Has anyone heard of low voltage lighting causing an arc fault breaker to trip? The lighting manufacturer told me that their lighting may cause an arc fault breaker to trip because of the electronics that run it? FYI this is low voltage track with three 12 volt, 35 watt lamps on it. They also stated that if the total wattage on the circuit exceeds 360 watts then that may cause nuisance tripping of the arc fault breaker. This simple does not make sense? Any thoughts?
Arc fault breakers and low voltage lighting tripping
- Thread starter chris1971
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PetrosA
Senior Member
- Location
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
I haven't had that issue with arc fault, but I have had issues with LEDs tripping GFI breakers. In that case it was most likely the fact that LEDs are current sinks and if there are enough of them, there is more than 5 mA being sinked for long enough to trip the GFI breaker.
Considering that AF breakers all use proprietary sampled arc signatures in a database to identify fault conditions, it's entirely believable that some breaker manufacturers don't have the arc signatures of the power supply/transformer for the lights you installed and that something about it looks "suspicious" to the breaker's software and causes it to trip.
Considering that AF breakers all use proprietary sampled arc signatures in a database to identify fault conditions, it's entirely believable that some breaker manufacturers don't have the arc signatures of the power supply/transformer for the lights you installed and that something about it looks "suspicious" to the breaker's software and causes it to trip.
- Location
- Massachusetts
The GFCI cannot 'see' a ground fault on the secondary side of the power supply to the LEDs.
richwaskowitz
Senior Member
- Location
- Shelby Twp. MI, near Detroit
Current Sinks?
Current Sinks?
PetrosA - What do you mean a current sink? Are you saying they leak to ground?
Current Sinks?
PetrosA - What do you mean a current sink? Are you saying they leak to ground?
PetrosA
Senior Member
- Location
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
No, what I mean is that LEDs are not resistors and will sink power and get brighter and brighter until they blow out. Because of this, they have to have a controlled current fed to them (usually from a current limiting resistor). A regular 100W incandescent light bulb will work the same regardless whether it's connected to a 15A breaker or 100A breaker, but LEDs don't.
Pierre C Belarge
Senior Member
- Location
- Westchester County, New York
Chris
Is the product you are installing a listed product?
Remember, some manufacturers will state in the wording the product "meets the testing". That does not mean it is listed. As long as Arc fault breakers have now been required, I would be suspect that the product is properly listed.
PetrosA
Senior Member
- Location
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
I don't know that it was a ground fault situation. At the time, I was dealing with Phillips lighting engineers who tried to recreate the setup in their lab. They weren't able to reproduce the GFI trip though, nor were they able to come up with a reason that it was tripping for me. The power "sink" theory is mine alone, and is probably wrong.
SG-1
Senior Member
- Location
- Ware Shoals, South Carolina
If the transformer for the track lighting is being energized & de-energized this could just be inductive kick-back tripping the breaker.
frostynuts
Member
arc fault breakers and electronic low volt lighting issues
arc fault breakers and electronic low volt lighting issues
We have been installing a lot of LBL Lighting w/ electronic transformers and have plenty of issues. (Tripping arc faults) Siemens says to install Tyco 10VR1 RFI filter. LBL tech is basically worthless - they say install a mag transformer.
Has anyone had success with the filters to clean up the RFI that is screwing with the arc fault breakers ?
arc fault breakers and electronic low volt lighting issues
We have been installing a lot of LBL Lighting w/ electronic transformers and have plenty of issues. (Tripping arc faults) Siemens says to install Tyco 10VR1 RFI filter. LBL tech is basically worthless - they say install a mag transformer. Has anyone had success with the filters to clean up the RFI that is screwing with the arc fault breakers ?
kevin whitfield
New member
Arc fault and lighting circuits
Arc fault and lighting circuits
I recently was connecting receptacles that were required to be arc fault, but the arc fault breaker kept tripping. The neutral that was in panel had a large load on it. Would this cause arc fault to trip?
Once connected to other breaker it was fine. I reconnected wire to arc fault breaker, but tripped again. Should I run new wire or just connect wire that is loaded up as it existed. I kinda felt it was unsafe.
Arc fault and lighting circuits
I recently was connecting receptacles that were required to be arc fault, but the arc fault breaker kept tripping. The neutral that was in panel had a large load on it. Would this cause arc fault to trip?
Once connected to other breaker it was fine. I reconnected wire to arc fault breaker, but tripped again. Should I run new wire or just connect wire that is loaded up as it existed. I kinda felt it was unsafe.
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