[TVARC] Eaton AFCI Circuit breakers- the continuing saga

[K2PS Pete Stafford]

I would also add that the smoke alarm company will also replace (your labor) those in your house if RF gets them to sound.  I forget who the manufacturer is, but they swapped out mine with no charge and no aggravation.

 

Good luck,

Pete, K2PS

 

From: tvarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:tvarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Rich Erlichman
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2017 5:39 PM
To: TVARC at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [TVARC] Eaton AFCI Circuit breakers- the continuing saga

 

John,

 

John (NP2B) is the champion of this project. But if you contact the electrical contractor as listed on your breaker box, they “should” respond and change out the breakers at no cost.

If not, then you can contact Eaton corporation directly. Here is a link to the article on the ARRL web site when ARRL was working and sharing their lab to assist Eaton in developing the RFI proof breakers.

http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-helps-manufacturer-to-resolve-arc-fault-circuit-interrupter-rfi-problems

Contact Joe Fello at Eaton. His number is at the bottom of the article. Once you identify yourself, and that you are with our radio club, and it probably wouldn’t hurt to mention John Ellis’s name, he will ask “How many do you want?” This is of course with you doing the replacement/install yourself.

If you have any issues or difficulties doing it yourself, there are some of us (including myself) that can help you with it.

 

BTW – the homes built south of 466A not only have the AFCI issue, but they build the roofs with an aluminum underlay, intended as a heat shield, But for us hams, this heat shield also acts as an RFI shield making any attic antennas pretty useless.

 

73,

Rich, ND4G

 

From: tvarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:tvarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of John Spoonhower
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2017 5:07 PM
To: TVARC at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [TVARC] Eaton AFCI Circuit breakers- the continuing saga

 

All,

I just thought I'd update the group on my recent experiences in trying to get operational antennas in a Villa community setting. There is also a plea for help in the following.

First the "good news":

After some few months experimenting with attic-placed antennas for UHF/VHF, I have settled on a dual band J pole attached to a palm tree about 10 ft. from the house. The same antenna placed in the attic, activated the smoke alarms throughout the house. Rather than replacing the smoke detectors, I opted to use the antenna placed outside and have not seen it necessary to replace the smoke alarm components. Performance of the external antenna is better anyway. I can run up to 50 w on VHF and UHF without any issues. This is good enough to access most ( maybe all) of the local repeaters.

Now for the"bad news", the HF story:

I have had some decent luck with a number of (non attic) "stealth" antennas on HF, my primary interest is 40-10 meters,; a number of remote tuner-fed long wire types work OK. I can make contacts, even a few dx contacts mostly on CW. However all these antennas trip my original Eaton AFCI breakers at 20 W or more RF power. I recall that the club raised this issue with the villages. I am just wondering about the current status. Are replacement circuit breakers still available? I am looking for guidance....

73, John

NX2I



---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/tvarc/attachments/20170717/253df0ba/attachment-0001.html>