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Many healthy motors are rewound and put back into operation only to have the same preliminary issue unresolved. Resistance unbalance indicates connection issues that can be caused by loose connections, corrosion, or other buildups on the motor terminals. High Resistance connections can also occur which can cause excessive heat at the connection point that could lead to a fire damaging equipment and causing a safety hazard. A second test at the motor leads is required to pinpoint the issue if the initial test was performed at the motor control center (MCC). This direct test at the motor leads will confirm the motor state of health and will either condemn the motor or determine the associated cabling as the root issue. All components of the single and three-phase motors are evaluated to determine the health of the complete motor.Ĭonnection issues create current unbalances between the phases in a three-phase motor, which causes excess heating and premature insulation failure. The motor health is determined quickly with high accuracy and ease. MCA™ instruments give you results on screen and the test takes less than 3 minutes to perform and does not require additional interpretation and or calculations. Motor Winding Resistance Unbalance or Connection Issues Motor Circuit Analysis™ (MCA™) is a test method that determines the true state of health of 3 phase & single-phase electrical motors. MCA™ checks the motors coils, rotor, connections, and more. MCA™ can verify ac motor winding resistance as well as dc motor resistance and determine state of health. If the motor is grounded, the megohmmeter & ohmmeter will solve your issue when you ohm a motor but if the motor problem is not a ground issue, you are going to need to use another tool or instrument to troubleshoot the problem since the motor maybe still operational but having issues such as tripping the VFD or circuit breaker, overheating, or underperforming, etc.
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Instruments such as megohmmeters and ohmmeters will detect direct ground faults but will not indicate if the insulation is failing, turn to turn faults, phase unbalance, rotor issues, etc. These issues may be the cause of wear or other defects in a wound rotor motor. Winding resistance measurements detect problems in motors that other tests may not find. Testing windings on a 3 phase motor is very easy with Motor Circuit Analysis™ (MCA™). Winding resistance measurements detect various faults in motors, generators, and transformers: shorted & open turns, loose connections, and broken conductors & resistive connections problems.
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