ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area AFCI Breaker tripping

Has anyone ever had a problem with a Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter Kit tripping an AFCI breaker. I rewired a home and there is one in the basement and one in the bedroom and these 2 areas have these devices. Essentially these things provide ethernet network connectivity at any wall receptacle. Everytime the homeowner does large downloads the AFCI breaker trips.

I bet it is tripping for a ground fault. If this thing plugs in, try it in a SABC or bathroom circuit and see if it trips the GFCI.
Ethernet cables are supposed to be isolated from the DC bus with transformers but YMMV. The DC ground in a PC is tied to AC ground via the base plate of the PC case through the power supply.

The whole concept of this device is to use the electrical wiring to pass data to the router. It doesnt trip right away it trips only when they start downloading large files. Its weird because they also have one in the basement and that AFCI breaker trips also when they start data transfer.

I would gander that the high frequency two-way data communication is likely screwing with the electronics in the AFCI itself. I'm guessing they were probably only designed to be used with 60Hz, so here is possibly another application from advances in new technology that AFCI’s were never intended to handle.


I would shoot the circuit breaker manufacturer an email so they can begin to make revisions to the next generation of AFCI and add another $20.00 on to the current price for their efforts.