Eaton/CH BR AFCI's - no GFPE

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peter d

peter d

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New England
Not too long ago there was some controversy here about whether or not the most recent iteration of Eaton's BR AFCI included GFPE or not. One member insisted it was still included based on manufacturers literature, while others like myself said it's no longer part of the breaker.

Today I confirmed that GFPE is in fact absent from the current interation of BR AFCI breakers. I have been doing a rewire and have installed four new of these breakers (with plug on neutral and generation 5.3 software.) Being lazy and not wanting to go to the basement to turn off power, I touched ground to neutral while there was a load on the circuit. The breaker did not trip. Curious, I grabbed my newly introduced Klein RT310 tester and pushed the 30 mA test button. The breaker did not trip. These are both conclusive field tests. By comparison, I have tripped Square D Homeline AFCI breakers with the 30 mA function on the Klein tester.


[url]https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/electrical-testers/afci-gfci-outlet-tester



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peter d said:
..Today I confirmed that GFPE is in fact absent from the current interation of (Eaton) BR AFCI breakers.
Click to expand...

Nice work Pete. Type CH AFCI still have GFPE functions, but BR does not.
The 6 trip codes for Type BR are shown below with no GFPE function.
#5 is 160vac over voltage disconnect -- most impressive build-in surge protection.

Next Generation BR AFCI
 
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ramsy said:
Nice work Pete. Type CH AFCI still have GFPE functions, but BR does not.
The 6 trip codes for Type BR are shown below with no GFPE function.
#5 is 160vac over voltage disconnect -- most impressive build-in surge protection.

Next Generation BR AFCI
Click to expand...


Self test failure - The breaker
continually tests the internal
electronics and software to
ensure that the arc fault
detection technology is
creating callbacks properly ,
despite lack of GFPE
Click to expand...

fify.....:p~RJ~
 
ramsy said:
Nice work Pete. Type CH AFCI still have GFPE functions, but BR does not.
The 6 trip codes for Type BR are shown below with no GFPE function.
#5 is 160vac over voltage disconnect -- most impressive build-in surge protection.

Next Generation BR AFCI
Click to expand...

Yes, the most recent instructions with a revision date of late 2018 confirm that. I was going to post a picture of them, I'll try later.
 
ptonsparky said:
Is this going to be one of those arguments about the only approved test method is to push the button on the AFCI?
Click to expand...

That's the thing - nobody knows what the test button actually does. It's all locked in some proprietary mystery. At least with the Klein tester I can know with some certainty what the breaker does. In this case I proved that CH did remove the GFPE portion from its BR line of breakers. We all know it's the GFPE (or GFCI in the case of DF breakers) that does the actual real work anyway.
 
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