ModMAG — Electromagnetic Flow Meters

Use a mag meter when the fluid conducts electricity and you want nothing in the flow path. It reads by Faraday’s law across a clear full-bore tube, so there are no moving parts to wear, no pressure loss, and nothing to foul — which makes it the meter of choice for dirty, abrasive, or solids-laden liquids that punish turbines: wastewater, sludge, slurries, pulp stock, and chemicals, as well as clean and potable water. The one requirement is conductivity: the M-Series needs at least 5 µS/cm (20 µS/cm for demineralized water), so it cannot meter oils, fuels, hydrocarbons, gases, or ultra-pure water — those go to a turbine, positive-displacement, Coriolis, or ultrasonic meter instead.

Chemistry and abrasion set both. The liner is what the fluid touches: PFA or PTFE for aggressive chemicals and clean or potable water, hard rubber for abrasive slurries and wastewater, and Halar for specific chemical duties. The electrode has to resist the same fluid: 316 stainless for general water and industrial service, Alloy C for corrosives, tantalum for aggressive acids, and platinum/rhodium for special chemistries. Tell us the fluid, temperature, and any solids loading and we spec the liner and electrode to match — and for drinking water we confirm the NSF/ANSI 61 listing.

Line size, accuracy, and area classification decide it. The M1000 is the water and general-industrial meter — 1/4 to 20 in, ±0.3%, NSF/ANSI 61 drinking-water listed — for non-hazardous locations. The M3000 steps up to ±0.20% over 1/4 to 24 in, with PFA/PTFE/hard-rubber/Halar liners and a NEMA 4X/6P housing, rated for oil, gas, and industrial service in Class I, Division 2 hazardous areas. The M4000 carries the same performance into Class I, Division 1 (the most hazardous classified areas), 1/4 to 12 in. If the install is in a classified area, the area rating drives the model; otherwise the M1000 covers most water and process work.

The M2000 is the flexible transmitter — it lets one meter integrate into almost any control system without changing the sensor. Over a base of Modbus RTU (RS-232) and encoder output, it takes plug-in fieldbus daughterboards for eight protocols: Modbus RTU (RS-485), BACnet MS/TP, BACnet/IP, Modbus TCP/IP, EtherNet/IP, HART, Profibus DP, and M-Bus. An optional data-logger kit records flow on board. Standard 4–20 mA analog and scaled pulse/frequency outputs are on every model.

Yes — the right setup depends on what the site needs, which is exactly where the meter choice comes in, and there are three paths. Where you only need periodic totals with no power and no live data feed, the battery-powered M5000 stands alone: roughly ten years on internal lithium, logging on board, nothing else to install. For remote sub-metering applications — tenant billing, cost allocation, district consumption — pair an AquaCUE-ready meter with AquaCUE, Badger’s cellular endpoint and cloud, which carries the reads to a web dashboard with no wiring back to a control room. And for industrial remote installations that need control-grade accuracy, a live 4–20 mA or fieldbus signal, and/or hazardous-area service — the capabilities a battery meter gives up — run a line-powered M1000, M2000, M3000, or M4000 on its DC supply (the M1000 draws just 4 W) from a SunWize solar power system, and backhaul the meter output through a Telog cellular RTU to the Telog RM cloud for real-time monitoring and alarming. As the factory-authorized SunWize distributor and your Badger source, Prater Technical scopes the meter, power, and telemetry together — tell us the site, the load, and how you want the data.

Only a short straight run — a few pipe diameters upstream and downstream — far less than a turbine or differential-pressure meter needs, because the meter averages velocity across the whole bore. Grounding matters more: it measures a millivolt-level signal referenced to the fluid, so the meter must be bonded to the liquid. On metal pipe the flanges usually suffice; on plastic or lined pipe you add grounding rings (or grounding electrodes) so the reading stays stable. Empty-pipe detection and automatic zero stability are built in, so the meter reads a true zero — not noise — when the line drains.

No. Every ModMAG ships with a NIST-traceable wet-flow factory calibration, and the handheld Field Verification Device checks an installed M1000, M2000, or M5000 in place — confirming the meter still reads within spec without removing it from the line or interrupting service. That turns a recalibration shutdown into a quick field check. A full factory recalibration is available when an application or audit calls for it.

Yes — the M1000 is listed to NSF/ANSI 61 and 372 for drinking-water contact, with WRAS, ACS, and KTW/DVGW approvals as well, so it suits potable-water and municipal service. ModMAG is a regional Badger Meter line: Prater Technical Partners is the authorized distributor for Northern and Central New Jersey and New York. We spec the meter, liner, electrode, and transmitter to your application, ship it through our Brooklyn facility, with programming and commissioning available as an optional, quoted service. Contact us for a quote, current availability, or lead time.