Wireless motor
current monitoring
A current transformer clamped around the supply cable tells you whether a motor is running, idling or stopped, and how hard it is working. Sense-i nodes send that reading to the cloud without breaking into the starter circuit.
THE PROBLEM
Most motors have no data connection, only a contactor and an overload
Fans, conveyors, mixers, blowers and agitators run on direct-on-line or star-delta starters that report nothing. Maintenance learns about a stopped motor when production does. Nobody knows how many hours it has run since the last service, or whether its load has crept up as bearings wear or a belt slips.
Motor current carries most of that information. A motor drawing its normal current is running. A motor drawing far less is running unloaded, which can mean a broken coupling or an empty hopper. Current rising week by week often points to mechanical wear. Reading it continuously turns a silent motor into one that reports.
HOW WE SET IT UP
Clamp, configure, report
CTs sized to your motor
We size the current transformers to the full-load current on each motor nameplate during the site survey. Split-core CTs clamp around the conductor, so the motor circuit is never broken.
Thresholds per motor
Run, idle and off states depend on the motor and the load. We set the current bands with your maintenance team during commissioning, so the state shown in the cloud matches what the operator sees.
Runtime and trends
RIOD Live adds up run hours per motor and shows the current trend over weeks. That supports runtime-based servicing and makes a gradual rise in load easy to spot.
Local action when needed
Alarms and relay outputs run on the node, so an overcurrent or an unexpected stop can drive a local beacon or a signal into your control panel straight away.
FROM THE FIELD
Where run status has paid back
Taj Hotels: chillers and air conditioning
We monitored power and run status on chillers and AC units so the engineering team could see downtime as it happened and track how quickly maintenance responded, instead of learning about a failure from a guest.
Machinery energy metering
Energy measured per machine in a production environment, so consumption could be tied to equipment rather than spread across the site bill.
AT A GLANCE
Motor current monitoring
- Measured
- Motor current, with run, idle and off state inferred from it
- Hardware
- Sense-i current sensing nodes with split-core CTs
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, 4G LTE, BLE. LoRa or Zigbee on request
- Local logic
- Alarms, thresholds, relay and control-signal outputs on the node
- Where data goes
- RIOD Live or your server, MQTT over TLS 1.2
- Engineering note
- CT installation in the panel is done by a qualified electrician; thresholds are set during commissioning
FAQ
Questions buyers ask us
Can you monitor a motor without connecting to its control panel wiring?
Yes. A split-core current transformer clamps around one supply conductor and measures current by induction. The motor circuit is not opened. The CT is fitted inside the panel by a qualified electrician under your site safety procedure.
How do you tell if a motor is running from its current?
Each motor has a normal running current band and a much lower idle or no-load band. We set those bands per motor during commissioning. The node then reports run, idle or off, and RIOD Live totals the run hours.
Does current monitoring detect bearing failure?
It gives an early warning. A steady rise in current over weeks is a useful sign of mechanical drag such as a worn bearing, and the trend makes it visible. A full diagnosis usually combines current with temperature or vibration data, which we can add on the same platform.
Will it work on motors driven by a VFD?
For motors on a variable frequency drive, the drive itself usually exposes current, speed and fault codes over Modbus, which our Modbus gateway can read. On the line side of a drive, a CT still gives you run state and load.
Want every motor to report its state?
Send us a list of motors with their nameplate current. We will propose the CTs, the node layout and the alarm bands.