The breaker may think it is seeing an arc and thus tripping to prevent a
fire. An oscilloscope (and not a voltmeter) would allow you to see if this
is true. Alternately, the breaker itself may be bad. You would need to
substitute a known good breaker to see if it also trips, thus confirming the
suspicion that there is indeed a dangerous arc condition.

Smarty
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,

I have a spare bedroom that is serviced throughan arc fault breaker.
Over the past several months, the breaker would [once in a great while]
trip. Nothing was running in the room when the breaker would trip.
Typically, the breaker would allow me to reset it. Recently, the
breaker tripped and will not reset. I used an ohm meter and checked
all connections in the bedroom - 6 outlets, light switch and light -
and all seem fine. I even flicked the light switch "on" and measured
17 Ohms at each outlet, indicated no shorts or opens [the lightbulb was
connected across the circuit]. In addition, I measured the resistance
between each neutral and ground, and the resistance is low [less than 1
ohm].

I am not an electrician and I am at a loss. Is it common to have
problems with the breaker itself or is this more likely something I
missed in the wiring?

Thanks,

-JJ