For engineers, irrigation distributors, certification reviewers, and anyone evaluating HydroIQ against a competing system. The home page is for growers; this page is for the people they'd ask before specifying it.
The Controller speaks RS485 Modbus to the soil probes, sub-GHz LoRa to the Hydro Nodes, and standard TLS to the cloud. Schedules and dosing run locally; the cloud is additive.
SOIL CONTROLLER CLOUD USER
══════ ════════════ ═════ ════
[Probe Z1] ──┐
[Probe Z2] ──┤
[Probe Z3] ──┼─ RS485 ──▶ [Hydro ┌──▶ [Schedule ──▶ [Dashboard]
[Probe Z4] ──┤ Modbus Controller] ──TLS──┤ optimizer]
[Probe Z5] ──┘ │ │ [Camera vision ──▶ [Mobile app]
│ │ analysis]
├──▶ [Latching │ [Per-zone ──▶ [Multi-site
[Valve Z1] ──┐ latch │ valve driver] │ learning] portal]
[Valve Z2] ──┼◀──────────┘ │
[Valve Z3] ──┘ │ └──▶ [Data licensing
│ opt-in tier]
[WX station] ──┐ │
[Camera] ─┼─ UART/I2C─┤
[Fertigation] ─┘ │
│
[Hydro Node 1] ────┐ │
[Hydro Node 2] ──── sub-GHz LoRa
[Hydro Node N] ────┘ (long range, low power)
Local-first: irrigation + fertigation run without internet.
Cloud is additive (remote access, AI learning, multi-site).
Local-first guarantee: if the cloud is unreachable, the Controller continues running its last-known schedule and fertigation rules from non-volatile storage. A 24-hour cloud outage triggers an on-board buzzer alert at the unit; on the next reconnect the Controller logs the outage to the cloud history and the owner is notified via email and the app. Field-remote beds reach the Controller over sub-GHz LoRa via the Hydro Node accessory — the Node, in turn, is battery- and solar-powered and operates independently of any outside connectivity.
Most outdoor irrigation controllers require an earth ground rod installed at the customer site — both for code and for surge survival. HydroIQ doesn't.
Lightning surges enter outdoor irrigation systems through any external port — power, valve wires, sensor leads, comms. Standard MOV/GDT-based protection requires a low-impedance earth reference; without one, the surge has nowhere to go and clamps potential rises across the protected components. Installers either drive a ground rod (cost, code complexity, soil resistivity issues), skip protection (and replace boards every few years), or charge accordingly.
External-facing ports are classified into protection groups by voltage polarity, current direction, cable exposure, and downstream component voltage rating. Each group gets a topology selected from four options (parallel TVS array, two-stage TVS-inductor-TVS, blocking semiconductor with cable-side TVS, coordination resistor with inter-line clamp). All reference a unified floating local ground bus with no galvanic connection to earth. During a surge, the entire bus potential rises uniformly — preventing the differential voltage stress that destroys components.
Patent-pending: "Earth-Free Multi-Group Surge Protection System for Sealed Electronic Enclosures" (provisional patent application filed). Specifications available under NDA for distribution partners.
Isolated RS485 transceivers (THVD1426) on every sensor and bus port. Galvanic isolation rated for UL/CE per-port. Field ground faults stay in the field.
Non-isolated transceivers (cost + power optimization) — safe because the Node is battery-floating and physically isolated from the AC mains. Different operating constraint, different solution.
GX16 (power), M12 (sensor bus), M8 (signal) — physically non-mateable across families. Eliminates the most common field-install error mode (cross-mating power into a sensor port).