GrillMaster - Home Assistant Integration
A custom Home Assistant integration for monitoring and controlling pellet grills over the local network via HTTP JSON-RPC.
Built for the LG1000BL (Black Label) series, but should work with other models using the same Mongoose OS ESP32 controller (Control Board 8).
Disclaimer: This project is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by any grill manufacturer. All product names, trademarks, and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. This software communicates with the grill’s local network interface using reverse-engineered protocols — use at your own risk.
Features
- Temperature Monitoring — Grill temperature, set point, and up to 2 meat probe temperatures, updating every 5 seconds
- Grill Control — Set target temperature (180-600F in 5F increments), turn grill off
- Light Control — Toggle the grill light on/off
- Status Monitoring — Fan, auger motor, heater, primer states plus error detection (no pellets, high temp, igniter, fan, motor errors)
- DHCP Discovery — Automatically detects the grill on your network and handles IP address changes
- Cloud Sync (optional) — POST temperature data to a configurable URL on every poll cycle
Supported Hardware
Any WiFi-enabled pellet grill using the Mongoose OS ESP32 controller should work. These are sold under several brands, all manufactured by Dansons Inc.
Tested
| Manufacturer | Model | Control Board | Temp Range | Probes | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana Grills | LG1000BL (Black Label 1000) | 8 | 180-600F | 2 | No |
Should Work (Control Board 8 — same decoder)
| Manufacturer | Model | Control Board | Temp Range | Probes | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana Grills | LG0800BL (Black Label 800) | 8 | 180-600F | 2 | No |
| Louisiana Grills | LG1200BL (Black Label 1200) | 8 | 180-600F | 2 | No |
| Louisiana Grills | LG300BL (Black Label 300) | 8 | 180-500F | 2 | No |
| Louisiana Grills | LGV4BL (Black Label Vertical) | 8 | 130-420F | 2 | No |
May Work (Control Board 9 — Founders series, untested)
| Manufacturer | Model | Control Board | Temp Range | Probes | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana Grills | LG800FL (Founders 800) | 9 | 180-600F | 4 | Yes |
| Louisiana Grills | LG800FP (Founders 800) | 9 | 180-600F | 4 | No |
| Louisiana Grills | LG1200FL (Founders 1200) | 9 | 180-600F | 4 | Yes |
| Louisiana Grills | LG1200FP (Founders 1200) | 9 | 180-600F | 4 | No |
May Work (Control Board 5 — Pit Boss, untested, different payload format)
| Manufacturer | Model | Control Board | Temp Range | Probes | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pit Boss | PB0500SP | 5 | 180-500F | 2 | No |
| Pit Boss | PB0820SP / PB0820SPW | 5 | 180-500F | 2 | No |
| Pit Boss | PB1000D3 | 5 | 180-500F | 2 | No |
| Pit Boss | PB1000NC1 | 5 | 180-500F | 2 | No |
May Work (Control Board 6 — Lexington, untested, different payload format)
| Manufacturer | Model | Control Board | Temp Range | Probes | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pit Boss | Lexington (Wi-Fi Upgrade) | 6 | 180-500F | 2 | No |
Note: Control Board 5 and 6 models use a different MCU payload format than Control Board 8/9. They will likely need decoder changes to work. Control Board 8 and 9 models share the same protocol and are most likely to work out of the box.
Requirements: The grill must be connected to your local WiFi network. This integration communicates via HTTP JSON-RPC on port 80 — no cloud account or Bluetooth required. Tested on firmware 0.2.3 (unauthenticated). Firmware 0.5.7+ may require authentication (not yet supported).
How Is This Different?
There are other Home Assistant integrations for pellet grills. Here’s how Grill Master compares:
| Grill Master | ha-pitboss | |
|---|---|---|
| Protocol | Local HTTP (WiFi) | BLE (Bluetooth) |
| Range | Anywhere on your network | ~30 ft from HA host |
| Cloud required? | No | No |
| Cloud sync | Optional (push to your own endpoint) | No |
| DHCP discovery | Yes | No (BLE advertisement) |
| Config flow UI | Yes | Yes |
| Climate entity | Yes | Yes |
| Grill brands | Louisiana Grills, Pit Boss | Louisiana Grills, Pit Boss |
Key differences:
- Local HTTP, not Bluetooth — ha-pitboss talks to the same Mongoose OS controller we do, but over BLE. That limits you to ~30 feet from your HA server. Grill Master uses the grill’s WiFi HTTP interface, so it works from anywhere on your network.
- No cloud dependency — Traeger integrations require a cloud account and internet connection. Grill Master talks directly to the grill on your LAN. If your internet goes down, your grill monitoring doesn’t.
- Optional cloud sync — If you want cloud data (for a companion app, dashboards, etc.), Grill Master can POST temperature data to any URL you configure. You own the endpoint.
- DHCP discovery — Grill Master auto-detects your grill on the network and handles IP changes. No need to hunt for the IP address.
- Temperature alarms — None of the existing integrations have built-in temperature alarms. This is Grill Master’s #1 priority feature. GrillBuddy adds alarm functionality as a separate helper, but it’s a generic layer on top of any sensor — not grill-aware.
Installation
HACS (Recommended)
- Click the badge above, or open HACS → search for “Grill Master”
- Click Download
- Restart Home Assistant
Manual
- Download theor clone the repository
- Copy the
custom_components/grill_master/folder into your Home Assistantconfig/custom_components/directory - Restart Home Assistant
Setup
- Go to Settings → Devices & Services → + Add Integration
- Search for “Grill Master”
- Enter your grill’s IP address (or let DHCP discovery find it automatically)
- (Optional) Configure cloud sync endpoint
- Done — sensors appear immediately