Arc fault breakers … any good explanations of internal circuitry?

[calzap]

Looking for an in-depth exploration of the internal circuitry of an arc fault breaker … any brand.  Have tried Google and youtube.   Best I found are sites that say something like “Hey look.  There’s a circuit board in here!”.  A few state something about waveform comparison but no reference to actual circuitry.

Anybody have links to something better?

To be clear.  I’m not interested in general function, installation or code requirements … I’ve got a good handle on those.

Mike

[IanB]

Arcs will generate high frequency noise with a characteristic spectral fingerprint. The circuit will have a detector that looks for that fingerprint and breaks the circuit.

Unfortunately, the arcs from the brushes on universal motors also match the fingerprint, so power tools like electric drills will often (always?) cause nuisance trips. May also be true of things like kitchen blenders.

[Gyro]

Arcs will generate high frequency noise with a characteristic spectral fingerprint. The circuit will have a detector that looks for that fingerprint and breaks the circuit.

Unfortunately, the arcs from the brushes on universal motors also match the fingerprint, so power tools like electric drills will often (always) cause nuisance trips. May also be true of things like kitchen blenders.

Not "always" ...   From about 21 mins in for the meat.

[IanB]

Not "always" ...   From about 21 mins in for the meat.

Oh dear. I thought those things were supposed to save your house from burning down?   

[coppice]

Not "always" ...   From about 21 mins in for the meat.

Oh dear. I thought those things were supposed to save your house from burning down?   

They are supposed to pass some qualification tests. They are proprietary, and don't really document what they do and don't do in their algorithms. Its all rather hit or miss, with little consistency between the quirks or one product and the next.

[Terry Bites]

Big Clive gets deep into it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6I7dKDk7hE

[calzap]

Big Clive gets deep into it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6I7dKDk7hE

Thanks.  Good video on regular breakers.  Nothing on arc fault breakers.

Mike

[coppice]

Big Clive gets deep into it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6I7dKDk7hE

Thanks.  Good video on regular breakers.  Nothing on arc fault breakers.

Mike

Its not Big Clive. Its John Ward. If you look through his channel he has several videos on arc fault breakers

[Gyro]

Big Clive gets deep into it:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6I7dKDk7hE

Thanks.  Good video on regular breakers.  Nothing on arc fault breakers.

Mike

You want eFIXX...  https://www.youtube.com/@efixx/search?query=afdd  (in addition to John Ward, as coppice says)

... or David Savery if you want more rants! (as the one I posted previously) ... https://www.youtube.com/@dsesuk/search?query=afdd


P.S. I don't know how these relate to the US ones which, I think, have been around a lot longer. The current European ones have ARM processors in them.