So how do you make an irrigation controller?
The most exciting bit is at the end when you can turn on your irrigation from anywhere in the world, but there's a lot of work to do first...
You can't create a great product without having some core guiding principles. In every design phase we use these principles as our guides -
- Simple to use. Irrigation controllers have traditionally been difficult to program, with buttons and dials and little else to help you get your watering right. Our controller must be easy to use - the apps should be intuitive and the touchscreen on our new controller must make initial configuration really easy. We feel that the easier it is to use a product, the better it will be for you and the environment.
- It must help you save money and water. There's so much information online these days so we take advantage of these new information sources to automatically adjust your watering schedules based on forecast temperature, rainfall, wind speed and humidity. If its going to rain, why turn on your irrigation???
- Visibility into what's going on. You should be able to easily work out what's going on with your irrigation system and make intelligent decisions about your watering. If something goes wrong (say you have a broken spray head) then we want you to know about this.
The Physical Design
At Hydrawise, we're great at engineering things like hardware and software design but not so great with touchy-feely design. So when it came to designing an enclosure we commissioned an award winning industrial design firm to come up with a look a feel that was simple and elegant.
The brief was that the controller had to have easy to reach wiring terminals, the casing had to be waterproof and all the wiring has to be hidden.
Our finished design features an enclosure which supports wire termination at the front, a sealed case with a gasket to keep water (and other bugs) out and the option of wire entry from the rear of the enclosure or via a conduit at the bottom.
And the unit comes with a touchscreen for easy installation, troubleshooting or operation when you don't have your smart phone handy.
The Controller Software
Our latest controller software is largely based on our previous controllers - so we know it's been tested and in the field for 3 years now.
It means that you get controller software which is reliable and full of features. If there happens to be an issue, or we release a new feature your controller can be upgraded easily online.
The Cloud Software
We've had a cloud architecture (we call it the Hydrawise Cloud Management System) since we launched the first residential cloud-based irrigation controller in 2011.
What does this mean to you? Well, it means you don't have to perform any complicated router port forwarding configuration to be able to control your irrigation from anywhere worldwide. Once again, we return to one of our core philosophies which is to keep things simple and easy.
Manufacturing
It's no good having the best software and hardware design in the world if you can't manufacture your product reliably every time. There are lots of countries which offer manufacturing services but we wanted to make sure we used the best in the business and supported the country where we sell the vast majority of our controllers. Our controllers are manufactured in California, USA using state of the art surface mount machines and a dedicated team of assemblers who care about our finished product as much as we do.
There are over 170 parts on each controller and over 97% of them are placed by automatic machines with astonishing speed and accuracy. Each controller goes through 3 separate optical checks before it reaches the final assembly stage. At this point every controller goes through an automated test which turns on all of the irrigation zones in turn, tests the sensors and makes sure that the unit connects successfully to wireless. So you know your controller is fully tested before it gets to you.
Distribution
The final stage in our process is making sure we can get product to you quickly. In the US we have over 20 warehouse locations meaning we can get a controller into your hands with 2 day shipping. We also have warehouses in Australia with 2 day delivery for our Australian customers.
Support
There's one more stage which is really important to us - and that's supporting our customers after they've purchased our product. Our support guys care passionately about our products and know them inside out. So, if you've got any questions send them our way and we'll gladly help!
