This forum helped me, so I would like to pass it along. I wanted to post in the original thread that gave me the, but that original post was closed to new replies. I'll try and keep it condensed down...lol, but i'm hoping enough keywords will boost the SEO and result in somebody else finding the Mike Holt forum and this thread to save themselves a headache.
In 2021, our whole circuit panel and all breakers were replaced/upgraded to Siemens CAFCI Plug On Neutral breakers in a 1950s built house that had been flipped multiple times. After 18 months of living there, one day, the old panel had a burning smell coming from a breaker. Electrician deduced that the breaker likely failed, but also showed us the scorch marks and found that someone had "modified" another breaker to fit into the panel. He recommended replacing the whole thing, and we agreed. We immediately had nuisance tripping on only 1 breaker in the kitchen, but it was so uncommon we decided to live with it.
Jump forward to December 2023, (It is obvious now), I bring home a king-size throw blanket for our couch and decide to wash it and also a set of Home Depot's own Hampton Bay Smart 24ft Color Changing Plug-in String Lights. I throw the blanket in the clothes washer on delicate cycle and start setting up these lights to my phone. I didn't notice the clothes washer had stopped because the breaker tripped. I initially thought our 5yr old LG clothes washer was going bad or the blanket was too big to wash....so begins our 3 week saga of troubleshooting and 1 paid electrician's visit to unsuccessfully identify these ****ing Hampton Bay lights.
WEEK 1 - Nuisance Tripping:
We had seven different Siemen's CAFCI breakers, both 15amp & 20amp, randomly nuisance tripping. All hours of the day. Garage, furnace, clothes washer, dish washer, Garbage disposal, TV/Sound bar/PS5, and Fridge. Both sides of the circuit panel as well, so there was no pattern when or where it would trip. Only these seven breakers.
(Hindsight observation: The christmas string light exterior receptacle never tripped its own 20amp Siemens CAFCI breaker, only caused others to trip)
We didn't know what to suspect:
WEEK 2 - DIY Testing:
Same random nuisance tripping, a little more aggressive where the fridge 20amp CAFCI wouldn't stay on. We instead plugged the fridge into a differnt 20amp breaker, it never tripped again. We bought a 12ga by 25' extension cord to plug the LG clothes washer into the same 20amp kitchen breaker, we could run the washer again, and it never tripped. So we had a control group and began narrowing down the issue!
WEEK 3 - Electrician Visit:
Same electrician company comes out, I tell him that I think its the panel going bad. He says very unlikely considering it new, the load bars are all in excellent condition, the voltage is correct. I ask about maybe the Power Comapny on their end, but he says unlikely. He is stumped, and ultimately recommends that I change the breakers for new ones. Maybe it is a generation issue with the Siemens CAFCI breakers, and a newer generation will solve it.
(Hindsight observation: At this point, the tripping began to happen less frequently BECAUSE, I had moved the Home Depot string lights onto an outdoor timer. So no longer at night would any trips happen because the outdoor timer controlled when the smart hub of the string lights would receive power. Tripping only happened between 11am and 10pm. We had another Xmas ornament that was motion sensored and we didn't want it triggering at night or in the morning)
WEEK 3 - Solved it
:
After hours of researching on videos, Siemens, AFCI problems, and the manual I land on the Mike Holt Forum and specifically the thread linked at the beginning og my post where they were discussing cell phones and RF interference making CAFCIs trip. When I get home, I immediately unplug the lights and plug the washer back into its original GFCI 20amp receptacle and original breaker to run a 13minute spin cycle. SUCCESS! Then I throw some towels in and run a sanitary cycle that lasts 2hrs and is the hottest water and highest spin. SUCCESS! No. Problems. Since.
I called the electrician and explained it. Sent pictures of the Home Depot Hampton Bay string lights that caused the Siemens CAFCI issue. The electrician had never heard of that causing the issue. I called their dispatcher as well to let them know, and left a review on Google for them thanking for attempting to fix.
Thanks again for existing!
In 2021, our whole circuit panel and all breakers were replaced/upgraded to Siemens CAFCI Plug On Neutral breakers in a 1950s built house that had been flipped multiple times. After 18 months of living there, one day, the old panel had a burning smell coming from a breaker. Electrician deduced that the breaker likely failed, but also showed us the scorch marks and found that someone had "modified" another breaker to fit into the panel. He recommended replacing the whole thing, and we agreed. We immediately had nuisance tripping on only 1 breaker in the kitchen, but it was so uncommon we decided to live with it.
Jump forward to December 2023, (It is obvious now), I bring home a king-size throw blanket for our couch and decide to wash it and also a set of Home Depot's own Hampton Bay Smart 24ft Color Changing Plug-in String Lights. I throw the blanket in the clothes washer on delicate cycle and start setting up these lights to my phone. I didn't notice the clothes washer had stopped because the breaker tripped. I initially thought our 5yr old LG clothes washer was going bad or the blanket was too big to wash....so begins our 3 week saga of troubleshooting and 1 paid electrician's visit to unsuccessfully identify these ****ing Hampton Bay lights.
WEEK 1 - Nuisance Tripping:
We had seven different Siemen's CAFCI breakers, both 15amp & 20amp, randomly nuisance tripping. All hours of the day. Garage, furnace, clothes washer, dish washer, Garbage disposal, TV/Sound bar/PS5, and Fridge. Both sides of the circuit panel as well, so there was no pattern when or where it would trip. Only these seven breakers.
(Hindsight observation: The christmas string light exterior receptacle never tripped its own 20amp Siemens CAFCI breaker, only caused others to trip)
We didn't know what to suspect:
- LG Clothes Washer (5yr old)
- Faulty Siemens CAFCI Breakers (2yr old)
- Faulty 20amp receptacle
- Romex was damaged or rats chewing through romex in crawlspace (We did have crawlspace rats that fall and winter, that we thought we may have sealed into the crawlspace and they were getting desparate to escape). BUT did the rats chewed through all seven runs through the house for the problematic circuit breakers?
- Undersized Romex (The previous owner was a DIYer, and not the best)
- Faulty Circuit Panel (2yr old)
WEEK 2 - DIY Testing:
Same random nuisance tripping, a little more aggressive where the fridge 20amp CAFCI wouldn't stay on. We instead plugged the fridge into a differnt 20amp breaker, it never tripped again. We bought a 12ga by 25' extension cord to plug the LG clothes washer into the same 20amp kitchen breaker, we could run the washer again, and it never tripped. So we had a control group and began narrowing down the issue!
LG Clothes Washer (5yr old)- NOPE! The clothes washer worked now, no issues on it's new receptacle in the kitchen using the 12ga extension cord.
Faulty Siemens CAFCI Breakers (2yr old)- NOPE! We swapped the 20amp breakers in the circuit panel and tested the clothes washer in its orginal plug. Clothes washer receptacle tripped again consistently, kitchen receptacle never did.
Faulty 20amp receptacle- NOPE! I replaced the standard 20amp clothes washer receptacle with a 20amp GFCI and cleaned up the box, removed back stabs. The romex was 12ga, and it was a dedicated circuit. Still tripped.
- Romex was damaged or rats chewing through romex in crawlspace (We did have crawlspace rats that fall and winter, that we thought we may have sealed into the crawlspace and they were getting desparate to escape). BUT did the rats chewed through all seven runs through the house for the problematic circuit breakers?
- NOPE! We took new 50' 12ga 12/2 romex and ran it through the house down the stairs and plugged directly into the same CAFCIs and tried this on multiple slots in the panel. The breakers consistently tripped on the same slots in the circuit panel where the problematic breakers were located.
- Undersized Romex (The previous owner was a DIYer, and not the best)
- NOPE! See above test
- Faulty Circuit Panel (2yr old)
- We though the panel was failing, maybe a manufacturing issue during COVID times. So we called the same electrician.
WEEK 3 - Electrician Visit:
Same electrician company comes out, I tell him that I think its the panel going bad. He says very unlikely considering it new, the load bars are all in excellent condition, the voltage is correct. I ask about maybe the Power Comapny on their end, but he says unlikely. He is stumped, and ultimately recommends that I change the breakers for new ones. Maybe it is a generation issue with the Siemens CAFCI breakers, and a newer generation will solve it.
(Hindsight observation: At this point, the tripping began to happen less frequently BECAUSE, I had moved the Home Depot string lights onto an outdoor timer. So no longer at night would any trips happen because the outdoor timer controlled when the smart hub of the string lights would receive power. Tripping only happened between 11am and 10pm. We had another Xmas ornament that was motion sensored and we didn't want it triggering at night or in the morning)
WEEK 3 - Solved it
:After hours of researching on videos, Siemens, AFCI problems, and the manual I land on the Mike Holt Forum and specifically the thread linked at the beginning og my post where they were discussing cell phones and RF interference making CAFCIs trip. When I get home, I immediately unplug the lights and plug the washer back into its original GFCI 20amp receptacle and original breaker to run a 13minute spin cycle. SUCCESS! Then I throw some towels in and run a sanitary cycle that lasts 2hrs and is the hottest water and highest spin. SUCCESS! No. Problems. Since.
I called the electrician and explained it. Sent pictures of the Home Depot Hampton Bay string lights that caused the Siemens CAFCI issue. The electrician had never heard of that causing the issue. I called their dispatcher as well to let them know, and left a review on Google for them thanking for attempting to fix.
Thanks again for existing!
