Tripping afci breaker question.

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ritelec

ritelec

Senior Member
Location
Jersey
Hi. My nephew has a xbox that seems to be tripping an afci breaker.
I swapped breakers in the panel to confirm it's not a bad breaker.
I went through 7 receptacles a bell transformer and a light outlet and switch and rewired and spliced the hack job the the original home owner did.
It would still tripp. Not immediately but after a few hours or couple of days.
I ran a new wire to the last receptacle of the original circuit and back fed that circuit and disconnected the original feed from the panel.
It held for a day and a half but he just texted and said it tripped again.

My question. How is the AFCI sensing an arc fault if one exists if it's not the Xbox and it's a damaged wire?

Lets say power went from the panel to recpt A to recpt B to recpt C to recpt D
If the load (or Xbox) was plugged into recpt A and there was no damaged wire from recpt A back to the panel, would the arcfault breaker sense a damaged wire
anywhere else in the circuit, say between B and C or C and D even if there were NO loads plugged into those outlets.

I would think not, I would think there needs to be a load but I want to confirm. If there was a damaged wire with no load it would just sit there. if there was a damage with a connection hot to neutral or ground it would short.

Thank you
 
Those afci bkrs r sensitive. I bet it's the Xbox cord. Unplug it & try plugging in something else with load and see if she holds. Just a thought.

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With other posts about RF causing trips, I wonder if they use wireless or Bluetooth to program them? The wireless controllers on the XBox might be the reason. The signal might come through the wiring, but an interesting experiment would be to put a large piece of sheet metal in front of the panel at an angle. Perhaps that would reflect the signal? I know GM uses low speed wireless data to update a vehicles cpu, it may be the same with arcfaults causing a glitch.
 
I bet, you have crossed neutrals somewhere ... identify that neutral from the main panel through every junction box to the end of the circuit.
 
I suggest trying the game on another circuit, either by moving it or by using an extension cord.

Remember: process of elimination. It could be other electronics that are on during game play.
 
Most likely something in the electronics creating rf interference.

I wired a kitchen, and finished it 2 weeks ago.
I got a call two says later that the microwave drawer was tripping the breaker (dual function).

But only tripping in cook mode.
As long as it sat idle, breaker didn't trip.

It was a GE breaker, for what it's worth
 
I like the Xbox cord theory. A lot of those cords can get mangled during their lifetime.
 
ritelec said:
My question. How is the AFCI sensing an arc fault if one exists if it's not the Xbox and it's a damaged wire?
Click to expand...

Was this fixed? There were other possibilities not mentioned.

ritelec said:
..if there was a damage with a connection hot to neutral or ground it would short.
Click to expand...

Carbon deposits can trace a high impedance fault path, which smolders or carbonizes equipment on standard breakers.

With switch turned off, power shut down at light box, if the other 2 wires touch your hands, or Neutral & EGC in opposite hands, AFCI breakers will trip.

Did you check for burn-damaged bus stab, outlets / carbonized device wiring on this AFCI ?

Besides the obvious charcoal devices, replacing heat-tempered terminals, and re-terminating such wiring inside outlet boxes has solved AFCI issues for me.
 
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I got anal checking out the circuit and devices, except for pulling out a megger. The game worked in a condo he just moved out of and worked when he plugged it into a non afci in his new (old) house.
I'm 99.9% sure its the game.
Wired the new wire I installed to a new double duplex for game and TV to an existing non afci circuit ( which is permissible in Jersey ) and don't expect anymore calls. Life moves on. Thank you.
 
ramsy said:
Was this fixed? There were other possibilities not mentioned.
Click to expand...
The house was sided and possible sheet rock I believe done by a rube homeowner or contractor who put the house together for a home sale.
As mentioned. Life moves on.
 
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