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Re: [RFI] AFCI and RFI

To: "'Gary'" <gary_mayfield@hotmail.com>, "'Kenneth G. Gordon'" <kgordon2006@frontier.com>, <Rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] AFCI and RFI
From: <marsh@ka5m.net>
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2018 10:29:33 -0500
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Eaton Corp Cutler-Hammer Products did have a problem with RFI early on.
Eaton worked with the ARRL and resolved this issue with their residential
AFCI breakers.

http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-helps-manufacturer-to-resolve-arc-fault-circui
t-interrupter-rfi-problems

Marsh, KA5M



-----Original Message-----
From: RFI <rfi-bounces@contesting.com> On Behalf Of Gary
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2018 10:04 AM
To: Kenneth G. Gordon <kgordon2006@frontier.com>; Rfi@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] AFCI and RFI

Ken,

     Probably worth reaching out to the ARRL on this one as it was a big
deal with the Eaton breakers - I understand yours are Square D.

http://www.arrl.org/gfci-and-afci-devices


http://www.arrl.org/forum/topics/view/1156

  There is an email link to Ed Hare, W1RFI, on the lab web page here:
http://www.arrl.org/the-lab-staff

Good Luck and Keep Us Posted - 73,
Joe kk0sd



-----Original Message-----
From: RFI <rfi-bounces@contesting.com> On Behalf Of Kenneth G. Gordon
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2018 9:07 AM
To: Rfi@contesting.com
Subject: [RFI] AFCI and RFI

Local codes require those new AFCI (Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter) breakers
in any circuit feeding a bedroom here.

We have two such circuits feeding our bedroom and an adjacent office in a
recent addition to our home.

Whenever I am on 40 meters, either one or both AFCIs will trip off. This is
highly annoying to my wife, and I don't like it much either.

I have contacted the maker of the breakers, Square D, and they tell me,
after some rudimentary tests, that there is nothing wrong with their
breakers.

So, I am left with trying to filter the RF off the lines to the breakers.

I had thought of connecting an X-2 type 0.01 uFd capacitor across the line
and neutral wires going into the breaker, and a pair of Y-2 0.01 uFd types
from both line and neutral to ground.

However, I am somewhat reluctant to try this as I suspect that the leakage
across those caps will trip the AFCI off.

Tonight I thought that perhaps some ferrite filters, either a series of
snap-on types, or some toroid types, on each wire which connects to the
breaker would filter enough of the RF to prevent the breakers from tripping
off.

Has anyone here run into this sort of problem and if so, how did you
eliminate that?

BTW, I am a qualified electrician, and wired our entire addition and the
sub-panel which contains these breakers. The local Electrical Inspector gave
me an "A" grade for my work.

Additional information: I am running close to a kW output to a vertical
antenna which is about 25 feet from the breaker-panel. The vertical has a
good ground-system, 32 radials, and I don't get this sort of problem from
any band but 40 meters. My favorite mode is CW, although I also operate some
digital modes, but at lower power, like 50 watts. I seldom operate voice.
The digital signals never trip the AFCIs.

Ken W7EKB


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