Spec NODE-BT where the wire can’t go — without giving up the system.
Hunter NODE-BT is the right answer when a zone has no irrigation wiring and no power: battery valve, Bluetooth, done. The problem has never been the valve — it’s that the zone leaves the system. HappyPlant puts NODE-BT zones on the same Hydrawise schedule as everything else you’re installing, with remote control and verified runs instead of truck rolls.
When this is your job
- Detached beds, medians, and streetscapes where trenching wire back to the controller means cutting hardscape.
- Rooftop planters and terraces with no 24 VAC anywhere near the valve.
- Retrofit zones added after the pour — the client wants one more bed, not a saw cut across the patio.
- Remote corners of large properties where the wire run costs more than the zone.
- Any install where you’d otherwise say “that zone will be Bluetooth-only — someone has to stand next to it with the app.”
What changes for the install
For your client
One system, not two. The NODE-BT zones run on the same Hydrawise schedule as the wired zones — same app, same seasonal adjustments, same expectations. They can run or stop any battery zone from anywhere, and the watering history shows what actually poured, zone by zone, day by day, straight from the valve’s own log.
For you
Fewer callbacks that end in “it was the battery.” A NODE-BT zone that comes up short stops being a silent failure — the system notices the shortfall and sends an alert that names the zone and what to check, before the plants show it. You can look at any site’s watering history remotely before deciding whether the truck needs to roll.
How it fits your workflow
- Install the NODE-BT valves exactly as you do today — same boxes, same batteries, same Hunter hardware.
- Place small bridges on WiFi within Bluetooth range of the valves — an outdoor outlet or nearby structure is enough. One bridge covers the valves around it, and coverage is redundant: more bridges mean more reach and more resilience.
- Pair each valve to its Hydrawise zone once. From then on the schedule drives the battery zones automatically — run, retried when Bluetooth is slow, and checked against the valve’s own run log. A late Bluetooth connection doesn’t shortchange the zone: the full runtime is still delivered.
Hydrawise stays in charge; wired zones are untouched. And if the site’s internet drops mid-run, nothing floods — every run is sent with a fixed duration the valve’s own timer enforces.
The honest constraints
- Hunter NODE-BT valves only, today. Hydrawise recommended (it’s optional — without it you still get remote control and history).
- Bridges need power and WiFi within Bluetooth range of the valves.
- Early access — we’re onboarding installs deliberately, not at volume.
Putting NODE-BT on your next spec?
Get early access and tell us about the site — zone count, what’s wired and what isn’t. Mention you’re an installer in the notes; professional installs are exactly the feedback we want first.
Get early access