Ahhh, arc fault breakers!

[krist003]

Hello everyone, I am looking for some help with arc fault breakers. I helped a friend of mine wire a room addition in San Diego County, CA. The code requires the use of arc fault breakers. We have one circuit for lighting and one for general receptacles (which may also have some lighting on it). There are some other dedicated circuits, but they are on normal breakers. When we went to energize, the breakers held until under load. Every time we plugged something in or flipped a switch, they would trip. No matter which of the 6 or so switches we flip, the breaker will trip immediately. We replaced the breakers momentarily with normal breakers and they held with no apparent problems. We have opened all of the boxes and checked connections? Any ideas of where to start looking?

Thank you!!!

 

[GoldDigger]

First look for reasons for a ground fault trip: shared neutrals, etc.
If the breaker has a diagnostic indication of trip cause, use it.
Wire arcing would not be load dependent. But with no loads there will be no neutral current

 

[krist003]

Thank you for the quick reply golddigger. I just gave him a call and figured out that he had the incoming neutral wire going straight to the neutral bus instead of to the breaker. That is obviously the problem. I told him to look at the instructions next time!

Thanks

 

[GoldDigger]

You are welcome. You will see the same advice in every AFCI problem thread.