Weber is Developing a Wirelessly Controlled Electric Grill

While Weber and Char-Broil have long battled for gas grill supremacy, a fight is brewing to be king of electric grilling. Char-Broil struck first with the release of the EDGE electric grill, now Weber is developing a wirelessly controlled electric grill.

While Weber has had patents on wireless grill technology dating back to 2018 related to the Weber Pulse, an updated patent was just released that adds functionality and modifies how the grill operates. Weber has a trademark for the Lumin electric grill, so it’s possible the new patent is related to that or for an updated Pulse.

Wireless Control

Weber’s previous wireless electric grill patent focused on wireless monitoring of grill temperature. The Pulse has Weber Connect technology for remote monitoring, but no control.

Weber’s new wireless electric grill patent builds off that and adds temperature control in addition to monitoring. That’s a feature that the Char-Broil EDGE doesn’t have, but the Napoleon Rogue EQ is supposed to, if or when it comes out.

Temperature Reading

Weber also changed where and how the temperature is measured on their electric grill patent. Previously, there was an ambient temp probe in the cook box. In the updated patent, they moved that probe to take measurement of the temperature of the heat element. They then estimate the ambient temperature of the cook box based on the temperature of the heating element.

We’re guessing the change is because an ambient reading is reactive, which could be problematic for a slower heating method, like an electric heating element. By measuring at the heating element, they should be able to proactively calculate the the power needs and duration for a desired ambient temperature.

While they don’t go into it in the patent, hopefully they’re measuring the ambient temperature at a cold start in a range of conditions as a data point for the algorithm. Heat loss in the cook box in cold, windy conditions will be different from a hot, sunny day. It’s important to account for that in the ambient temperature calculation.