Square D by Schneider Electric Square D - QO120PCAFI 20-Amp Single-Pole Plug-On Neutral CAFCI Circuit Breaker

I installed 40 of these in a new SquareD QO 225-amp distribution panel in a single family residence in the Bay Area, California, in a clean / cool / dry location around 2018-March. The house also has all-new copper wiring. The fact that everything is new (clean, proper connections without oxidation, proper separation of equipment ground & neutral, etc.) probably contributes to my good experience with these units. A lot of people who complain about AFCI and/or GFCIs being "too sensitive" are probably experiencing the effects of old or improper wiring. That is, the fact that the units are tripping frequently is a possible sign that the wiring is the problem, not the AFCI or GFCI units themselves.So far these ones are totally reliable with no false trips. Plug-on Neutral products (in general) are nice time savers, however these breakers use approximately 100% more gutter space than standard plain breakers. If you have a lot of circuits the gutter area can get quite crowded with wires.As these are long-term products I will return to this review every few years or so to update it with long-term reliability notes.----------2019-MayGeneral experience with these units is excellent. I have them installed on every circuit in the house, even refrigerators and the washer/dryer circuit. (Old-style top-load washer, gas dryer.) The washing machine trips the breaker once in 20 or so loads, not a big deal for the extra piece of mind that offers. (Not sure if the tripping is ground-faulting or simply overloading, probably the former as the washer circuit is on a 20A breaker.) Never had a false trip on the refrigerator circuit.I did have a strange incident a few months back when 3 of the ~40 or so separate GFCI breakers tripped, apparently at random. There were no loads on them at the time and nobody was at home. I can only guess it was some sort of marginal incoming utility-power glitch that happened to be just within the trip tolerances for these 3 units but none of the others. After resetting them I have had no further problems.

Impossible to get at big box storesWorks perfectExact replacement

This QO120PCAFIC arc-fault breaker is not a simple "one-screw" installation.I had (too simply) replaced an existing normal breaker and the AFCI immediately tripped if any load was plugged into the circuit. Moving it to another "only one outlet" circuit still tripped.SO i built a "breadboard" to test the breaker, and it still tripped with a 25 watt incandescent as its only load. The breadboard allowed me to (eventually) discover that the load's neutral connection also has to be moved from the panel's neutral bar to the 2nd screw on the new breaker.The breaker had arrived from the seller sealed in its own blister pack from Square D (Schneider), with the date code on the package matching the code on the breaker.

When we first received these we were disappointed as it wasn't exactly as we wanted. We had ordered circuits without pigtails but received the ones with pigtails as that is what our electrician asked for. I asked for a return requested. Received an ok in a very timely manner without any hassle at all. In the meantime our electrician decided that we can use them, so I wanted to update my review. Product was well packed and delivered quickly. All of the products were brand new in original package.

Delivered quickly and as promised. An exact match for the old breaker. I started to suspect the old breaker was a little weak. It started tripping every month or so. Sometimes it was barely noticeable the old breaker had tripped - you know - the switch barely moves. This is an exact replacement all the numbers match the Square D original.

Excellent

These things may not work with your existing wiring if everything isn't wired perfect in your home. ie: no shared neutrals, poor grounds, 12-3 shared neutrals, ex. They would immediately trip on me. I couldn't use them on the circuits that most needed them (old cloth wiring). Also, you cannot return electrical parts for a refund if they are not defective. I spend $250 on 6 of these and things did not work out for me.

No problem