GFI breaker

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electrohippie

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glen burnie maryland
I have an odd one I've never seen in over 20 years I have a single pole 20 amp Siemens GFI breaker that trips there's four of them total and they trip every single time the maintenance guy Keys up his walkie-talkie radio witnessed it myself tried several different configurations tried unplugging things no idea
 
electrohippie said:
I thought of that as well zuppa
still a weird issue and that may or may not solve the problem
im just checking to see if anyone else has come across this
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if a walkie causes a gfi to trip, then report this issue to UL and FCC. i would then get whomever manages that site to change walkie's asap.

what radio does the guy have? what freq is it running on? if the freq band can be changed, try that too.
 
If the HT (walkie talkie) is on a business band, the frequency is fixed and is part of the license. There may also be a repeater either at the facility, or off site that is actually emitting the RFI. Repeaters are higher power than HTs, and use the AC mains for power, not a battery. Usually the only time just an HT will trip a breaker is when the HT is very close to the breaker. I mean like a foot or three away. If a repeater is tripping the breakers, it could be coming in through the conductors. No matter, the breakers should be able to exist in an RF environment without tripping. The Mfgr. should have better info. Start with them before trying to mess with the radios.
 
K8MHZ said:
Reports to the FCC and UL will be a waste of time.
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:happyyes:

Prolly they would note the complaint, put it on file to be lost down the rabbit hole, and/or recommend you do as you suggested above about getting in touch w/ the manufacturer.
 
user 100 said:
:happyyes:

Prolly they would note the complaint, put it on file to be lost down the rabbit hole, and/or recommend you do as you suggested above about getting in touch w/ the manufacturer.
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I have worked with both the UL and the FCC on complaints. I am very familiar with the process. You are correct, the first step is to attempt to resolve the problem with the mfgr. Failing that, if either entity wants to get involved, it will be a many month long process, and the UL will not let you know what they did to intervene. The FCC will post enforcement issues on the Internet as they become final. Neither method is the best, and certainly not the fastest way to fix the problem.
 
user 100 said:
:happyyes:

Prolly they would note the complaint, put it on file to be lost down the rabbit hole, and/or recommend you do as you suggested above about getting in touch w/ the manufacturer.
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From the FCC's viewpoint the radio is "type accepted" and licensed to transmit and receive RF at some frequency. The GFI is not "type accepted" or licensed to receive RF at any frequency. Therefore the GFI is defective. They will not accept a complaint about the radio, the GFI is defective. They don't regulate GFI's so they will not accept a complaint about it. You need to contact the GFI manufacturer.
 
I have contacted the mfr
they offer no solution as of yet in fact the tech I spoke with had only heard of the problem a cpl times
the breakers have tripped several times at about 15 feet away not sure about the repeater I will check that
I plan to replace the breakers anyway due to wear and tear
and ive considered replacing with a regular breaker and installing a gfi receptacle at the equipment
in hopes that I may not have the same problem
 
robertd said:
From the FCC's viewpoint the radio is "type accepted" and licensed to transmit and receive RF at some frequency. The GFI is not "type accepted" or licensed to receive RF at any frequency. Therefore the GFI is defective. They will not accept a complaint about the radio, the GFI is defective. They don't regulate GFI's so they will not accept a complaint about it. You need to contact the GFI manufacturer.
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'Certificated' is the FCC word for type accepted.

No license is needed to receive, licenses are only needed to transmit.

Maybe Fiona was on to something. Are the radios in use certificated, or are they Baofengs or Puxings? Even if they aren't no way should a hand held radio be able to trip a GFCI 15 feet away.


Baofengs are not certificated to be used on GMRS frequencies.
 
kwired said:
No chance of counterfeit radios though?;)
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Not likely. Counterfeit Motorola and Kenwoods would cost more than Baoefengs and Puxings, which can be had for $30 each. Check the video and see what was used. Boefengs and Puxings are 'wide open' radios and can transmit on any 2m and 440 mhz frequency, including Central Dispatch. They are being sold by the thousands.
 
I had a gfi trip when the elevator button was pushed. I troubleshooted that thing several different times, just so happened no one else was in the building and it was very quiet, when I pressed the elevator button I heard a snap sound. Sure enough it was the the gfi. Circuit wasn't even in same panel as the elevator. Changed the breaker and everything was fine.

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GFI breakers tripping from keying a radio is not new. Seen it happen many of times using a VHF handheld. First time 30 years ago.
 
my assumption is, the radio has a freq or noise octave that is resonant in the gfi ckt, maybe the coil is a nice antenna? since the gfi ocpd is in a metal box i suspect the radio freq is hitting a ckt conductor(s) somewhere. a ez test would be to take off the ckt hot wire from gfi and see if the radio trips the gfi.

this issue has been covered here before ~4yrs ago.
http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=152331
 
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