On Tue, 16 Dec 2003, R. Measures wrote:
> >> ** GFI breakers have a reputation for RF detection, so some ferrite
> >> beads and bypass caps may be needed. To pass NEC, the bypass caps
> >> must be 1400VDC-rated. If you want your station to be fully
> >> NEC-compliant, the smallest wire gauge allowed for radio antennas is
> >> 14-gauge.
> >
> >I regularly trip my GFI breaker when on 160 with 500+ watts output.
>
> ** Why not replace it with a plain-vanilla circuit breaker?
heh - wired directly to the 200A mains? haw! no, I managed to find one
of the few "good ones" out there.
> >Annoying. I finally broke down and have a cron job that emails a
> >reminder to me to check the breaker in the morning before my wife
> >decides to use the hair dryer in the bathroom.
>
> ** Does she use the hair-dryer whilst in the tub?
no, but she'd probably put me in the tub with the dryer if she knew how
many kWh are being consumed by the amp when it's pushing over 1000W out
the coax...
It's actually not that bad though. Electricity in Boxborough, MA is
approximately $0.0849 per kWh so with a 30% CW duty cycle during a 15
minute period at 13 amps (exciter + amp) it's about a penny a minute. I
don't have an ammeter to measure true current draw by the amp and exciter
combined so these figures may be a little off.
73 Jason N1SU
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