I would suggest putting one above the shower that’s rated for high humidity. Or maybe look into doing a conformal coating yourself on the one in the shower. Just dont put the coating over the LED’s, just on the PCB, and around the LED’s to the PCB. It cold have been the humidly (and soap and stuff with it) that built up and caused that arc.
Cheap LED lights tend to be overdriven (more), but for areas where the lights are not on for long periods of time like perhaps cupboards or the likes, cheap is probably just fine. For kitchens and shower areas, I'd stick a higher quality light in though. Where I live we don't have ARC fault breakers yet, but it is good to avoid problems long term as wiring ages and equipment may develop faults over time.
You know WHY that specific light tripped??? notice the location....other places are NOT in the shower (moisture????)......when you take a HOT shower, where is the steam headed??? so if you are going to replace it, find another system that prevents moisture buildup!!!
The one in the shower should be rated for wet locations. A hot shower and condensation on the cold light equals a wet fixture and a ground fault. This is a case of a faulty installation using the wrong material in a wet location.
It's kind of ridiculous when you think about it: we've replaced what is generally a very reliable mechanically-triggered breaker with ones with microprocessors. All those penny components crammed into a tiny space, and they kick off heat dropping/rectifying the voltage in addition to the heat of the regular breaker with no cooling. Not many small electronics would last more than a few years being on 24/7, and generally it seems these breakers are the same. There's almost no chance you'll be able to get 20+ years out of one like was possible with the regular breakers. I'm a big fan of GFCIs, because when they trip, it's usually something that at least has the potential to hurt/kill you. Most AFCIs trip (like in this case), because some fully enclosed device had a minor fault or otherwise put noise on the line. There's no chance that LED, in a metal enclosure, with drywall around it, would cause a fire.
In my limited experience, ARC fault breakers cause more problems than they prevent. Frequent failures, outrageous cost, tripping on the microwave or refrigerator. Dollars to donuts that light was never going to burn your house down. That ARC fault caught it early, thankfully, but I am pretty sure a normal breaker would have tripped long before anything catastrophic occurred. Think about your experience with those lights and all the old houses that have them installed with no ARC faults in them at all. No thanks.
A faster diagnostic method with fewer trips back to the breaker box is to unplug everything, turn the breaker back on, then see which thing trips the breaker when plugged back in. Only one breaker box trip unless you have multiple faulty devices.
I’ve had good luck with Halo (Cooper) recessed LED trims. I like Feit, but I’ve had many of their bare LED bulbs (not trims) die prematurely. Feit’s warranty replacement has been excellent, so I don’t hesitate to buy their product.
I've had very good luck with Amico LEDs off Amazon... 100s installed and only 1 has had issues to date. Halo from home Depot also have been very reliable but cost a bit more.
I recently had a combo breaker fail on me. It was for the countertop outlets in the kitchen. Took me a few weeks to get to the bottom of it. I isolated the homerun the first day I noticed but it was still tripping and then I sat on it for a few weeks. Finally thought about testing the breaker itself. Its a little over 2 years old so it didn't come to mind at first.
07:30 Buy leviton or eaton commercial grade edison retrofit downlights. I have eatons that have lasted for a decade so far. No issues. Has been here before we moved in.
Since LED lights run off of 12 volt DC, but they have to convert 120v AC to DC wasting some energy in the form of heat, wouldn’t it be more efficient for builders to start running 12V DC lighting circuits in new homes? It could run from a converter mounted next to the breaker panel or even be incorporated into the panel. RVs use this method.
Ben. A new video. long time no see. Question: Why would we have an arc fault only breaker On a circuit? PS. which TYPE of arc fault breaker is on the lighting circuit? thank you
I personally view this as action by contractors (who actually behind the writing of code), to implement a total requirement for AF breakers (once reliable), then allow aluminum conductors back into residential (aluminum conductor alloys that don't require paste are in the supply chain now). Thus, being held responsible for incompetent wiring will no longer be an issue.
@@josephbrabenderiii2049 being old enough to tell you I installed small amounts of aluminum household romex and all the subsequent years fixing all the early 1970’s installation of that type of wiring I can say aluminum should only be used on larger ampacity circuits 40 amps and up with proper upsizing if in conduit or underground or long distance run, copper must stay for 30 and below, aluminum is simply to brittle and it’s expansion and contraction rates are such that over time any connections will loosen up much more than copper, I started in 1972 and by 1978 houses were already burning down and have loads of connection problems, I must have gone through a couple hundred houses pigtailing every aluminum terminating point and changing to copper with antioxidant compound in the wire nuts, it was a nightmare back then, and the aluminum wire went along well with the federal panels and breakers that would never trip, what a great combo they made LOL
Arc fault breakers became code for one reason...profit. They save insurance companies money thereby increasing their profit and the companies that manufacture them profit. Are they really about saving life or property, no, that's just a side benefit.
Hey Ben, really enjoy your content. I noticed the fixture that was bad was located in your shower area. I think moisture from the steam in that area could have caused your arcing problem. Try replacing the fixture with one that is rated for damp/moist locations. Keep up the good work. 👍
Better quality lights that are rated for damp areas usually come with a foam gasket as well. The gasket fills the gap between the light and your ceiling to fill any imperfections. That one didn’t have one so I’d venture to guess your assessment is correct.
That is incorrect. The light fixture on the shower ceiling is not being saturated with water. They are subject to moderate degrees of moisture which would fall under the definition of a damp location under the NEC. A wet location would require the fixture to be saturated with water or other liquids.
Hello Ben, Enjoy your videos. I installed two large LED panels in my workshop. The building is fully insulated and I ran all wiring inside the gray watertight conduit. Overkill I know. So, I decided to use an ARCFAULT breaker just for these two overhead lights. Even though my mancave is climate controlled, every once in a while that breaker would trip as soon as I flipped the switch. I called and was passed upchannel to an electrical engineer at the company that makes the QO breakers. We ran some test on the breaker, but all appeared good. So, I running out of answers, I did some further trouble shooting . The roof in my mancave is metal. Same as used in modern pole building. Above, fully R47 blown in insulation. I used plastic gray looking receptical boxes, and locking plugs on the ends of the light cords. Turned off the circuit, and noticed that one of the receptacle tabs (metal), was touching the metal roof. What do you know? ... once I broke off that tab, I haven't had that tripping again. Called back the engineer, and he was dumbfounded! We surmised that there was enough ground current flowing between the receptical and the roof area, that the breaker would trip. * I have put up four JUNO LED flat plated light under the porch of my workshop. They work very nicely, and are extremely easy to install. Additionally, each light has a controller that allows you to set the (k), daylight, more yellow, or wavelength. Great product. Thanks again for all of your videos. Keep it up
Hello @HGR693, The RCD should have trip off in this case, if I understand the situation correctly. Of course, the AFCI can respond to a parallel phase-to-ground arc fault. But that's the RCD's area of responsibility in the first place, I suppose.
sounds to me like you have a bad light or moisture ingress somewhere it shouldn't be, causing a current leak from either a hot or neutral to the ground. assuming you have ground wires! if no grounds exist then it could be capacitive inductance from the lights internals themselves causing leakage to the ground and out the roof. something is silly there for sure, maybe even current leaking into the roof via somewhere/something else or nearby power transmission lines?
@@chrisdestry5394 I hope they're still decent, since they were bought out in 2015. unsure if I've installed any after that date, but probably many in small numbers.
I oil my compressor tools daily (as indicated on tools) whether I use them or not, along with ARC fault breakers, GFCI's, appliances with GFCI's, and test smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors...Takes about 40-45 mins.
do not oil unused tools, the oil will build up and cause issues, like gumming and spraying out all over. it's wise to oil and run them a bit before putting them away each time though.
Right. I do too, along with carefully reading all my prescription documentation and double checking the list of contraindicated/drug interaction meds, as well as updating the spreadsheet with my meds' expiration dates. That takes about 90 minutes, usually after the checking breakers, GFCI outlet test buttons, and oiling my pneumatic tools. Then I carefully review my owner's manuals for the vehicles, compare the odometer readings with the list I force my family to make of the duration of their vehicle trips versus outside temperature (short trips require more frequent oil changes), and make the correct notations in another spreadsheet I keep on a separate computer and separate network (never can tell if you'll have a laptop fail or have a network failure). Then I carefully shower, being sure to use the rubber mat, which gets hung after being towelled-dry to resist mildew (air quality issues), and go to bed after prayers that the wiring or mildew won't get me. Then I do it all again. Seriously, who does any of this other than occasionally? You have a great channel. Quite practical/helpful for others of us in your shoes who have not yet run across the particular issues you showcase (or have but can learn new things). Thank you!
We just had a bunch of renovations and our electrician installed the Commercial electric brand and they seem good so far. He said he trusts them and have been reliable for him.
New built spec house. We kept having a arc fault trip on the dishwasher/garbage disposal circuit. Turned out that the Frigidaire brand dishwasher had a relay that would cause a trip as that spark happened. The relay spark is normal. So we found ourselves in a situation were we weren't going to replace the dishwasher which was perfectly fine. We decided to just eliminate the arc fault breaker .
@@Ariccio123the installation manual allows for either. And that isn't the issue. FRIGIDAIRE design in combination with a arc detection beaker is the issue. The builder had the same issue with two other spec houses and FRIGIDAIRE dishwashers. To ne it's a simple fix. Replace the arc fault with a standard ground fault breaker. ARC fault breakers trip a lot with brushed motors as well. We had an older vacuum we couldn't use. It also kept tripping them.
I'm going to ask my wife to watch the last minute of this vid, particularly at 14:45 to 15:20. This will help her understand I’m not the only one with long range plans!
I had a led light like that fail with a shower of sparks when I turned it on. I didn't have an ark fault breaker, but very quickly turned the switch off. The insulation on the hot wire to the led PCB failed.
AFCI is not a panacea. The point of high transient resistance does not give HF arcing signal, which is detected by AFCI. Therefore, different kind of circuit breakers is in use.
LED’s may last a long time, but the components and capacitors in the power supply for the LED’s probably wont last nearly as long with cheaper brands. Most of my LED light failures are capacitors. And sometimes because the heat disappoint wasn’t good and the PCB and components got too hot. Electronics and heat are not friends. So in most cases you hope more expensive fixture use better thermals and component, but that’s not always the case, just in half the case. But you can almost grantee the cheaper ones use cheaper components. They have to cut that cost somehow.
Ben, typical homeowner here with a skill set above dangerous but no better than amateur. So recently we noticed the garbage disposal started occasionally tripping the arc fault breaker. Then got progressively worse until today it tripped almost every time it was turned on. (All the components are about 4 years old.) So looking to save the cost of an electrician call I read what I could on-line. Armed with a little knowledge and Kentucky windage I did the 'normal' stuff. When I pulled the off/on switch I couldn't help but wonder if where the quick disconnect "push in" wire is both held in place by the little "leaf spring" and also where the electrical connection is made, could be an issue. So I pulled out the wires and reconnected them using the side terminal screws. Time will tell but after repeated cycles the breaker no longer trips. While I am not totally convinced this is what fixed it, seems kinda reasonable to assume it might have. That was a long-winded lead in to my question. Have you ever heard of this being an issue with arc fault breakers? If not, what do you think of my theory?
I have found Sunco products to be very high quality. I have installed their downlights, led tubes, E26 bulbs and 2 grow lights. I will be relighting my shop with their 4' lights next month. I haven't had one go bad and they also offer 4K versions. They have a 7 year warranty and they are an American company.
I think you missed a step in your troubleshooting. If there was a series arc, removing the load would also stop the AFCI from tripping. You should have installed a different lamp of comparable load to confirm there was nothing wrong with the wiring.
So far, I despise AFCI breakers and they make my life miserable. The Siemens 20A units in my 2020 house randomly trip for no legitimate reason. They just don't like certain loads, or are over-sensitive to noise that 'sounds' like an arc. My neighbor got so fed up with them that he replaced all of his breakers with non-AFCI. They really aren't "necessary" to begin with, and in a house where there aren't any actual faults, there is nothing unsafe about downgrading to non-AFCI. It's better than walking down the hall every 5 minutes to keep one laptop and a cablemodem powered. The house also came with Feit LED fixtures similar to yours. All but two failed in the first 4 years. I went back to incandescent GE bulbs made in Hungary.
My rented dryer was the item that caused my cb to trip so I have contacted the Rental Company. Although recently an Electrician came to work on our Stove last week but nothing has gone wrong until today & it was the dryer as I connected it to two different plug outlet & it went POOF and the cb tripped again. In your video my NZ cb looked just like your one in the video. Thanks 😊
Juno is good I've used those alot at old electric company . Obviously led doesn't last forever ive seen alot go bad but Juno seems to be legit . I say prob 1 out 50 I see go bad
Do you have any recommendations for arc fault gfci breakers that are nearly impossible to keep on while running a backup generator? Main line power they are fine.
Thanks for the video Ben. Love your work. I’m having similar issues in my pole building with LED canopy lights (plug in to receptacles)bought on Amazon. Irritating to say the least. I’ve tried simply pulling them one by one and as soon as I get to more than three of them, it trips. And it can be different trios too so not one common denominator. On a different circuit I’m also having tripping when I try to use the table saw. As soon as I turn it on, it trips. So I have some investigating to do. Could be cheap product on the lights (or in rush current?). Any tips from anyone would be appreciated. Thanks for the video, as always! Oh and your wife’s comment about it taking two months or so (you brought it up so bravo on you), it reminds me of the saying the shoemakers kids have no shoes. The electricians family has no light. 😂
if the arc fault/combo breakers are over about four years old, I'd simply try replacing one of them and see if the issue goes away. most of the older ones were prone to false tripping. also if they're straight AFCI and there's GFCI receptacles, those are known to cause random AFCI tripping when large/high surge current loads are turned on, usually solved by using new AFCI/GFCI combo breakers and dumping the GFCI receptacles. I had some with that exact issue, when turning a hair dryer on/off, even with the GFCI receptacle tripped it still affected it. they were older Square D/Eaton/cutler hammer, so not just one brand.
Any type of motor will trip arc fault. GFCI and AFCI breakers sense a disturbance on the neutral and power aide. Start looking at neutral connectors. Make sure connections are tight I stopped buying stuff on Amazon. Had a few Wagos go bad. Ordered them on Amazon. If you don't live or have guest quarters in your pole barn you don't need AFCI in that building.
I’ve had half of my arc fault breakers fail in under 10 years, they are very unreliable for how expensive they are. I have a spare on stand by now because of failures. Especially since it’s code, they need to drop in price if they don’t last.
Arc fault and GFCi all have a very limited lifespan and are not needed if you don't hire unskilled labor to build your house. I lived in a house that was built in the 80s for 30 years with 3 generations of kids being raised in the house. Aluminum wiring, no GFCI, no child proofing at all and no problems. This safety crap is all just regulations pushed through by lobbyists to sell you more crap you don't need. Houses aren't more dangerous than they used to be, kids are just growing up dumber.
I am not licensed nor condone this. Don't know code well. However, I think afci main breakers do exist. So if that fails it can be replaced instead of having to replace 20. I doubt this is up to NEC code as of now. But it works and does the same thing.
I only install Lithonia Lighting. Never had a problem. The cheap lights are garbage. Every new construction house comes with garbage LED lights and they all go bad in a year
Stick with real brands, Juno, Lightolier, Philips,Hubbell,etc...Costco has great deals on LED fixtures...an off brand from Canada, but installed about 12 different types of same brand, no failures, at all...
I would've unplugged all the trims first, then if the switch and circuit are on, plug each trim back in till the circuit trips, saving having to keep going to the panel to reset it. Everything Fiet is poor preforming. Halo or the same trim in another brand, made by Cooper lighting are more reliable. For new wafer installation, RAB and Topaz are very popular. 100,000hr life. They cost more, but you get what you pay for. A friend asked me why are all 6 LED fixtures randomly flickering together. One "Commercial Electric" Home Depot brand was causing the problem. Older homes don't have AF breakers. If a neutral is touching a ground in a normally ON circuit, an AF breaker will trip until the grounding neutral contact is cleared.
I've got this afci tripping issue. The breaker is supporting the basement living room receptacles, basement office receptacles and ceiling lights. Trips randomly. Can't figure it out
who wired that place, all the lights on the same level on the one circuit? 🤣 that's like lesson one of how to never wire a homes lighting.(sorry for being harsh if it was you, but lesson learned) even back in the mid to late 90's we mixed the various room lighting into different general lighting branch circuits, including some of the basement/hall/stairs. often it ended up 2nd floor bedroom one receptacles with bedroom two lights and vice versa, kitchen/living room/dinning room lighting shared with opposing rooms general lighting receptacles. hallways, stairs and basement intermixed with each other and more than one circuit of course! so you pretty much had to trip multiple circuits or the main to be in the dark anywhere you went. we mostly keep them all on the same floor, except stairs/hallways/basement. no AFCI's used/required back then and sparingly used GFCI's, which often found the garage and outdoor rear receptacle/s protected by the powder room GFCI, and the master bath, GFCI picking up the a secondary full bath bath(if they had them) sometimes that did the powder room and basement GFCI picked up the garage and rear outdoor, with front being off a kitchen counter GFCI. I kind of hated that, but it was due to high cost of them back then. I still amaze people when they say their garage or outdoor outlet has no power and it's been out for months or years, I instantly ask if checked the bathroom/basement/kitchen/garage GFCI's and sure enough it usually has a tripped one, somewhere they never use. a few gave me over $100 tips just for fixing and showing them that while there doing other remodeling work.
As for the lights,if you spend $5 you're going to get 💩 spend a bit more per fitting and you'll notice a marked increase in quality,even if it's just $12 per fitting.
Any light over a shower area needs to be IP66 rated. Example IP68 = in swimming pool underwater lights. Downlights you have are known to be of some of the lowest quality around. Avoid these.
I have had good luck with Halo but I am a retired electrician so I am not installing many. I did have a couple with bad drivers a few years back. Can't remember but I think they were Lithonia.
Question, I watched your video for bypass low pressure on refrigeration walk-in box, it’s won’t short the circuit? When u bypass the pressure? And why 🙏
There is a video on Reddit one of these cheap Chinese LED lights circuit board on fire. The problem with lot of these amazon can lights most are not UL listed.
Cheap Chinese garbage. Several years ago, our utility sent out LED flood bulb replacements. They have HEAVY metal finned housings for their size (7 watt) and they are lasting really well. We also had an arc fault issue in our house a year or two after moving into the house we built in 1994. We kept getting up in the morning to find the breaker (no arc fault breakers then) for the kitchen lights tripped. It turned out to be an over driven staple withing a couple feet of the ceiling box in the attic. Got lucky the house didn't burn down. I was able to install a junction box in the attic to enable cutting out the bad piece and running a short two foot section of new wire to the box. It would have been a nightmare if was in the wall to the switch.
We’ve had great luck with “Juno” brand. We’ve always found them at lowes. Their price jumped to 6 for $140 this year. Singles used to be $20 now their $35 not in the big box. But they’ve done really well for us. I’ll keep paying the price
The arc fault may not have tripped in your test either because you moved the fixture enough to disturb the problematic internal connection, or because the fixture was hanging in the air and the metal frame was no longer grounded.
Hii !!! I NEED HELP I was trying to use my hairdryer, my room outlet tripped. It isnot turning on should I reset or give some time … please let me know
I would have thought your bulb adapter was at fault and not the LED light itself but those aluminum circuit boards can be a source of pain. LEDs can last forever, but you have to run them below their maximum current. Most manufacturers engineer their lights to run at maximum current for max brightness but a better idea would be to run them at about half the current and just double the number of LEDs to get more light output and a much longer lifetime out of them.
The Feit brand is good. Compare their products with others and you will find they have a decent price point and much value when compared to other brands. Just 8 years ago or so we purchased R40 LED lamps that were $15 each...today, they are maybe $3 each. No issues with them yet and we have about 41 of them in our home. Those "arc fault" breakers are likely about the same as those GFI receptacles for bathrooms and kitchens as well as outdoor receptacles...a pain in the ass. It would make some sense if we had a lot of fires or injuries that were because of "fault circuits" but I'd bet we do not and just one or two large legal cases came up through the courts where someone had an isolated problem which forced the industry to make these changes. Those and most fixtures have protections built into them, so the breaker is the weaker of the two protections causing the entire circuit to open. Thanks for the review....
Good video, After unplugging the 2nd light, I would have just left the light switch on and see if it would have tripped right away, saving maybe an extra trip up and down. Nice neat wiring in that house, what are the red/orange things holding wires together on joist. I like how the wires were run and staples staggered to give nice appearance. I understand time is money and on a job stie they would take time like that, just get the wire ran. several code violation on the panel easily noticeable right away, surprised no one else has mentioned it.
I'm willing to guess that the light fixture above the shower is unsafely close to the moisture of the shower. I think that there isn't supposed to be a light within 8 ft. above the shower top rim or within 3 ft. horizontally of the shower.
quick question im changing out a sub panel inside the house. but the wire from the main to the old sub looks to be a #10 cooper. it dont look right to me what size wire should i use cooper or aluminum. it s a 50ft. run. im going to put a 200 amp panel in.
If you wire up the breaker wrong where Circuit A hot or neutral is going to Circuit B breaker and they are crossed it will trip also. Happen to me when the electrician wired up my new panel.
I’ve had enough arc fault breakers fail with nuisance trips that it’s the very first thing that comes to mind. Eaton Arc Fault breakers from 2010 - 2015 ish seem to be very trip happy.. at least at my house.
@@BenjaminSahlstromI’ve had MUCH better luck with Eatons newer ones that do both GFCI and combo AFCI. They’re pricey though. Ugh. I think Square D maybe better. Glad yours are working well and good to see you had a real issue that it worked to protect you from. I hear a lot of folks hate these for nuisance trips and just get rid of them. Personally I like them despite the cost just for the potential protection that you found. Great video and thank you!
I had an AFCI that kept tripping. Went through all kinds of troubleshooting as it went to my server room - read all kinds of things about computer power supplies causing them to trip, etc. In the end there was a loose screw on the outlet. Electrician tightened it and never tripped since!
I have come across same situation with plugs, when someone changes the plug and pushes the wires back in the box the ground touches the neutral screw on the outlet. Everything is fine until someone plugs something in the outlet and the arc fault trips. That’s a hard one to chase down.
A motor like a ceiling fan, pedestal fan or space heater will also trip an Arc fault breaker. Had it happen to me the way my 70 year old house was wired!
maybe you can explain i ran a dedicated 20 amp circuit with 12 gauge wire to my garage a year ago no problem using it for a chop saw, band saw etc yesterday i hit the trigger on the saw and heard a pop the breaker didn't trip opened up the the two gang outlet box and saw the white wires connected with a wago burnt i repaired the connection all is fine now Can you explain what happened
![[TH] FS vs BME - VCT Ascension Pacific - Lower Bracket Final](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wnygqsR2Fig/mqdefault.jpg)
Good troubleshooting and I really like the coffee cup on top of the panel!
😂 I have no idea how that ended up there!
It's a tip jar.
I would suggest putting one above the shower that’s rated for high humidity. Or maybe look into doing a conformal coating yourself on the one in the shower. Just dont put the coating over the LED’s, just on the PCB, and around the LED’s to the PCB. It cold have been the humidly (and soap and stuff with it) that built up and caused that arc.
Cheap LED lights tend to be overdriven (more), but for areas where the lights are not on for long periods of time like perhaps cupboards or the likes, cheap is probably just fine. For kitchens and shower areas, I'd stick a higher quality light in though. Where I live we don't have ARC fault breakers yet, but it is good to avoid problems long term as wiring ages and equipment may develop faults over time.
I watch your videos all the time I has learned so much thanks for such an amazing teaching.
You know WHY that specific light tripped??? notice the location....other places are NOT in the shower (moisture????)......when you take a HOT shower, where is the steam headed??? so if you are going to replace it, find another system that prevents moisture buildup!!!
You should have grounded the light fixture also. The problem may have arcing to ground.
Can it be a switch or the wiring on the switch that would trip an arc fault breaker?
The one in the shower should be rated for wet locations. A hot shower and condensation on the cold light equals a wet fixture and a ground fault. This is a case of a faulty installation using the wrong material in a wet location.
exactly and it needs to be GFCI not AFCI only
holy shit batman u got enough lights in that kitchen xD
Yes common problem with these cheap LEDs I’ve seen them be more difficult sometimes they work for a few hours and then make a fault when they warm up
Phillips or Sylvania, last on list is Feit.
It's kind of ridiculous when you think about it: we've replaced what is generally a very reliable mechanically-triggered breaker with ones with microprocessors. All those penny components crammed into a tiny space, and they kick off heat dropping/rectifying the voltage in addition to the heat of the regular breaker with no cooling. Not many small electronics would last more than a few years being on 24/7, and generally it seems these breakers are the same. There's almost no chance you'll be able to get 20+ years out of one like was possible with the regular breakers.
I'm a big fan of GFCIs, because when they trip, it's usually something that at least has the potential to hurt/kill you. Most AFCIs trip (like in this case), because some fully enclosed device had a minor fault or otherwise put noise on the line. There's no chance that LED, in a metal enclosure, with drywall around it, would cause a fire.
I can't say I disagree.
Halo lights are great! Cost a lot more.
In my limited experience, ARC fault breakers cause more problems than they prevent. Frequent failures, outrageous cost, tripping on the microwave or refrigerator. Dollars to donuts that light was never going to burn your house down. That ARC fault caught it early, thankfully, but I am pretty sure a normal breaker would have tripped long before anything catastrophic occurred. Think about your experience with those lights and all the old houses that have them installed with no ARC faults in them at all. No thanks.
It would be interesting to know what the average number of nuisance breaker resets is before the breakers are replaced with non-arc-fault breakers. 🤣
Switches go bad also!
I’m a Phillips guy.
All made in China anyway but maybe some better than others. I too had good results with Phillips.
Yeah. I've found Philips to be the best as well. They last and are generally nicer designs.
Agreed
A faster diagnostic method with fewer trips back to the breaker box is to unplug everything, turn the breaker back on, then see which thing trips the breaker when plugged back in. Only one breaker box trip unless you have multiple faulty devices.
I’ve had good luck with Halo (Cooper) recessed LED trims. I like Feit, but I’ve had many of their bare LED bulbs (not trims) die prematurely. Feit’s warranty replacement has been excellent, so I don’t hesitate to buy their product.
Thank you for sharing your troubleshooting method. My favorite led light brand is Juno.
I've had very good luck with Amico LEDs off Amazon... 100s installed and only 1 has had issues to date. Halo from home Depot also have been very reliable but cost a bit more.
I certainly would never overlook the switch itself. After all, it is a make/break device which invites arcing.
I recently had a combo breaker fail on me. It was for the countertop outlets in the kitchen. Took me a few weeks to get to the bottom of it. I isolated the homerun the first day I noticed but it was still tripping and then I sat on it for a few weeks. Finally thought about testing the breaker itself. Its a little over 2 years old so it didn't come to mind at first.
a combo breaker is.........one that trips on series or parallel arc.....not a GFCI AFCI
I have similar fixtures made by HALO. They're really heavy, compared to the newer versions. They have been installed for many, many years.
07:30 Buy leviton or eaton commercial grade edison retrofit downlights. I have eatons that have lasted for a decade so far. No issues. Has been here before we moved in.
Since LED lights run off of 12 volt DC, but they have to convert 120v AC to DC wasting some energy in the form of heat, wouldn’t it be more efficient for builders to start running 12V DC lighting circuits in new homes? It could run from a converter mounted next to the breaker panel or even be incorporated into the panel. RVs use this method.
its comming, soon enough DC power will reign within most homes. some high rises i have wired have dc throughout for lighting.
Is your light fixture rated for damp locations?
Yes!
Ben. A new video. long time no see.
Question: Why would we have an arc fault only breaker On a circuit?
PS. which TYPE of arc fault breaker is on the lighting circuit?
thank you
1:30 I'm pretty sure the reason arc fault breakers got written into the code was kickbacks from the breaker manufacturers to the policy makers.
Insurance underwriters we’re the cause
I personally view this as action by contractors (who actually behind the writing of code), to implement a total requirement for AF breakers (once reliable), then allow aluminum conductors back into residential (aluminum conductor alloys that don't require paste are in the supply chain now). Thus, being held responsible for incompetent wiring will no longer be an issue.
@@josephbrabenderiii2049 being old enough to tell you I installed small amounts of aluminum household romex and all the subsequent years fixing all the early 1970’s installation of that type of wiring I can say aluminum should only be used on larger ampacity circuits 40 amps and up with proper upsizing if in conduit or underground or long distance run, copper must stay for 30 and below, aluminum is simply to brittle and it’s expansion and contraction rates are such that over time any connections will loosen up much more than copper, I started in 1972 and by 1978 houses were already burning down and have loads of connection problems, I must have gone through a couple hundred houses pigtailing every aluminum terminating point and changing to copper with antioxidant compound in the wire nuts, it was a nightmare back then, and the aluminum wire went along well with the federal panels and breakers that would never trip, what a great combo they made LOL
in Germany the lamp above the shower should only be 12V and the transformer must be in another dry place.
Swat the flies head first. they can see in/to the rear.
Arc fault breakers became code for one reason...profit. They save insurance companies money thereby increasing their profit and the companies that manufacture them profit. Are they really about saving life or property, no, that's just a side benefit.
Big facts
Hey Ben, really enjoy your content. I noticed the fixture that was bad was located in your shower area. I think moisture from the steam in that area could have caused your arcing problem. Try replacing the fixture with one that is rated for damp/moist locations. Keep up the good work. 👍
Better quality lights that are rated for damp areas usually come with a foam gasket as well. The gasket fills the gap between the light and your ceiling to fill any imperfections. That one didn’t have one so I’d venture to guess your assessment is correct.
I believe these were rated for damp locations. I'm going to double-check.
Damp location with a gasket
@@BenjaminSahlstroma shower is not a damp location. It is a wet location.
That is incorrect. The light fixture on the shower ceiling is not being saturated with water. They are subject to moderate degrees of moisture which would fall under the definition of a damp location under the NEC. A wet location would require the fixture to be saturated with water or other liquids.
Hello Ben,
Enjoy your videos. I installed two large LED panels in my workshop. The building is fully insulated and I ran all wiring inside the gray watertight conduit. Overkill I know. So, I decided to use an ARCFAULT breaker just for these two overhead lights. Even though my mancave is climate controlled, every once in a while that breaker would trip as soon as I flipped the switch. I called and was passed upchannel to an electrical engineer at the company that makes the QO breakers. We ran some test on the breaker, but all appeared good. So, I running out of answers, I did some further trouble shooting . The roof in my mancave is metal. Same as used in modern pole building. Above, fully R47 blown in insulation. I used plastic gray looking receptical boxes, and locking plugs on the ends of the light cords. Turned off the circuit, and noticed that one of the receptacle tabs (metal), was touching the metal roof. What do you know? ... once I broke off that tab, I haven't had that tripping again. Called back the engineer, and he was dumbfounded! We surmised that there was enough ground current flowing between the receptical and the roof area, that the breaker would trip. * I have put up four JUNO LED flat plated light under the porch of my workshop. They work very nicely, and are extremely easy to install. Additionally, each light has a controller that allows you to set the (k), daylight, more yellow, or wavelength. Great product. Thanks again for all of your videos. Keep it up
Thanks for sharing your experience! That's super interesting. Neat that QO has engineers you can actually get in contact with!
Hello @HGR693,
The RCD should have trip off in this case, if I understand the situation correctly.
Of course, the AFCI can respond to a parallel phase-to-ground arc fault. But that's the RCD's area of responsibility in the first place, I suppose.
sounds to me like you have a bad light or moisture ingress somewhere it shouldn't be, causing a current leak from either a hot or neutral to the ground. assuming you have ground wires!
if no grounds exist then it could be capacitive inductance from the lights internals themselves causing leakage to the ground and out the roof. something is silly there for sure, maybe even current leaking into the roof via somewhere/something else or nearby power transmission lines?
I have used Juno and have had good luck with them. Good quality and packaged well.
@@chrisdestry5394 I hope they're still decent, since they were bought out in 2015.
unsure if I've installed any after that date, but probably many in small numbers.
I oil my compressor tools daily (as indicated on tools) whether I use them or not, along with ARC fault breakers, GFCI's, appliances with GFCI's, and test smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors...Takes about 40-45 mins.
do not oil unused tools, the oil will build up and cause issues, like gumming and spraying out all over. it's wise to oil and run them a bit before putting them away each time though.
Right. I do too, along with carefully reading all my prescription documentation and double checking the list of contraindicated/drug interaction meds, as well as updating the spreadsheet with my meds' expiration dates. That takes about 90 minutes, usually after the checking breakers, GFCI outlet test buttons, and oiling my pneumatic tools. Then I carefully review my owner's manuals for the vehicles, compare the odometer readings with the list I force my family to make of the duration of their vehicle trips versus outside temperature (short trips require more frequent oil changes), and make the correct notations in another spreadsheet I keep on a separate computer and separate network (never can tell if you'll have a laptop fail or have a network failure). Then I carefully shower, being sure to use the rubber mat, which gets hung after being towelled-dry to resist mildew (air quality issues), and go to bed after prayers that the wiring or mildew won't get me. Then I do it all again.
Seriously, who does any of this other than occasionally?
You have a great channel. Quite practical/helpful for others of us in your shoes who have not yet run across the particular issues you showcase (or have but can learn new things). Thank you!
Lesson learned! Don't buy shitty Amazon LED lights. They're all garbage.
These were actually from Menards! 😬
Cree Retrofit downlights have been reliable for me, and have great color rendering and warrantee.
We just had a bunch of renovations and our electrician installed the Commercial electric brand and they seem good so far. He said he trusts them and have been reliable for him.
they are dangling in free air and not touching ground circuit.... thats why not tripping anymore...
Good thought. I might actually try that. Although they are all disassembled currently.
New built spec house. We kept having a arc fault trip on the dishwasher/garbage disposal circuit. Turned out that the Frigidaire brand dishwasher had a relay that would cause a trip as that spark happened. The relay spark is normal. So we found ourselves in a situation were we weren't going to replace the dishwasher which was perfectly fine. We decided to just eliminate the arc fault breaker .
Stick a surge protector on the outlet. That will work without sacrificing the protection for the upstream wiring.
@@Ariccio123 the dishwasher is hard wired with a outlet off that for the garbage disposal.
@@andrewulrich6612 I feel like there's a problem with a new built house with a hardwired dishwasher!
@@Ariccio123the installation manual allows for either. And that isn't the issue. FRIGIDAIRE design in combination with a arc detection beaker is the issue. The builder had the same issue with two other spec houses and FRIGIDAIRE dishwashers. To ne it's a simple fix. Replace the arc fault with a standard ground fault breaker. ARC fault breakers trip a lot with brushed motors as well. We had an older vacuum we couldn't use. It also kept tripping them.
@@andrewulrich6612 All motors get their own circuit...
I did Philips Hue recessed lighting retrofit, and I haven’t had one issue.
I'm going to ask my wife to watch the last minute of this vid, particularly at 14:45 to 15:20. This will help her understand I’m not the only one with long range plans!
I was thinking the same thing!!! 😂😅
Good luck with that ….
I had a led light like that fail with a shower of sparks when I turned it on. I didn't have an ark fault breaker, but very quickly turned the switch off. The insulation on the hot wire to the led PCB failed.
Good you were there to turn it off!
AFCI is not a panacea. The point of high transient resistance does not give HF arcing signal, which is detected by AFCI. Therefore, different kind of circuit breakers is in use.
You just helped me trun an 8 hour job into 3 hours 👍🏾🙏🏾 customer is very happy
LED’s may last a long time, but the components and capacitors in the power supply for the LED’s probably wont last nearly as long with cheaper brands. Most of my LED light failures are capacitors. And sometimes because the heat disappoint wasn’t good and the PCB and components got too hot. Electronics and heat are not friends. So in most cases you hope more expensive fixture use better thermals and component, but that’s not always the case, just in half the case. But you can almost grantee the cheaper ones use cheaper components. They have to cut that cost somehow.
Take it out and put in a dumb one? :)
Seems safe /s
Safer than putting in a bigger dumb breaker...
Ben, typical homeowner here with a skill set above dangerous but no better than amateur. So recently we noticed the garbage disposal started occasionally tripping the arc fault breaker. Then got progressively worse until today it tripped almost every time it was turned on. (All the components are about 4 years old.) So looking to save the cost of an electrician call I read what I could on-line. Armed with a little knowledge and Kentucky windage I did the 'normal' stuff. When I pulled the off/on switch I couldn't help but wonder if where the quick disconnect "push in" wire is both held in place by the little "leaf spring" and also where the electrical connection is made, could be an issue. So I pulled out the wires and reconnected them using the side terminal screws. Time will tell but after repeated cycles the breaker no longer trips. While I am not totally convinced this is what fixed it, seems kinda reasonable to assume it might have.
That was a long-winded lead in to my question. Have you ever heard of this being an issue with arc fault breakers? If not, what do you think of my theory?
I have found Sunco products to be very high quality. I have installed their downlights, led tubes, E26 bulbs and 2 grow lights. I will be relighting my shop with their 4' lights next month. I haven't had one go bad and they also offer 4K versions. They have a 7 year warranty and they are an American company.
I think you missed a step in your troubleshooting. If there was a series arc, removing the load would also stop the AFCI from tripping. You should have installed a different lamp of comparable load to confirm there was nothing wrong with the wiring.
So far, I despise AFCI breakers and they make my life miserable. The Siemens 20A units in my 2020 house randomly trip for no legitimate reason. They just don't like certain loads, or are over-sensitive to noise that 'sounds' like an arc. My neighbor got so fed up with them that he replaced all of his breakers with non-AFCI. They really aren't "necessary" to begin with, and in a house where there aren't any actual faults, there is nothing unsafe about downgrading to non-AFCI. It's better than walking down the hall every 5 minutes to keep one laptop and a cablemodem powered. The house also came with Feit LED fixtures similar to yours. All but two failed in the first 4 years. I went back to incandescent GE bulbs made in Hungary.
Thanks for the video troubleshooting an archfult braker
My favorite led brand is ensenior their not the cheapest, but their the best .thanks brother
My rented dryer was the item that caused my cb to trip so I have contacted the Rental Company. Although recently an Electrician came to work on our Stove last week but nothing has gone wrong until today & it was the dryer as I connected it to two different plug outlet & it went POOF and the cb tripped again. In your video my NZ cb looked just like your one in the video. Thanks 😊
Good vid and I see that you live by the ole Creed , Happy Wife , Happy Life Thx
You bet!
Juno is good I've used those alot at old electric company . Obviously led doesn't last forever ive seen alot go bad but Juno seems to be legit . I say prob 1 out 50 I see go bad
I've heard good things about Juno.
Yeah I installed alot of them in new construction. Also Halo is a good brand as well . Love the content 👌 keep it up
Do you have any recommendations for arc fault gfci breakers that are nearly impossible to keep on while running a backup generator? Main line power they are fine.
Interesting. Probably a better generator? That sounds frustrating.
Thanks for the video Ben. Love your work. I’m having similar issues in my pole building with LED canopy lights (plug in to receptacles)bought on Amazon. Irritating to say the least. I’ve tried simply pulling them one by one and as soon as I get to more than three of them, it trips. And it can be different trios too so not one common denominator.
On a different circuit I’m also having tripping when I try to use the table saw. As soon as I turn it on, it trips. So I have some investigating to do. Could be cheap product on the lights (or in rush current?). Any tips from anyone would be appreciated. Thanks for the video, as always!
Oh and your wife’s comment about it taking two months or so (you brought it up so bravo on you), it reminds me of the saying the shoemakers kids have no shoes. The electricians family has no light. 😂
if the arc fault/combo breakers are over about four years old, I'd simply try replacing one of them and see if the issue goes away. most of the older ones were prone to false tripping.
also if they're straight AFCI and there's GFCI receptacles, those are known to cause random AFCI tripping when large/high surge current loads are turned on, usually solved by using new AFCI/GFCI combo breakers and dumping the GFCI receptacles.
I had some with that exact issue, when turning a hair dryer on/off, even with the GFCI receptacle tripped it still affected it. they were older Square D/Eaton/cutler hammer, so not just one brand.
Any type of motor will trip arc fault. GFCI and AFCI breakers sense a disturbance on the neutral and power aide. Start looking at neutral connectors. Make sure connections are tight I stopped buying stuff on Amazon. Had a few Wagos go bad. Ordered them on Amazon. If you don't live or have guest quarters in your pole barn you don't need AFCI in that building.
GFCI once a month
Hi Ben,
Is placing your coffee cup on top of your breaker panel a best practice? 😉
using the AFCI's idle watt draw to keep it warm
I’ve had half of my arc fault breakers fail in under 10 years, they are very unreliable for how expensive they are. I have a spare on stand by now because of failures. Especially since it’s code, they need to drop in price if they don’t last.
Arc fault and GFCi all have a very limited lifespan and are not needed if you don't hire unskilled labor to build your house. I lived in a house that was built in the 80s for 30 years with 3 generations of kids being raised in the house. Aluminum wiring, no GFCI, no child proofing at all and no problems.
This safety crap is all just regulations pushed through by lobbyists to sell you more crap you don't need. Houses aren't more dangerous than they used to be, kids are just growing up dumber.
What brand?
I am not licensed nor condone this. Don't know code well. However, I think afci main breakers do exist. So if that fails it can be replaced instead of having to replace 20. I doubt this is up to NEC code as of now. But it works and does the same thing.
I only install Lithonia Lighting. Never had a problem. The cheap lights are garbage. Every new construction house comes with garbage LED lights and they all go bad in a year
Stick with real brands, Juno, Lightolier, Philips,Hubbell,etc...Costco has great deals on LED fixtures...an off brand from Canada, but installed about 12 different types of same brand, no failures, at all...
I would've unplugged all the trims first, then if the switch and circuit are on, plug each trim back in till the circuit trips, saving having to keep going to the panel to reset it. Everything Fiet is poor preforming. Halo or the same trim in another brand, made by Cooper lighting are more reliable. For new wafer installation, RAB and Topaz are very popular. 100,000hr life. They cost more, but you get what you pay for. A friend asked me why are all 6 LED fixtures randomly flickering together. One "Commercial Electric" Home Depot brand was causing the problem. Older homes don't have AF breakers. If a neutral is touching a ground in a normally ON circuit, an AF breaker will trip until the grounding neutral contact is cleared.
The electrical industry has gone batshit crazy with the ignorant over rated expensive stupid redundant AFCI GFCI bullshit
I've got this afci tripping issue. The breaker is supporting the basement living room receptacles, basement office receptacles and ceiling lights. Trips randomly. Can't figure it out
who wired that place, all the lights on the same level on the one circuit? 🤣 that's like lesson one of how to never wire a homes lighting.(sorry for being harsh if it was you, but lesson learned)
even back in the mid to late 90's we mixed the various room lighting into different general lighting branch circuits, including some of the basement/hall/stairs. often it ended up 2nd floor bedroom one receptacles with bedroom two lights and vice versa, kitchen/living room/dinning room lighting shared with opposing rooms general lighting receptacles. hallways, stairs and basement intermixed with each other and more than one circuit of course! so you pretty much had to trip multiple circuits or the main to be in the dark anywhere you went. we mostly keep them all on the same floor, except stairs/hallways/basement. no AFCI's used/required back then and sparingly used GFCI's, which often found the garage and outdoor rear receptacle/s protected by the powder room GFCI, and the master bath, GFCI picking up the a secondary full bath bath(if they had them) sometimes that did the powder room and basement GFCI picked up the garage and rear outdoor, with front being off a kitchen counter GFCI. I kind of hated that, but it was due to high cost of them back then.
I still amaze people when they say their garage or outdoor outlet has no power and it's been out for months or years, I instantly ask if checked the bathroom/basement/kitchen/garage GFCI's and sure enough it usually has a tripped one, somewhere they never use. a few gave me over $100 tips just for fixing and showing them that while there doing other remodeling work.
As for the lights,if you spend $5 you're going to get 💩 spend a bit more per fitting and you'll notice a marked increase in quality,even if it's just $12 per fitting.
Any light over a shower area needs to be IP66 rated. Example IP68 = in swimming pool underwater lights. Downlights you have are known to be of some of the lowest quality around. Avoid these.
Can you start a light circuit with an AFCI receptacle so that the lights downstream are AFCI protected without using an AFCI breaker?
I have had good luck with Halo but I am a retired electrician so I am not installing many. I did have a couple with bad drivers a few years back. Can't remember but I think they were Lithonia.
Question, I watched your video for bypass low pressure on refrigeration walk-in box, it’s won’t short the circuit? When u bypass the pressure? And why 🙏
Q: how often do test your arcfaukt breakers?
A: I don’t understand the question.
Q: do you test your arcfault breakers?
A: you’re breaking up …😬
There is a video on Reddit one of these cheap Chinese LED lights circuit board on fire. The problem with lot of these amazon can lights most are not UL listed.
Cheap Chinese garbage. Several years ago, our utility sent out LED flood bulb replacements. They have HEAVY metal finned housings for their size (7 watt) and they are lasting really well.
We also had an arc fault issue in our house a year or two after moving into the house we built in 1994. We kept getting up in the morning to find the breaker (no arc fault breakers then) for the kitchen lights tripped. It turned out to be an over driven staple withing a couple feet of the ceiling box in the attic. Got lucky the house didn't burn down. I was able to install a junction box in the attic to enable cutting out the bad piece and running a short two foot section of new wire to the box. It would have been a nightmare if was in the wall to the switch.
We’ve had great luck with “Juno” brand. We’ve always found them at lowes.
Their price jumped to 6 for $140 this year.
Singles used to be $20 now their $35 not in the big box.
But they’ve done really well for us. I’ll keep paying the price
really like your video's - do those recessed LED's comply with NEC 410.10(D)2
The arc fault may not have tripped in your test either because you moved the fixture enough to disturb the problematic internal connection, or because the fixture was hanging in the air and the metal frame was no longer grounded.
Hii !!! I NEED HELP
I was trying to use my hairdryer, my room outlet tripped. It isnot turning on should I reset or give some time … please let me know
Check the fixture and make sure it's rated for damp locations. The cheap fixtures are usually not.
I would have thought your bulb adapter was at fault and not the LED light itself but those aluminum circuit boards can be a source of pain. LEDs can last forever, but you have to run them below their maximum current. Most manufacturers engineer their lights to run at maximum current for max brightness but a better idea would be to run them at about half the current and just double the number of LEDs to get more light output and a much longer lifetime out of them.
The Feit brand is good. Compare their products with others and you will find they have a decent price point and much value when compared to other brands. Just 8 years ago or so we purchased R40 LED lamps that were $15 each...today, they are maybe $3 each. No issues with them yet and we have about 41 of them in our home. Those "arc fault" breakers are likely about the same as those GFI receptacles for bathrooms and kitchens as well as outdoor receptacles...a pain in the ass. It would make some sense if we had a lot of fires or injuries that were because of "fault circuits" but I'd bet we do not and just one or two large legal cases came up through the courts where someone had an isolated problem which forced the industry to make these changes. Those and most fixtures have protections built into them, so the breaker is the weaker of the two protections causing the entire circuit to open. Thanks for the review....
Why did you not ohm out the load side of the switch. By continuosly tripping the breaker multiple times you could actually damage the breaker.
Good video, After unplugging the 2nd light, I would have just left the light switch on and see if it would have tripped right away, saving maybe an extra trip up and down. Nice neat wiring in that house, what are the red/orange things holding wires together on joist. I like how the wires were run and staples staggered to give nice appearance. I understand time is money and on a job stie they would take time like that, just get the wire ran. several code violation on the panel easily noticeable right away, surprised no one else has mentioned it.
The Dyson vacuum cleaner is the only thing that has been popping the AFCI/GFCI breakers. Not all of them and not all of the time.
I'm willing to guess that the light fixture above the shower is unsafely close to the moisture of the shower. I think that there isn't supposed to be a light within 8 ft. above the shower top rim or within 3 ft. horizontally of the shower.
DMF or Ketra lights would be my recommendation. Those integrated LED trims are garbage.
Maybe the moisture from your shower caused this LED device to fail prematurely.
quick question im changing out a sub panel inside the house. but the wire from the main to the old sub looks to be a #10 cooper. it dont look right to me what size wire should i use cooper or aluminum. it s a 50ft. run. im going to put a 200 amp panel in.
If you wire up the breaker wrong where Circuit A hot or neutral is going to Circuit B breaker and they are crossed it will trip also. Happen to me when the electrician wired up my new panel.
I’ve had enough arc fault breakers fail with nuisance trips that it’s the very first thing that comes to mind. Eaton Arc Fault breakers from 2010 - 2015 ish seem to be very trip happy.. at least at my house.
I haven't had any of the Square D ones fail for me yet. I'm sure I'll eventually get to experience it though...
@@BenjaminSahlstromI’ve had MUCH better luck with Eatons newer ones that do both GFCI and combo AFCI. They’re pricey though. Ugh. I think Square D maybe better.
Glad yours are working well and good to see you had a real issue that it worked to protect you from. I hear a lot of folks hate these for nuisance trips and just get rid of them. Personally I like them despite the cost just for the potential protection that you found.
Great video and thank you!
Some motors like hair dryers use brushes and spark when runnning, also led lights usually have electronic ccts which could simulate arcing
I had an AFCI that kept tripping. Went through all kinds of troubleshooting as it went to my server room - read all kinds of things about computer power supplies causing them to trip, etc. In the end there was a loose screw on the outlet. Electrician tightened it and never tripped since!
At WOODSTOCK before LED, AFCI GFCI...we where trippin'
I have come across same situation with plugs, when someone changes the plug and pushes the wires back in the box the ground touches the neutral screw on the outlet. Everything is fine until someone plugs something in the outlet and the arc fault trips. That’s a hard one to chase down.
RAB is considered the gold standard IMO. I don't always trust the Feit brand.
Benjamin, you have very interesting Videos! Thanks! Subscribed way back!
Thanks for being here! Really appreciate it!!
A motor like a ceiling fan, pedestal fan or space heater will also trip an Arc fault breaker.
Had it happen to me the way my 70 year old house was wired!
As you always do..... great investigating and knowledge......
maybe you can explain i ran a dedicated 20 amp circuit with 12 gauge wire to my garage a year ago no problem using it for a chop saw, band saw etc yesterday i hit the trigger on the saw and heard a pop the breaker didn't trip opened up the the two gang outlet box and saw the white wires connected with a wago burnt i repaired the connection all is fine now Can you explain what happened
Test tripping too often will wear the breaker internal connection out, so you will be replacing them often at 75 dollars a pop.
Was thinking of that mickey cartoon before you played it :P
I do alot of remodeling and I have stopped using all the retrofit and just went back to regular cans.