arc fault

[liquidtite]

how exactly does a arc fault breacker trip and why is it that we must use more of these ocps suddenly

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Arc faults have a few items built in. The first, of course is overload. All brands, excluding GE, have gfi built into their afci but it is only at the 30 or 40 ma range so they will not suffice for protection of personnel. They also will trip on series or parallel arc faults. Now remember if a piece of equipment has a problem it may not trip the afci until 3 or 4 amps are going thru the device. For some reason they need at least 3 amps before it can recognize certain problems.

 

[liquidtite]

i had a discussion with a guy i work with about how a regular ocp trips during a ground fault a hot hiting something thats grounded. i thought it would trip the ocp bc the current would flow back on the egc to the source nad the ocp would detect it and trip he thought that when a gf occures it drwas amps so the breacker only will trip if the arc draws more than the ocp is rated for

 

[WIMaster]

how exactly does a arc fault breacker trip and why is it that we must use more of these ocps suddenly

In the real world the breaker knows when it is the most going to be most annoying to the homeowner that needs to use their vacuum or similar device and most inconvenient to the contractor to have to run a service call then it trips. :happyyes:

In theory the breaker the AFCI breaker is supposed to trip when it senses over-current or ground fault (higher than normal GFCI breaker 40ma??) or it sees the signature pattern of an actual arc.

 

[Sierrasparky]

anyone care to comment on the 1000 watt dimming or motor load of AFCI's?

 

[cadpoint]

It's in the name, which is a "ARC Fault"; the circuit is reading that act of arcing, the limit is set and the device operators.

Doesn't the total electronic circuit breaker need all these to operator, considering an Arc is needed and for that much bleeding charateristic's to happen for the circuit breaker to work.



Frankly, I've never thought of a GFI built-in! So in that case which is operating first the GFI or the ARC fault.

I just see to much Arc'n with everyday plug-ins, seems like something to look forward to... I reckon...

 

[liquidtite]

i had a discussion with a guy i work with about how a regular ocp trips during a ground fault a hot hiting something thats grounded. i thought it would trip the ocp bc the current would flow back on the egc to the source nad the ocp would detect it and trip he thought that when a gf occures it drwas amps so the breacker only will trip if the arc draws more than the ocp is rated for

so whos rite

 

[George Stolz]

It looks like you're both saying the same thing. Can you explain the difference in opinion without the typos?

 

[Twoskinsoneman]

It looks like you're both saying the same thing. Can you explain the difference in opinion without the typos?

I wish a had a dollar for every forum post I skipped-over when I saw the urban-slang-Ebonics-shorthand being used.