FireBoard x MasterBuilt

For several years, we’ve had some customers contact us about using the FireBoard Drive to run their MasterBuilt gravity fed charcoal smoker.  Surprisingly, while we were researching this, we found customer inquiries going back to 2020!

Which grill does this work on?

The main grills which work with this setup are the MasterBuilt 560, 800, and 1050.  Interestingly enough, because of common parts, the CharGriller 980 mostly works also, but requires a slightly different cable.

How does someone actually hook it up?

When we first heard about this, we didn’t quite understand what people were doing, but we soon learned that our friends at TheBbqHq had created a custom cable adapter to make the connection direct from the FireBoard’s Drive port to the MasterBuilt fan.  Apparently, they had tested the connection and figured out that it works!  Eric Rowley has a great video here going into the details.

Is FireBoard working on an integrated controller?

Yes.

Given the continued interest in this solution, we’ve decided to offer a product that integrates much more easily, using some of the same components used with our pellet controllers.  Beyond making installation a breeze, this will allow FireBoard to fully support the solution.  Check out the video below for more info and for a sneak peak.

When will the integrated controller be ready?

We are targeting late 2025 or early 2026.

In the meantime, anyone can still purchase the FireBoard 2 Drive along with the custom cable here.  They also have a bundle which includes everything you need.

As a technical side note, we designed the Drive port to output a variable voltage output (approx. 3.5V to 12V) which has the benefit of being able to drive quite a few 12V fans at variable speed.  The circuit supports up to 18W of power (1.5 amps at 12 volts).  Internally, we have a buck/boost circuit (using a Linear Tech LT3959 chip) which is able to deliver variable voltage output from a 3.7V Li-Ion battery source.  Of course, the battery can only provide so much current, so to drive normal sized fans at full speed, an external USB-C connection is needed.

Drive control via Apple Watch app

Oh and just one more update:

For iOS users, we are releasing a new feature soon which will allow you to control the set point via the FireBoard Watch app  (like on the MasterBuilt, in our video update above).  The Drive control feature will work with our pellet grill controllers and fans for charcoal grills.

Stay tuned and thanks for taking interest in the FireBoard story!