Laminated core contact detection method and system

The invention relates generally to detecting core contacts (meaning keybar contacts or core faults due to interlamination short circuits). A core contact (meaning core fault or keybar contact) detection method comprises: positioning at least two electrically conductive plates near at least two respective laminations of a laminated core; supplying an excitation signal to the at least two electrically conductive plates; and using a resulting signal to detect variations in capacitance between the at least two electrically conductive plates representative of a core contact.