AFCIs in an RV

They are very troublesome. Things like vacuum cleaners or other items with electrical motors can cause them to trip. They also sometimes trip when plugging or unplugging things. Then they trip for no reason at all, circuit works fine for weeks, turn on a light and welcome to the dark side. My newest home had them, and after a discussion with several electricians and the code enforcement officer, they are now relegated to a storage box. All agreed they were overkill for common usage. It's been three years, no fires yet and the regular breakers are not tripping seemingly at random. I will put them back in when and if I ever put it on the market.

I talked to an electrician that I know and short story is that they were a pain in the you know what. I personally have no experience with them.

It will probably be only a matter of time and they will be required in the RV industry. I had to install them in my daughters house for the bedroom circuits when I rewired it a couple of years ago. I do see their purpose although they are very expensive. JMT

Yes, I'm going off of the Square D bulletin that I linked to in my previous post. Looking at it again I see that's it's from 2002 and provides FAQs on the new NEC requirements for AFCIs in bedrooms. Now that I'm thinking about it my TT is a 2008 so if they were required for RVs I would have them in mine. I would think that with the amount of vibration and movement that RV wiring is subjected to that it would be a good idea to use AFCIs, but I'm not an electrician so figured I would ask here.

I don't have a current copy of the NEC but isn't the AFCI requirement only for bedroom circuits? Applicability for NEC is in a separate section for RV's, AFAIK.

There wouldn't be anything inherently wrong with using an AFCI in an RV. One might endure more nuisance trips but don't know that for certain.