Electrical Help! Arc Fault Breakers and Digi ballasts...

[ganjalfthegreen]

Hey everyone, need some help here..

8x8, 2000w with each ballast on seperate circuit.

Been vegging under the 1000w which's recepticle is in the hallway. Went to plug in the 2nd ballast into a recepticle in the bedroom the tent is in, which is on a 15 amp Arc fault breaker as per electrical code.

As soon as the second ballast off the bedroom plug gets plugged in it trips the breaker. The 1st ballast of course being on the hallway circuit keeps running, no issues. That circuit is just a regular breaker.

The 2nd ballast circuit has nothing else other than the ballast plugged in to trip it.

Veg time is very close to an end and need to get this second ballast going asap.

I have read a few blogs regarding digi ballasts creating interference or high outputs which apparently trip these breakers?

Do i have any options here? Is it ok to switch out the Arc fault breaker for a regular one until the room is lived in again?

Help......

 

[Electrician]

Are you sure there are no other loads on the circuit that trips when you plug in the second ballast? Are the ballast new? how bout the hood,lamp,socket? Could be a number of different things. Arc faults are sensitive. Try pluging in another load into that outlet i.e vaccuum cleaner or something. See if it trips. If it doesnt you know the problem is in your light, ballast. Personally I've never plugged a digital ballast into a circuit that had and arc fault circuit breaker for the over current protection. Most of the grows ive done are all commercial bolt on circuit breaker panel board type.

 

[the_extremist]

What year was the house wired?

If wired between 2002 and 2007 the AFCI is most likely a Feeder Type and not a Combination type. Think of the feeder type as the first generation of AFCI's and the combo type as the second. These older AFCI's are much more sensitive to non-linear loads like digi ballasts.

Try swapping it out for a newer Combination Type AFCI. These ones are more sophisticated than the older Feeder type and may fix your problem, but I can't be sure as I've never actually ran a digi ballast on an AFCI. If that doesn't help, you could swap it out for a plain single pole breaker. Keep in mind that technically if your house was wired after 2001 that you're violating the NEC by removing an AFCI. But if the bedroom isn't occupied and it's just the tent I personally don't see the harm, although I don't recommend that you do this. Do so at your own risk, brother. And make damn sure you replace the AFCI before you move or if someone ends up using the bedroom as a dwelling area.

 

[rives]

Have you tried swapping the ballasts and see if the problem goes away or remains the same?

 

[ganjalfthegreen]

Thanks for the replies,

rives, yeah switching the ballasts around was the first thing i did, both still trip that breaker...

House is under 8 years old, no old wiring...

extremist, How do i know wether its a feeder, or combo type?

 

[the_extremist]

It will say right on the face of the breaker. The print is small though.

 

[Catchin1]

plug it

plug it

plug it into the bathroom GFI for that bedroom. It should be a 20 amp circuit. It should not trip the GFI at all. Problem solved and you will be good to go. Do not change the breaker to a single pole non afci..........worse comes to worse......find a chase....run your wires up through it with a fish tape and drop your circuits down the wall to plug your stuff into. That would be the correct way to go...... 2 ----20 amp dedicated lines and ended with two 20amp gfi receptacles. You will be good to go. 3 pak Cooper 20amp GFI at lowes......30.00........250' 12-2 romex 80.00 lowes.......two single pole 20A breakers...whatever make......10.00 each at lowes........two boxes for the devices to be terminated in....metal 10.00........cheaper then a fire or troubles with electricity.
That is how I would remedy the problems.