All controllers/CNC’s can be affected. Here’s a post today from a user who has the issue on their Masso.
Which device is sensitive to EMI, the Motion Controller (which I have mounted under my QCW table) or the HMI screen?
Thanks
I know EMI could happen on about any machine but I’d be interested to know how many of your installed masso controller base has had EMI problems vs the redline install base. By the way I don’t use Facebook so I could not read what you referenced.
The magic fix is to redesign the hardware to eliminate susceptibility to EMI. That’s expensive and OF hasn’t done that for any of its machines. There are similar posts about BB controllers too going back years.
Since it doesn’t affect most people and some of those who are successful in remediating it with their suggested fixes, there’s a small (relatively?) number of us who suffer with it and have to resort to manual workarounds to preserve our work when it freaks. Contrary to OF’s post - the recommendations won’t necessarily fix it for everyone. Hey should have said “may fix” or “fixes it for most people”.
Solutions like removing GFCI protection may be okay if you’re in an above grade finished living space. But if you remove the GFCI breaker from a below grade space, garage, workshop or other environment you are violating the NEC and in the event of a fire, the insurance company may deny coverage because you have willfully created a fire hazard.
Insurance companies rule the world.
I think the gfci removal is more for the VFD than for the controller.
As a European, this sounds outright bizarre. RCDs (a GFCI counterpart) are mandatory on all modern electrical installations and they are typically installed in the circuit breaker box (e.g. not at the outlet). Having seen several times how they save lives, I wouldn’t even consider having an electrical installation without them.
Their only weak point is when you suddenly switch on large capacitive loads. This isn’t something that should happen in regular usage (because of power factor requirements for all devices), but does happen for example if you turn on an entire household installation with lots of computer gear (monitors seem to be particularly bad).
I’d wager a bet that if a device “pops a GFCI”, it is not a correctly designed and regulation-compliant device.
It doesn’t pop the GFCI. The monitor and/or motion controller suffers from EMI, and OF says having GFCI on your circuits generates EMI.
We did not state GFCI generates EMI.
We stated VFDs for spindles do not like GFCI outlets and will most likely trip them.
You should always consult a electrician and your local code.
In your post about addressing EMI problems, you say this
- CNC machines and vfds/spindles should not be used on a gfci outlet.
A VFD can pop a GFCI outlet.
Unless you are doing the installation and are intimately familiar with every relevant factor, this is as accurate of a statement as you can make.
edit made and yes this is the more correct statement 
Hmm. That makes me highly suspicious of the VFD sold by Onefinity, then. My first assumption is that it is a non-compliant badly designed device. I would respectfully suggest investigating this and clarifying the statements: if a >30mA RCD is required, say so. But saying that your VFDs “do not like GFCI outlets” doesn’t sound professional. If the VFD is indeed badly designed, source a better one.
As I wrote before, RCDs are mandatory in many jurisdictions, and for good reason: they do save lives. In fact, they are more important for saving lives than normal breakers. Breakers will save you from a fire if there is a short that doesn’t burn out by itself, an RCD will save you if there is a ground fault and you suddenly have 230V on your metal enclosure.
Information is available for those who wish to avoid speculations and assumptions regarding the safety and function of a company’s product.
In the case of Onefinity’s Redline VFD offering, one can ask, or look up what is covered by the field inspection done on all their VFDs. Online photos (easy to find in a quick search) of the inspection label show it is evaluated to the code SPE-1000, which can be looked up. It will tell you if any tests involve leakage current levels.
Phrasing aside, it doesn’t surprise me that in the hobby space a company cautions users on the use of a VFD with a GFCI circuit as the normal leakage current they continually produce will often trip the outlet. There are many things that are done, legally, to mitigate what is often called nuisance tripping but this would add cost.
It is not guaranteed that everyone with a VFD on a GFCI circuit will have it trip (or is using their VFD on such a circuit), so perhaps in the future Onefinity and Redline might consider developing and selling a kit that can be used for people who are experiencing this issue.
In the U.S. the use of GFCI outlets in wet or damp locations (kitchens, bathrooms, garages, basements) are required by code. The circuit breaker versions are are also required with both GFCI & AFCI spec’ed out. Unfortunately, the code is different by state (& sometimes county) although usually based on the NEC. Even those who adopt the NEC do so on different schedules so the version is often different (my locality is just now adopting the 2022 NEC 
).
what I want to know now is there a mitigating device you can put between the VFD and the RDC or GFCI to prevent the leakage and thus the tripping of the GFCI? Attention, I am not electrically literate lol I had to look up what the heck an RDC was.
They make GFI that have a higher mA break over point, but I think they are for industrial use.
European GFCI 
. US use was at the outlet level (easier to manufacture & retrofit). The early GFCI breakers were prone to failure and a lot of people replaced them with standard breakers. Probably because GFCIs are very sensitive (<5ma) vs RCDs (30ma) which is surprising because European safety standards are usually stricter than US. Maybe because they’re 240V vs our 120 volt.
AFCIs are different but they’re often used in combination with AFCI breakers and GFCI outlets. That way you get fire (wiring arc faults) and personal injury (current or shocking faults) protection.
GFPE is what I have been reading here in the U.S. would give you the 30mA break over. Have no idea if they come in plugs or only in breakers.
Ok I just read the whole damned thread again. I still do not see any solution. I have not yet experienced this 90% thing, but I have had my first “lost communication with the controller incident”, is that an EMI thing as well? I checked all the wires, rebooted, and it worked fine after that. So that is still a mystery to me. I don’t want things to go wonky in the middle of a 3d carve.