Company Profile

Vera Mag Flow Meter: Advanced Agricultural Irrigation System Specifications

Quick Answer

The Vera electromagnetic flow meter from Silver Automation Instruments measures irrigation water volume accurately without moving parts. It handles clean water, surface water, and fertilizer solutions as long as the liquid has a minimum conductivity of 5 µS/cm. Farmers and irrigation system integrators choose Vera mag meters for long-term stability, dirt resistance, and low power consumption even in off-grid locations.

Why the Vera Mag Flow Meter Fits Modern Irrigation

Most farming operations across Southeast Asia, Oceania, Latin America, and the Middle East face two big challenges: abrasive sand in river water and intermittent power supply. Mechanical flow meters wear out fast. Magnetic flow meters solve both. The Vera meter has a full bore design with no obstructions, so sand and silt pass straight through. The lining material options (hard rubber for ambient temperature water, PTFE for fertilizer mixes) extend service life. We have seen a tomato grower in Almeria, Spain switch to our Vera meter after replacing mechanical meters every 14 months. The Vera unit ran for three years without a single failure.

Specifications at a Glance

Nominal diameters from DN15 up to DN300 cover small drip irrigation laterals and main pumping stations. Liner choices include hard rubber (NR) for clean water up to 60 °C and PTFE for corrosive fertilizer or acid injection lines from -20 °C to 120 °C. Electrode material is 316L stainless steel as standard. Hastelloy C electrodes are available for highly acidic soil amendments. Accuracy is 0.5% of the measured flow rate under normal operating conditions. The converter supports 4-20 mA active and passive output, pulse, and RS485 Modbus RTU. Protection class IP68 means you can bury the sensor directly in the wet soil of a sugarcane field or a flooded rice paddy. Process pressure rating PN16 or PN40 based on pipe size and application. The Vera meter works with water temperatures up to 60 °C in rubber liner version and 120 °C with PTFE. Because the measuring principle requires a minimum conductivity of 5 µS/cm, it works with almost all irrigation water sources except pure rainwater or distilled water.

Power Supply and Remote Sites

Real agricultural sites often lack 220 V AC grid power. The Vera electromagnetic flow meter can operate on 24 V DC or solar panel systems with a battery buffer. In practice, many irrigation projects in Western Australia and Saudi Arabia pair a Vera meter with a small 40 W solar panel and a 12 V battery. The meter draws about 4 W, so it runs through the night easily. A citrus farm in Oman installed 22 units powered only by solar. They use a GPRS module to send flow totals to a central SCADA twice daily. The setup avoids trenching a power cable across the orchard.

Output Signals and Farm Automation

Standard outputs include 4-20 mA for flow rate, pulse for total volume, and RS485 Modbus RTU. When integrated with a pump controller or irrigation PLC, the Vera meter provides real-time feedback to shut down pumps on dry run or over-dosing of fertilizer. Many farmers use the pulse output to trigger dosing pumps in proportional fertigation systems. We recommend a setup where the Vera meter pulse syncs to a venturi injector. This guarantees the ratio of NPK solution to water stays consistent. The RS485 port connects directly to popular farm monitoring platforms or a local HMI. For remote locations, optional wireless modules (GPRS, NB-IoT, or LoRa) send data to the cloud without a local PLC.

Real Installations and Field Performance

Last year a large irrigated sugarcane cooperative in Queensland, Australia replaced 15 turbine meters with Vera DN200 electromagnetic meters on their main lines. The turbine meters jammed regularly because of organic debris. The Vera meters eliminated t