This guide walks through how to pair the Meater wireless probes, including the Meater / Meater+ and Meater Block models, so you can use them as a wireless probe on the Smartfire system.
What you'll need to proceed
- A previously setup and online Smartfire 5.0 controller and power source
- Your Android or iOS smart device, within one major release of the current operating system. IE if Android 11 is the current, then we'll definitely be supporting Android 10.
- A Meater probe, we currently support Meater Original / Meater Plus / Meater Block products
- Note if using Meater+ or Block, you must remove power from the repeater/block so it won't be active.
Background knowledge
It's useful to understand a few things about the Smartfire startup and connection process.
- Connecting to wireless probes is delayed about 2 minutes. Smartfire 5.0 prioritises connecting to the cloud, checking for updates, processing wired probes (as they have no connection delay) and communicating to any local smart phones that may be wishing to connect via BT. At about the 2 minute mark it will start searching further afield for BT devices that it knows or should keep track of. That's when it will connect to any setup wireless probes and on the next status interval (15 seconds apart) it will broadcast the probe readings to the cloud and the app.
- Only one device can connect to a probe, so make sure Smartfire is the only contender. Meater probes support only one concurrent BT connection, so if Meater+ repeaters / Meater Block or even the Meater phone app connects first then it will prevent Smartfire Controller from being able to connect. To avoid issues make sure to remove power (ie battery or plug) from any repeaters that the probe was purchased with, and make sure the Meater app is force closed so it's not quietly connecting in the background.
Pairing
Let's get setup!
As always, we highly recommend that you setup any newly purchased Smartfire (or Meater probe) in advance of a planned cooking session. Then you can do setup at your leisure and even do a dry test run for a couple hours so you're comfortable with all of the controls and physical elements of your BBQ smoker.
- Charge your Meater probe if it wasn't already charged
- Remove power from any competing repeater devices and force close the Meater app if open or backgrounded
- Remove Meater probe from cradle/block so it's active
- Turn on the Smartfire
- Check the Smartfire app is up to date
- Open the Smartfire app
- Check that the Smartfire app hasn't prompted you to do a firmware upgrade. If required, complete that process first
- Click side menu My Devices, then your device name
- On the device details screen it should show Wi-Fi as online and Bluetooth as online and connected (ie both green). If not, try a force close of the Smartfire app and open it again
- In the Wireless probes section click 'Change' on the wireless probe slot you wish to pair with. It will scan, taking about 8 seconds to complete. You can scan a second time if it hasn't detected the nearby Meater probe.
- If it still doesn't detect the nearby Meater probe, open the Meater app and check that it can successfully connect and probe battery is charged. Make sure to force close the app afterwards.
- It will provide an action menu popup listing the detected nearby Meater probes. Select one to proceed.
- It will save the new probe to the Smartfire configuration within a few seconds.
- The Smartfire will wait about 1 minute to start connecting to the probe and it'll show up on the main status screen
- It's a good idea to do a power cycle of the Smartfire at that point so you can observe the normal startup process and connection time, leave about 2 minutes for the wireless probes to register
General Use
It's important to follow the Meater guides on usage. Particularly the Meater guides on maximum temperatures and correctly inserting the probe to the marked line on the probe to protect the internal circuitry.
FAQs
Here are some common FAQs to help you out!
- How many wireless probes can Smartfire connect to? 2!
- Can the Meater be used as the ambient "pit control" probe? No, not currently. We'll perform some data analysis and user surveys at a later stage to see if it makes sense to allow setting the Meater ambient as the pit probe.
- Can the Meater probe be connected to the Meater app and Smartfire app at the same time? No, the Bluetooth connection only allows one client device at a time.
- Does the Smartfire system relay the readings to Meater cloud? No, but it relays it to the Smartfire cloud so you can see the status from anywhere where you have internet access.
- Does Smartfire have cook time estimates like Meater? No. It's not on the feature roadmap but you're welcome to get in touch and have a chat about it!
- Does Smartfire support other Meater probe types? Yes, we support Meater+ and Meater Block probes, but you must make sure the repeater/block station is turned off so that they don't connect first to the probe and hog the connection.