Hunter PGV irrigation valve in an open trench with its solenoid and field wiring exposed

TCEQ Licensed Irrigator · LI0023963

Hunter controller and valve repair across DFW.

Hunter controllers tell you more when they fail than any other brand. Err, a station number plus Err, P Err and SP Err are four different faults, and only one of them is about the box on the wall. We start by reading what yours is actually saying.

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Hunter Sprinkler Repair Across the DFW Metroplex

We Read the Code

Hunter controllers say more than any other brand when something fails. Err, a station number plus Err, P Err and SP Err are four different faults with four different repairs, and we treat them that way.

The Circuit Gets Tested

Hunter publishes its own numbers: 25 to 35 ohms on a zone solenoid, 20 to 30 on a master valve, 19 VAC minimum to pull a solenoid in. We measure against those rather than guessing by brand.

Diagnosis Before Parts

A dead Hunter zone is usually a solenoid, a valve, or buried wire. The controller is the part everyone wants to replace first and it is often the last thing that failed.

Three Year Warranty

Every repair carries our three year parts and labor warranty, backed by a TCEQ-licensed irrigator rather than a seasonal crew.

Error codes

What Your Hunter Is Telling You

Hunter publishes a real diagnostic language and then scatters it across one support page per model, so a homeowner has to already know whether the box is a Pro-C or an X-Core before the search can start. The short version:

Err: A SmartPort problem: wiring, interference, or a defective device plugged into it. Stays at the controller. On an X-Core, too many program start times will also raise it.
3 Err: A short on station 3. Hunter lists a defective solenoid, defective field wiring, or poor connections. Pull that station wire and start it manually; the code going away confirms the fault is outside the controller.
P Err: High current on the pump or master valve circuit. A defective master valve solenoid, an incompatible or defective pump start relay, or a wire run too long between the relay and the controller. Expect 24 to 28 VAC at the relay and 20 to 30 ohms on a Hunter master valve solenoid.
SP Err: On a Pro-C, SmartPort wiring or an undersized wire to the pump or master valve. On an X-Core or X2 it is specifically electrical noise near the SmartPort connection, and Hunter’s fix is to move the connections rather than rewire them.
E99 ERR: X2 only, and the one Hunter code that is genuinely the controller: an internal front-panel board fault. Hunter’s remedy is a new front panel.
No AC: Primary power is gone and the backup battery is holding the display. Breaker, GFCI, outlet, then 120 VAC at the controller and 24 VAC on the terminal strip.

What a Hunter Service Call Looks Like

Photos from our own jobs across DFW. The code names the circuit; this is where the circuit ends.

Hunter PGV irrigation valve installed in an open trench with field wiring attached

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Hunter PGV valve

Hunter’s residential valve. Bled by turning the solenoid, not by a side screw

Sound familiar

Hunter Problems We Fix

A Station Number Followed by Err: The controller measured a short on that one station. Hunter names three causes: a defective solenoid, defective field wiring, or poor connections. The repair is out at the valve, not on the wall.
P Err or SP Err: P Err is high current draw on the master valve or pump circuit, and one of Hunter’s own listed causes is a wire run that is simply too long. SP Err means something different on a Pro-C than it does on an X-Core or X2.
The Bleed Screw Opens It, the Solenoid Will Not: That exact split is the signature of a clogged solenoid exhaust port, a failure mode Hunter documents and almost nobody explains. The valve is fine, the coil is fine, and the passage between them is blocked.
The Station Repeats Three Times a Night: Almost always a start-time error, not hardware. One start time runs every station in a program, and the start-time numbers are not station numbers. Extra start times run the whole program again.
Too Many or Too Few Stations on the Display: On a modular Pro-C or ICC that is a module-recognition problem. Pressing reset re-initiates it, and a module that is not fully locked in reads as missing. It is a reseat before it is a replacement.
Blank Screen, or No AC Blinking: No AC means wall power is gone and the backup battery is holding the display. A blank screen can be power, the transformer, the front panel, or a single defective station module, which is the one most people never check.

Schedule Hunter service

One zone dead, nothing running, or a code you cannot place. Try the one-zone guide first if you want to narrow it yourself.

Equipment

The Hunter Equipment We Work On

Controllers on the wall, valves and solenoids in the box, rotors and nozzles in the turf. The numbers below are Hunter's own published figures, not rules of thumb borrowed from another brand.

Pro-C: The modular workhorse on DFW garage walls. Richest code set of any Hunter: Err, station Err, P Err, SP Err, No AC, SENSOR OFF, and the flashing sprinkler icon that means water off, a short, or a bad solenoid rather than a programming mistake. Modular also means a block of dead zones can be one station module, not the controller.
X-Core: The dial unit in thousands of DFW garages. Its SP Err is an electrical-noise fault, which Hunter fixes by moving the SmartPort connections rather than rewiring them, and it lists too many program start times as a cause of Err. The dial has to be in RUN before a reset will take.
X2: The X-Core successor, with the one Hunter code that really is the controller: E99 ERR, an internal front-panel board fault. Hunter’s remedy is a new front panel, and nothing at the valve will change it. Everything else the X2 reports still points out to the field.
Hydrawise HC, HPC and HCC: Hunter’s WiFi line. Current sensing is a model feature, not a brand feature: the HPC trips at 900 mA, the HCC at 1200, the PHC at 850, and the HC has none at all. An overcurrent zone shuts itself off and the draw can reboot the controller, so a Hydrawise that keeps restarting is a wiring symptom rather than a WiFi symptom.
PGV and Residential Valves: Hunter’s residential valve family, rated by Hunter for roughly 22 to 145 psi and 0.2 to 40 GPM. Bled by turning the solenoid counter-clockwise a quarter to a half turn, not by a side screw, which is the first thing that trips people coming off a Rain Bird system.
PGP Ultra Rotors and MP Rotator Nozzles: The rotor and nozzle side of a Hunter system. MP Rotators do their best work at 40 psi, and pressure-regulated PGP Ultra and I-20 bodies hold 45 psi at the nozzle but need about 15 psi of dynamic differential to regulate at all, which matters on a weak zone.

Valves and solenoids

The Hunter Valve Facts That Decide the Repair

Most of what gets published about sprinkler solenoids is one generic ohm range applied to every brand. Hunter publishes its own figures, and they are narrower.

Zone solenoid: 25 to 35 ohms: Hunter’s own figure for a zone valve solenoid, measured with the controller off. The generic 20 to 60 band everyone quotes is wider than Hunter’s spec, so a reading can pass the internet and fail the manufacturer.
Master valve solenoid: 20 to 30 ohms: A different band again, from Hunter’s own P Err documentation. A master valve reading 40 ohms sits inside the generic range and outside Hunter’s. Which band you are using has to be stated.
19 VAC to pull in, 28 VAC ceiling: Hunter’s published minimum opening voltage for its 24 VAC solenoid and its recommended maximum. A zone that runs at the controller and not at the valve is usually losing voltage in between, not failing at the coil.
350 mA inrush, 190 mA holding: Hunter’s published draw for a 24 VAC solenoid at 60 Hz. It is the basis for their wire distance table, and the reason two solenoids energized together halve every distance in it.
Wire distance is a published number: Hunter publishes maximum one-way controller-to-valve distance by gauge: 850 feet on 18 AWG both ways, about 2,150 on 14, roughly 3,390 on 12. Halve all of it when a master valve energizes with the zone. A long run is a real reason a valve will not open.
The clogged exhaust port: Hunter valves have an entry port from the upper chamber to the solenoid and an exhaust port downstream of it. Either one clogged with glue, tape, or grit and the valve will not open, or will not open fully. The tell is exact: the bleed opens it, the solenoid does not.
Hunter valves bleed at the solenoid: A quarter to a half turn counter-clockwise on the solenoid, then clockwise until snug to close it again. There is no side bleed screw like a Rain Bird. Running the bleed test is what splits an electrical fault from a hydraulic one in under a minute.
Sensors interrupt the common: A Mini-Clik or Freeze-Clik opens the common between the controller and the valves, which is why a sensor fault kills the whole system and never a single zone. Mini-Clik is adjustable from an eighth of an inch to three quarters; Freeze-Clik interrupts below 37 degrees. A wired sensor has to sit within 200 feet of the controller.

Hydrawise

What Hydrawise Monitoring Actually Catches

A Hydrawise account can add a contractor. When an owner adds us, we can look at the zone run history and, on the models that measure current, the controller's own readings before the truck leaves. That often names the zone ahead of the visit.

It is worth being precise about the limits, because “my smart controller will tell me if a wire breaks” is only true on some of these units.

Current sensing exists on the HPC, HCC and PHC. The HC has none at all, so no amount of app access will tell you what a zone is drawing on one.
Overcurrent thresholds are per model: 850 mA on the PHC, 900 on the HPC, 1200 on the HCC. The controller shuts the zone off on its own.
An overcurrent draw can be enough to reboot the controller. A Hydrawise that keeps restarting is a wiring short, not a WiFi problem.
Overcurrent on every zone points at the pump connections, the master valve wire or solenoid, or the common wire rather than at the zones.
Low current is flagged at 0 to 70 mA, or below 30 percent of the value the controller learned for that zone, and it is reported after the cycle finishes rather than during it.
False positives are documented, not theoretical: third-party solenoids and low-voltage lighting relays can hold the alert on permanently. A PXSYNC lighting transformer draws 34 to 39 mA and will alert forever while running fine.

On commercial sites we also work Hunter two-wire: ACC and ACC2 with ICD decoders, and the older I-Core with DUAL. Both the I-Core controller and the DUAL decoder line were discontinued in 2024, which changes the parts conversation on those properties. Grounding along the wire path, not just the rod at the controller, is what protects the decoders spread across a property, and the path does not read like 24 VAC on an ordinary meter. See two-wire decoder repair for how that work runs.

How a Hunter Service Call Goes

From the code on the display to a zone you have watched run, here is what to expect.

Read the Code

The display tells us whether the fault is in the cabinet or out in the yard before any ground gets opened. On a Hunter we can also run Quick Check, which makes the controller name the shorted station itself.

Test the Circuit

Voltage at the terminal, resistance station to common with the power off, then the same reading at the solenoid with the field wires lifted. That pair separates a bad coil from a bad wire.

Quote

You get the finding and clear pricing before any work starts, including an honest answer on whether the controller needs replacing at all.

Repair and Retest

We fix the fault, clear the code, and run the zone through the controller to watch the full cycle before we leave.

Schedule Hunter Service

Hunter Questions We Actually Get

The things Hunter owners ask us on the phone before booking.

What does Err mean on my Hunter sprinkler controller?

It depends on what is in front of it. Err on its own is a SmartPort problem: wiring, interference, or a defective device plugged into the SmartPort, and on an X-Core it can also be too many program start times. A station number followed by Err, like 3 Err, is a short on that one station, which means the repair is at the valve or in the buried wire. P Err is high current on the master valve or pump circuit. Our controller error code guide puts every brand in one table.

My Hunter controller still shows the error after the repair. Did the repair fail?

Probably not. The code does not clear on its own. You press any button to clear the message once the fault is actually fixed, and until then the controller simply skips the faulting zone and runs the rest of the program normally. That is also how a homeowner can lose one zone for weeks and only notice the dry strip of grass.

One Hunter zone stopped working. Is the controller bad?

Almost never. A dead zone traces to a solenoid, a valve, or a wiring fault far more often than to the controller, and Hunter’s own station Err code is the controller telling you exactly that. We test the circuit first and tell you what we found before repairing anything.

The bleed works but the solenoid will not open the valve. What is that?

That specific split points at a clogged solenoid exhaust port. Hunter valves have an entry port from the upper chamber to the solenoid and an exhaust port from the solenoid downstream, and either one clogged with glue, Teflon tape, or grit will keep the valve from opening or from opening fully. Hunter documents a clearing procedure for it, and it starts with shutting the main supply off, because opening a valve under pressure is how people get hurt.

Do you work on Hunter Hydrawise, and can you see my account?

Yes. A Hydrawise account can add a contractor, and when an owner adds us we can look at zone run history and, on the models that measure current, the controller’s own readings before the truck leaves. Current sensing exists on the HPC, HCC and PHC but not on the HC, so what we can see ahead of time depends on which unit is on the wall.

Do you work on Hunter two-wire and decoder systems?

Yes, on Hunter ACC and ACC2 with ICD decoders and on the older I-Core with DUAL. Both the I-Core controller and the DUAL decoder line were discontinued in 2024, which changes the parts conversation on those sites. Decoder work is its own discipline, including the fact that the two-wire path does not read like 24 VAC on an ordinary meter, so we keep it on a separate page.

Will you try to sell me a new Hunter controller?

No. If the controller is working we will say so and leave it on the wall. Hunter’s own documentation says a controller that took a power surge may not be damaged and may just require resetting, and that is a cheaper conversation than a replacement. The codes that genuinely mean a new part are narrow, and E99 ERR on an X2 is the clearest of them.