lighting circuit protected by afci breaker

[paulmonti]

Need some help with this one. I have a lighting circuit protected by an afci breaker that keeps tripping. If I install a standard breaker everything works fine. I haven't been able to track down the problem. Does anyone have any ideas that might help. Thanks.

[flatlander]

there must be a problem with the wireing.
Pick a point and work back to the source. , remove loads until the problem is resolved.
cjeck for nuetral toughing grounds or poor connections to loads.

[raider1]

Check for an accidental neutral to ground connection in the lighting circuit.

AFCI technology incorporates GFPE protection that will trip at between 30 to 50 milliamps. This is usually the culprit when a AFCI breaker keeps tripping without an apparent cause.

Chris

[cowboyjwc]

Or you could just have a staple that was put in to deep, which could still be what Chris described.

[RJohnsonMasterElectrician]

does it trip as soon as u turn it on or does it wait until you turn a piece of equipment on? When they first came (2000/ 2001) out I had problems with them holding a ceiling fans and a couple flourescent light fixtures. Now i have no problem with them.

[RJohnsonMasterElectrician]

does it trip as soon as u turn it on or does it wait until you turn a piece of equipment on? When they first came (2000/ 2001) out I had problems with them holding a ceiling fans and a couple flourescent light fixtures. Now i have no problem with them.

[TobyD]

I 've seen problems with romex being stipped with a razor knife causing a bleed through between conductors.It appeared that the wireman made two quick slices across the romex.When you fold it back and look you could see the cut's in the inner wire insulation.That and bare copper being twisted up tight upward toward the knicked insulation will cause a ARC fault.As stated earlier ---start from the line side and work from there.You'll find it.Make sure you have each AFCI neutrals isolated from one another and that each is working properly.