What Makes Hunter Controllers So Reliable? It’s More Than Meets the Eye

Jeff Kremicki, Controller Product Manager, and Pete Woytowitz, Engineering Manager with the full range of Hunter controllers.
Everything from the battery-powered single station SVC to the powerhouse 48-station ICC.

It isn’t always what you see that makes something special. It’s often the stuff that’s hidden away, far from the eye, that’s important.

That’s the case with Hunter controllers. Sure, there’s a lot going on at first glance: dial programming, easy-to-read LCD display, solid cabinetry, rugged construction. All of that gives a great first impression about the ICC, Pro-C and SRC, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.

There’s much more going on beneath the surface in a Hunter controller.

In fact, there’s a lot that goes into the process of making these controllers that you can’t even see—processes and procedures, such as research and testing—that aren’t physical things you can view in a finished product.

But they’re there. And they make a difference.

It All Starts in Engineering

“It’s a long process that takes us from drawing board to finished product,” said Jeff Kremicki, Hunter controller product manager. “For example, our Pro-C has been a best seller since we introduced it three years ago. But work on the product first began in our engineering department about two years before that.”

Kremicki explained that Hunter engineers took their cues from the feedback that Hunter product managers and sales representatives got from people “out in the field” concerning controllers.

“We listened to what our customers had to say,” said Kremicki. “What they liked in controllers they were already buying, and what they felt was missing and not found in anything on the market. And we took all that information and worked to create a controller that would have everything they wanted.”

With the input engineers received, they set out to design the new Pro-C: exactly the same creative process that was used to develop the ICC and SRC.

Of course, it takes more than just listening and drawing up some ideas to make a controller function efficiently and respond to market wishes.

“There’s a lot of testing that goes on, too,” said Pete Woytowitz, Hunter engineering manager, controllers.

Controllers Undergo Comprehensive Tests

To ensure top performance, Hunter controllers are placed through a variety of tests. The most grueling is accelerated schedule testing, where the controller is made to go through virtually a year’s worth of operation in a 3-week period.

“The equivalent of about one minute of running time elapses every second,” said Woytowitz. “The controller is hooked up to a computer that monitors and logs every event that takes place. We run dozens of irrigation schedules through in order to validate the scheduling capabilities of the unit. There are a total of nearly two dozen schedules and each simulates from 7 to 30 days of irrigation.

“It’s a lot to ask of a controller in a short time, but it allows us to get the information we need without having to wait around months if we were to do things in real time.”

Woytowitz also described a test procedure with the rather strange sounding “bed of nails” label.

“Our bed of nails test lets us thoroughly exercise all the hardware on every unit we produce,” he explained. “We take the board that is inside the controller and use test probes—which kind of resemble a bed of nails—to stimulate the contact points. It gives us the opportunity to test repeated function requests over and over again without having to do so by hand. It’s quicker and less error-prone.”

When the controllers are fully assembled, the board’s functions are tested again—this time more conventionally, by pushing buttons and twisting the dial.

“All Hunter controllers also undergo emissions and immunity testing,” added Woytowitz, “to see how the units interact and perform with other electrical sources in the environment.

“Emission tests check to see that the controllers do not interfere with television and radio waves. Our signals must not disturb broadcast signals. Immunity testing checks that the controller does not respond adversely to power line transients, electrostatic discharge, and induced electric surges.”

As an example of immunity testing, Woytowitz explained how a Hunter controller is put in a chamber and bombarded with radio waves, to simulate the conditions if the controller were located adjacent to a radio tower or power lines.

“We give the controller spikes of power with an electrostatic discharge gun to see how it reacts and holds up.”

The Best Materials Ensure Best Performance

A primary reason why Hunter controllers are able to successfully withstand such testing is the quality of materials the company uses to produce the products.

“If you take a look at the circuit board in a Hunter controller and compare it to most others, right away you can see something different about ours,” said Woytowitz. “Ours is green and the others are brown.

“Hunter boards are green because we use FR4 glass epoxy, a premium quality circuit board material. Brown boards are made of paper phenolic.”

Woytowitz said that Hunter uses gold plating on boards for any connection that is not soldered, noting that tin plating is the industry standard. In addition, all contacts are gold plated and gold is used on edge connectors and any other internal parts subjected to degradation.

“Our copper cladding is superior as well,” he remarked. “Hunter circuit board traces (the copper that is left after the etching process and what carries the signal through the controller) can handle more current than the competition. That’s because we use a thicker (1 oz.) copper clad than most others (typical weight is oz.). We also have wider tracers than is standard.

“Plus, in a Hunter controller, you’ll never see bare, exposed circuit boards. Everything inside is encapsulated for better protection. When a board is left open it can be shorted out easily when something drops on it…like a screwdriver in a contractor’s hands.”

Built to Withstand Tough Conditions

An area of concern for many controller users is loss of power—and thus loss of programming information—due to climatic conditions. All Hunter controllers now have non-volatile memory. And, all Hunter controllers are also now fuseless.

“Lightning is a persistent problem in Central Florida,” said Bill Perkins of Green Earth Irrigation in suburban Orlando. “And no controllers we’ve used have ever performed as well under these conditions as Hunter. With other brands, we always had to deal with reprogramming after a storm…if the unit even survived. With Hunter, we know the controller will be there, functioning as good as new.”

Woytowitz pointed out that metal-oxide varistors (MOV) on all Hunter modular controllers are what give the units superior power surge and lightning protection. MOVs protect the controller from minor power surges coming in through the primary input side (110/230 VAC) and also the secondary output side (24 VAC).

There is also one more thing you can’t see in a Hunter controller…but it is designed to help make what you do see—the liquid crystal display (LCD)—remain visible and easy to read. Hunter formulated its LCD to withstand high temperature (up to 140o instead of 115 o) and UV resistance (too many rays on others and will turn black permanently) anti-UV polarizer like on sunglasses.

And, speaking of UV rays, all Hunter controller cabinets are made of a special material specifically designed to resist UV degradation.

Good Input + Good Testing = Great Products

What makes Hunter products so reliable? It isn’t always something you can see. But when you learn about it, you can see how it makes a difference.

“We listen, we learn…and then we test like crazy,” said Kremicki. “Our rigorous design verification procedure validates both our hardware and our firmware. The end result is that the product is stronger and we increase customer satisfaction.”