GFCI plug damaged from radio.

[WRUS537]

I was checking a couple of MURS radios today and was transmitting in my kitchen, the wall GFCI Plug started to buss when I transmitted and no longer works.

Anyone ever have that happen to them?

[SteveShannon]

2 minutes ago, WRUS537 said:

I was checking a couple of MURS radios today and was transmitting in my kitchen, the wall GFCI Plug started to buss when I transmitted and no longer works.

Anyone ever have that happen to them?

I’ve heard of it happening with ham radios but usually higher power than MURS. 
You might check to see if your GFI is truly grounded. Sometimes GFIs are installed in lieu of a ground wire in older homes. 

[Guest]

Yea.  Don’t do that.   Some Radios can also effect some power strips that have protection built it. 

[WRUE951]

Wife's hair dryer kept popping the GFI in our RV but never did it at home..  Replaced the GFI, which was a major PITA because RV's use an AC socket type you can't find anywhere..   Got a real household version installed and been working great since

[CaptainSarcastic]

i just recently had the same exact thing happen to me - but with a Ham HT transmitting on 2 meters. GFCI - stopped working entirely after buzzing during transmit. Had to replace and all is well (old outlet WAS grounded properly according to code though)

[WRXB215]

Maybe I should take an HT and test all my GFCI outlets. 

[CaptainSarcastic]

4 hours ago, WRXB215 said:

Maybe I should take an HT and test all my GFCI outlets. 

I wouldn't unless you have extras laying around. If you fry them and you need to replace them they ain't cheap 

 

[LeoG]

My 5 watt HT transmitting on 467MHz will turn on my wife's headlamp she uses to walk the dog at night.  It has turned on my stove, thankfully it is a 2 step process to activate any burner.  My 25 watt mobile radio on 467MHz will activate my neighbors motion detector light.  In my shop, again at 467MHz it will activate my Fein Dust Extractor which has a tool activated port.  None of this happens on 462MHz.

My buddy has a Kenwood HT and when he's transmitting near his garage flat screen it freezes the picture.  When he unkeys it resumes.

[nokones]

My two Motorola XTL5000 Dashmount radios I use for my base units would pop the GFI circuit in my Shop/Garage. The electrical power part of the outlet is on a dedicated 20-Amp circuit and that GFI only affected two outlets on that grounding circuit. The other GFI was not affected. My repeater station did not affect the GFI circuit. My repeater antenna is obviously outside above the roof and my radio base station antennae are above in the attic.

I had the GFI circuit outlet controlling that grounding system taken out and replaced with a non-GFI outlet.

[LeoG]

Did you try replacing the GFCI outlet?  They do go bad.

[WRXB215]

1 hour ago, nokones said:

I had the GFI circuit outlet controlling that grounding system taken out and replaced with a non-GFI outlet.

Just don't use your hair dryer in the bathtub. 

[nokones]

5 hours ago, WRXB215 said:

Just don't use your hair dryer in the bathtub. 

Got that solved. There's no bathtub in the shop/garaged although I do have a heat blower for heat shrink tubings.

[Ian]

On 10/28/2024 at 12:51 PM, WRUS537 said:

I was checking a couple of MURS radios today and was transmitting in my kitchen, the wall GFCI Plug started to buss when I transmitted and no longer works.

Anyone ever have that happen to them?

Yes.  It's a known fault with certain AFCI/GFCI breakers, but this is the first time I've heard of it impacting a receptacle.  I want to say it was Leviton, but don't quote me.  

They were surprisingly cool about it, however -- any RF damage or even RF sensitive breaker will be replaced no questions asked forever, after an investigation carried out in conjunction with the ARRL.

Before this, one ham in a car could cut power to entire housing developments at a time built with the effected breakers!

[dosw]

A couple years ago I was in a parking lot where there were parked a few plumbing vans. My 15w GMRS radio set off two of their car alarms when I pushed to talk.

Strange how sensitive some things are. I never heard of GFCI plugs tripping though. That's wild.

[marcspaz]

Eh, tripping some GFCIs is no big deal. Call me when you key-up and 4 of the gas pumps you're sitting next to crash and go through a whole reboot cycle so no one can get gas for 10 minutes. 

[LeoG]

The best I got is my stove turning on.

[WRUU653]

When PG&E first started putting in “smart meters” they had a frequency that was tripping early GFCI breakers (Zinsco to be exact). Some homes had to be fitted with newer GFCI outlets to replace these breakers. My understanding is they later changed their operating frequency. There were RF issues with early arc fault breakers as well which the breaker manufacturers addressed in second generation arc fault breakers. 
While some GFCI outlets have been installed in non grounded homes it is not and does not provide grounding but rather for ground fault protection, nor should it be used as such.  The GFCI looks for a difference of current between the hot and neutral and trips if it becomes too much (I believe around 3 milliamperes). I have seen surge suppression plug strips catch fire when they were hit with a surge but had no ground to suppress to. Energy has to go somewhere. So just a note of caution there. I would not plug a surge suppression into a non grounded circuit. 

[Ian]

On 11/10/2024 at 9:45 AM, LeoG said:

The best I got is my stove turning on.

I actually burned out a lead-acid battery charger plugged into my living room outlet when I "test-fired" a two watt MURS radio a room over.  Never worked again, and since it was a seasonal product, Home Depot couldn't refund or replace it, which was awful annoying.

[Willie]

On 10/28/2024 at 11:51 AM, WRUS537 said:

I was checking a couple of MURS radios today and was transmitting in my kitchen, the wall GFCI Plug started to buss when I transmitted and no longer works.

Anyone ever have that happen to them?

Wow. I've never had that happen before. Although it used to be the TIG welder in my basement shop would cause my wife's computer upstairs to screech like a wounded banshee whenever I would start an arc with the torch. The high frequency of the arc start found it's way back through the welder mains wiring into our electrical service panel and then up into the upstairs wiring. Crazy stuff. I put a couple of large ferrite beads on the wiring to the welder receptacle and it seems to be choking out the HF from the mains now.

[dugcyn]

indoors transmitting on my HT raised the readings on my Co detector I had placed mid height in living room. after a day or two of casual transmitting on GMRS this raised the level to the point the detector went off. I have since moved the detector lower and seems to have solved this.

it took a couple of times before I figured out what was going on and all the while were were checking pellet stove for leaks. lol good times with RF

[AdmiralCochrane]

So much for the disclaimer on the equipment for not being sensitive to allowable RF