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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