Walkie-Talkies Tripping GFCI Breakers

[gadfly56]

Written by a marketeer rather than an engineer.

True dat. +1

 

[K8MHZ]

Written by a marketeer rather than an engineer.

I don't think that matters.

What matters is that their product is not working as advertised. They need to be contacted. They may have an updated replacement. Or this may be from a batch that had problems and new ones need to be tried. I think it's the manufacturer's responsibility to provide a product that meets their advertised specifications.

 

[goldstar]

I get the feeling that this is going to be a long and drawn out process. The last time I had a confrontation with Seimens they wouldn't stand behind a defective circuit breaker that was being used for a refrigerator unit in a florist. The compressor malfunctioned, the breaker burnt up (never tripped) and took most of the bus of the panel with it. Not only didn't they stand behind the malfunctioning breaker I wasn't able to buy just the guts of the breaker panel by itself. I ended up having to buy a new breaker panel, threw the new cabinet in the dumpster and replaced the guts. I'm not looking forward to this.

I get the uneasy feeling that they're going to say something to the nature of "Our specs say you can only use these breakers in a 120/240 single phase panel, not a 3 phase 120/208 panel". Then that let's them off the hook.

 

[K8MHZ]

These are 1P breakers installed in a 3 phase 120/208 panel.

I get the uneasy feeling that they're going to say something to the nature of "Our specs say you can only use these breakers in a 120/240 single phase panel, not a 3 phase 120/208 panel". Then that let's them off the hook.

Yes, that may be a problem. It may also be THE problem.

I don't see any 120 volt breakers listed for 120/208, either. I wonder what's up with that?

 

[goldstar]

It's no sweat off my brow. We're on a T&M basis with the building owner. I just hate dealing with these companies knowing that they're probably going to try and white-wash this in some way. I shouldn't prejudge, they might just replace the whole lot of them to my surprise. I really can't do much on this right now. I'm working for a friend on this project who is not computer literate so I'm doing the research for him. I'll let you all know what happens, if anything.

 

[K8MHZ]

It's no sweat off my brow. We're on a T&M basis with the building owner. I just hate dealing with these companies knowing that they're probably going to try and white-wash this in some way. I shouldn't prejudge, they might just replace the whole lot of them to my surprise. I really can't do much on this right now. I'm working for a friend on this project who is not computer literate so I'm doing the research for him. I'll let you all know what happens, if anything.

This may be an engineering problem that can't be corrected just by swapping breakers.

You may have to provide a sub panel and GFI breakers made for that sub panel.

There are some methods that ham radio operators use, but I don't consider them adequately tested for use on a customer's panel. It involves the use of toroidal chokes to remove the problematic RF from the conductors.

The method does work, but I will bet that it's far from UL approved.

 

[goldstar]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.