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pdlpsher

Joined: Mon, Jul 12th 2010, 05:23 Roles: N/A Moderates: N/A

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Topic Author Posted On
HF RF Tripping Arc Fault Circuit Interrupters (AFCI's) W4TL on 5/7/14
Hi All,

I want to share my success story. I moved into a newly built home in 2012. While running 600W on RTTY it tripped my AFCI breakers. My electrician was stumped. He spoke to Eaton and Eaton asked us to send one of the AFCI to them for analysis. We did that. One of their engineers called me and requested some basic info. such as power level and frequency in operation. At that time a google search turned back very few useful info.

One day I was at the breaker box and I noticed that I had two types of AFCI breakers. I did extensive testing and I wasn't able to trip one type. At the same time I was able to trip the other type consistently and repeatedly. I shared this info. with my electrician. It turned out that the 'good' type of AFCI breakers (Eaton) is an older model. The newer and 'bad' type AFCI breakers (also Eaton) always tripped at higher power (600w). My electrician purchased more of the 'good' type AFCI breakers and my problem was completely solved. Since then I've upgraded my amp. to a legal limit amp. A brief test at a power level higher than legal limit produced no false trips. It's been more than two years since the fix and I have not experienced one false trip. The 'good' type AFCI is model BRC115CAFA. Perhaps some of you could try to locate this model and give it a try. Please report back if this breaker solves your problem. GL.

73,
Jonathan W6GX

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