[RFI] GFI Outlets

[Michael Tope]

I haven't had any GFI's fail, Jim at least none that I have been able
to positively correlate with RFI (I had one fail in the kitchen, but I
am not positive that it was RFI induced). I did, however, have
problems with the GFI in our master bathroom tripping when I
woudl operate 80 and 160 meters with my amplifier. The solution
was to install UL/CSA line rate bypass capacitors across the GFI
outlet. The GFI has not tripped since. This fix also ended the
regular progression of burned out bathroom night lights which
had been putting me in the dog house with my wife :)

You can order the line rate caps from Digi-Key. I used .047uF.

73 de Mike,
W4EF........................................................................
.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Brown" <jim at audiosystemsgroup.com>

> Here's a new one (for me, at least). I've always been a medium power
guy --
> 100 watt barefoot radios have been my standard for 49 years -- but I
recently
> bought a Ten Tec Titan amp (legal limit out) to be ready for BPL.  To
check it
> out, I've been loading it into some wire dipoles that are roughly 20 ft
above my
> house wiring.
>
> A week ago, after I fired it up for the first time, a GFI in my upstairs
bath died
> (tripped, won't reset). I replaced it, and the replacement (same
make/model)
> died the next time I used the amp, during the IOTA contest this weekend.
> Operation was on 40 and 20 meters. Mains power wiring is all inside
grounded
> steel conduit. There are also short cables of equipment plugged into the
four
> convenience outlets that are powered from that GFI. So you've got the RF
on
> these cables, and you have  current induced on the conduit that can couple
onto
> the power wiring by SCIN (shield-current-induced noise).
>
> The problematic GFI's are a Leviton model 802-6599W, and were purchased
> at least 10 years ago. The replacement was a spare that was left over from
the
> original install.  I took apart the first failed unit to find a pretty
nice looking circuit
> board (PNE-5) with what looks like either a transistor or SCR, an 8-pin
> Motorola chip with an OEM number, five diodes, and a handful of caps and
> resistors. I looked for shorts/opens on the diodes and the transistor, and
found
> none. There is discoloration of the circuit board around the only high
power
> resistor on the board. The color code looks like 1K, and I read 15K.
>
> Is this a common problem with GFI's?  Are there high spec units I can
replace it
> with?  It's in a bathroom, so I don't want to leave the outlets
unprotected.
>
> Jim Brown  K9YC
>