of the hot plate.

As often happens I figured out I could buy a commercial product better than I could built and wouldn't burn my house down. This commercial slow cooker is pretty nice when it works.
These days it only gets used for chickpeas mind.
Mine, when it is working is capable of up to 400'+ so can be even used to brown meat, before slow cooking stews et al... I did that about once... (browning beef tastes good, but creates carcinogens so pass).

The feature I like and use a lot is that after a programmed cook session (4 different target heats for x hours), it automatically switches to warming for 8 hours... I routinely cook meals over night by active cooking for 2 or 3 hours and then let it safely warm until the next morning.

I cook a weeks worth of dinner meals once a week, and 3 weeks of lunch meals once every three weeks.

This weeks chicken is a little (a lot) off plan because I cooked the chicken already. I pulled all the skin off the chicken and skimmed the fat out of the gravy. Right now there are couple pounds of vegetables in there slow cooking. Since the timing is off I may finish it tonight without the overnight warm session.

JR

PS: Another tidbit that came out of my research I built a thermal insulating box around the entire cooker... this keeps heat in during the summer to not heat the kitchen, and cold out in the winter for more cooking efficiency. The old crude crock pots might run hotter inside a thermal tent, but the modern stuff has a thermostat to sense temperatuere.
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billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

We cook meals a week ahead, mainly because with little ones and wife working part time it takes a whole parcel of stress out weeknights. Freezer isn't big enough to plan further ahead than that! Sadly very little that can be slow cooked tho.
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

JR. wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:15 pm
billshurv wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 5:19 pm Why does a slow cooker need a microprocessor? Mine has a 3 position bakelite knob such as you would find on a guitar amp. off/low/high. When you are cooking something for 8 hours precision is not a requirement.
Because they can... :lol:
Which is why we use 20 MHz PICs doing simple peak detection in DSP rather than a 5 cent comparator or op amp front-end for level detection.

I learned to code and I'm really stoked right now on the idea of an Arduino driving a bunch of WSM2812 RGB LEDs. I've got the parts to make a 3' long VU.

My neighbor's driveway is lined with, or should I say used to be lined with, sprinkler heads.
Both he and the previous homeowner tried reflective lollipops to protect them.
The lollipops got run over.
He's moved on to big rocks and has had some success.
We have a lot of big rocks laying around to chose from so supply is not a problem.
billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

Whereas I am doing the logic control for my pre-amp relays with diode matrices. Although a patch board would be easier if I could get it past SWMBO! 24 relays for 2 phono inputs does make me thing I'm approaching it from the wrong direction :D
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

billshurv wrote: Fri Feb 08, 2019 9:43 am Whereas I am doing the logic control for my pre-amp relays with diode matrices. Although a patch board would be easier if I could get it past SWMBO! 24 relays for 2 phono inputs does make me thing I'm approaching it from the wrong direction :D
I'm cool with relays - Mastering Engineers insist on them.
You might be better off having multiple preamps located at the turntable and switch their flat outputs.
With that many relays and that much wiring you'll likely give back a lot of SN in hum.

I used a similar approach on the MTC front-end.
Rather than switch filter Ω or nF I just switched filter outputs.
Op amps and capacitors were cheaper than relay poles.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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billshurv wrote: Fri Feb 08, 2019 3:54 am We cook meals a week ahead, mainly because with little ones and wife working part time it takes a whole parcel of stress out weeknights. Freezer isn't big enough to plan further ahead than that! Sadly very little that can be slow cooked tho.
The vast majority of my lunch and dinner meals are pre cooked and frozen... I just had to buy some more pyrex freezer containers (2 cup for dinner, and 1 cup for lunch) because all my containers were full of food... My recipe had grown over time (from extra vegetables) to 8 servings, meaning that over time, my freezer runneth over. Another benefit of this is portion control... eating adlib we can consume more because of time delay in satiation signaling. With fixed portions you know when to stop eating.

I like steady habits, so will sometimes vary the meat in the dish, but the rest is remarkably similar (beans, brown rice, onions, peppers, sweet potato, etc.). Last night I loaded up 8 containers with my chicken variant. Since I am about ready for my 3 week batch of lunch (salmon) I had some extra different vegetables (like broccoli, carrots, summer squash). Another trick I use is to cut the vegetable the night before and put them in the freezer for a few hours. I let them defrost in the main refrigerator overnight while the meat is slow cooking. I experimented with this years ago and by freezing the vegetables you can get the mouth feel of cooked vegetables with flavor profile of fresh, of course after several hours in a slow cooker they are fully cooked so this extra step is moot (habit).

I often season the dinner dish with a commercial chili mix ( 2 alarm chili) as a reasonable price source for the sundry ingredients, but I use exactly 1/2 the standard dose across 8 servings so chili light. :lol: I bag the left over spices and use the following week.

Over the years I have tweaked my process to be easy and healthy. I soak the beans and double bag them in plastic bags to cook along with the meat over night (2 hours on low+ several hours on warm). In the morning I decant the gravy into a fat separator to skim off the fat, then return the non fat gravy into the brown rice to cook. After the rice is done, I throw in the vegetables, a can of diced tomatoes, and chili spices, for another 4 hours on low. At this point I pull the beans out of the plastic bad and spread across the top. The meat ends up fall apart tender and it tastes good (to my taste). If too much liquid a little cornstarch will absorb that.

I will alternate, pork, beef, chicken and will sometimes throw in a few hot peppers to heat it up. Last summer I grew my own habanera and plan to grow a few more pepper varieties this summer.

When slow cooking the salmon (lunch meal) the gravy contains very little fat to skim off, so I just throw in the brown rice before the overnight cook session.

JR

PS: I have a fancy premium slow cooker and only use the low cook setting, and automatic 8 hour warm. In low setting the temperature is high enough to safely kill known pathogens, so I always cook at least a couple hours on low. If I have to replace this puppy I would look for one with less features but still like the automatic 8 hour warm feature. Years ago (decades ago) I had a bad experience with not refrigerating a huge pot of chicken soup, it went bad pretty quickly sitting on the stove top with heat off. :oops: The "warm" feature mitigates against that.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

mediatechnology wrote: Fri Feb 08, 2019 6:42 am
JR. wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 6:15 pm
billshurv wrote: Thu Feb 07, 2019 5:19 pm Why does a slow cooker need a microprocessor? Mine has a 3 position bakelite knob such as you would find on a guitar amp. off/low/high. When you are cooking something for 8 hours precision is not a requirement.
Because they can... :lol:
Which is why we use 20 MHz PICs doing simple peak detection in DSP rather than a 5 cent comparator or op amp front-end for level detection.

I learned to code and I'm really stoked right now on the idea of an Arduino driving a bunch of WSM2812 RGB LEDs. I've got the parts to make a 3' long VU.
welcome to the dark (digital) side.... :lol: you should now appreciate my enthusiasm.

I am an old analog dog, but the power of simple decision making is pretty useful.

JR
My neighbor's driveway is lined with, or should I say used to be lined with, sprinkler heads.
Both he and the previous homeowner tried reflective lollipops to protect them.
The lollipops got run over.
He's moved on to big rocks and has had some success.
We have a lot of big rocks laying around to chose from so supply is not a problem.
Cancel the "cancel culture", do not support mob hatred.
billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

mediatechnology wrote: Fri Feb 08, 2019 9:50 am [
I'm cool with relays - Mastering Engineers insist on them.
You might be better off having multiple preamps located at the turntable and switch their flat outputs.
With that many relays and that much wiring you'll likely give back a lot of SN in hum.
Well I will end up with 2 phono stages (MM and MC) but either turntable could be MM or MC. Right now both are MC. A small patchbay behind the TTs that the wife cannot see may be a better solution. To do select and series mono is 6 single pole relays for one input to one phono stage.

Short term will be hard plugged and I'll have a mono only wired cart, but would be nice to get more flexibility in eventually
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