Arc fault issue

Merry Christmas
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Mterango

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Ft lauderdale
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Contractor
Brand new home with all arc/gfci breakers for all single pole loads. Installed a dedicated rec below panel for a golf cart charger on 20 Amp breaker not arc or gfci on A phase. When golf cart is on charge it trips different arc fault breakers on A phase. Moved to B phase and problem moves to B phase. Charger is for lithium battery and battery also lithium. Tried a different cart with same set up and same result. Tried cart with regular charger and battery and problem goes away. Installed arc fault breaker on charger rec and tripped arc breaker. ??????
 
Why is there a question? It's clear that the original charger doesn't play nice with the arc fault breakers, what do you want us to tell you? Get rid of the arc fault breakers or get rid of the golf cart. Unfortunately getting rid of the golf cart is the only legal thing to do.;)

-Hal
 
It’s a common complaint about AFCIs tripping. One remedy has been to replace AFCI with newest version.
Also plug battery charger into a GFCI only ckt. If it does not trip, the AFCI is not tripping on a ground fault.
 
hbiss said:
Why is there a question? It's clear that the original charger doesn't play nice with the arc fault breakers, what do you want us to tell you? Get rid of the arc fault breakers or get rid of the golf cart. Unfortunately getting rid of the golf cart is the only legal thing to do.;)

-Hal
Click to expand...
Note the smiley face.
 
Knuckle Dragger said:
Would that help the OP answer his question on the AFCI/GFCI tripping?
Click to expand...
I don't know. I see so many posts about AFCI installation because of code requirements or assumed requirements, but don't see if anyone has installed any type of protection at the service.

FWIU, the charger was tripping AFCIs that were on the same leg or phase.

We haven't seen AFCI issues for quite some time.
 
It appears that the charger for lithium batteries is generating interference that is being conducted to its associated line bus in the panel, and then tripping the AFCI breakers on that bus. This is very likely caused by a switching power supply without sufficient filtering. You could try contacting the manufacturer of the charger to see what they can do for you.

Another alternative is a separate powerline filter for conducted interference, such as the ones at the link below. I have no experience with this company's products or pricing, but at least they show that their filters have significant attenuation down to around 10 KHz. The typical filtering in surge suppression power strips is minimal, especially at the lower frequencies where AFCIs may still respond by tripping.

https://www.onfilter.com/ac-powerline-emc-filters
 
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