Posts by Lou Martindale

October 28, 2025

Permanently Installed Technology: The Major Advance in Motor Testing

By Noah Bethel, CMRP Vice President of Product Development PdMA® Corporation Introduction For many companies, portable technology has been considered the height of motor data acquisition advancement. Equipment carried to…

October 14, 2025

Don’t Forget the Spare

As a young automobile driver, we were reminded to “Check the Air in the Spare”, referring to the spare tire. The last thing anyone wants is to have a flat…

September 30, 2025

No WYE…Then What?

WYE Start Delta Run motors are commonly used when a reduced Start-Up current is desired. The installation of a higher horsepower motor in a lower voltage environment such as a…

June 23, 2025

Taking the Mystery Out of Electric Motors: Insulation Analysis

With a new hurricane season underway many of us review our property susceptibility to unwanted water intrusion. The same mentality should be underway to review our electrical assets susceptibility to…

May 16, 2025

Taking the Mystery Out of Electric Motors: Power Circuit Analysis

A healthy motor with good Power Quality does not guarantee a reliable system. Overall reliability can be detrimentally influenced by a defective Power Circuit. Studies found that 47% of reduced…

March 25, 2025

Taking the Mystery Out of Electric Motors: Stator Analysis and Troubleshooting

When PdMA refers to the Stator Fault Zone in an electric motor, it is referring to the dielectric properties of the insulation preventing current flow between turns, coils, and phases.…

March 10, 2025

The Value of Motor In-Rush/Start-Up Data

It can be very difficult to arrange being onsite with technology in place to capture a motor start. However, do whatever it takes to get a baseline capture of every…

January 27, 2025

Good, Better, Best Approach to Electric Motor Testing

By Noah Bethel, CMRP Vice President of Product Development PdMA® Corporation Introduction Global competition and economic uncertainty make equipment reliability a top priority for companies of all sizes. An unplanned…

December 10, 2024

Taking the Mystery Out of Electric Motors: Rotor Analysis and Troubleshooting

Squirrel Cage Rotor troubleshooting has come a long way in the last decade. We now have six different methods to track and identify rotor defects. Pole Pass Frequency (Fp) Sideband…

November 20, 2024

Centralized Data… Security and Availability

Too often we hear about a failed motor that could have been prevented if someone was just looking at the data. During the root cause failure analysis, it is determined…