Static electricity...

  • Thread starter Thread starter zer
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I have never worn one of the wrist bands and been building pc's for 7+ years, touch wood i have never had an issue.
 
I use an Antistatic wrist strap as it's peace of mind for the sake of a fiver. If im caught short then I keep the machine plugged in but turned off and touch the PSU regularly.
 
I always used to have a bog standard 3 quid one with an earthing point I made myself from a single pin plug :D.

Then I helped my g/f's company move offices, set up their IT and managed to acquire some proper ESD equipment that was left by a previous tenant (9 years previous!) Much better quality, included the proper grounding points and a mat!

For quickness, I generally keep the PSU plugged in but switched off when working in the case. ESD stuff is used when working outside of the case.

Just becasue you haven' had an immediate problem, doesn't mean you haven't had one!
How many people have had hardware fail, or arrive apparently DOA which could have been caused by unknown static?
 
Been building sytems a while now and like other said "never used esd protection and never damaged anything yet" until last week at college when I killed a stick of RAM, no big deal was crap and easily replaced but has certainly made me think a little bit about getting some protection for home use as I'd be a bit more upset if it were my own :P
 
I used to get shocked a lot when taking my jumper/fleece(!) off and throwing it on my chair while I changed clothes. The metal supports under the armrest would always catch my hand and ZAP. I do love my fleeces though, so I'm gonna have to tape over the metal or something. :)
 
EnderXi said:
If there is copper piping going into the floor of your house its pretty much earthed tbh even if its plastic piped under the flooring
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Mebee in a bathroom or kitchen where I believe building regs say that the rads should be earthed (correct me if im wrong.. my bathroom rad is earthed), but the bedroom rads have no earthstrap, and would not be much use for discharging static properly.
 
They do through the system though.

And just a thought, there is more an more use of plastic heating pipes with the autolock gubbins. Obviously these would be poor earthing. Maybe we all need to add a disclaimer "Only if you have copper central heating". I feel that this is important enough to take note!
 
Orangey said:
I used to get shocked a lot when taking my jumper/fleece(!) off and throwing it on my chair while I changed clothes. The metal supports under the armrest would always catch my hand and ZAP. I do love my fleeces though, so I'm gonna have to tape over the metal or something. :)
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Actually it sounds a bit sad but if you touch an earthed metal object with your fingernail instead of your skin then it discharges without shocking you. ;)
 
This reminds me of my old atari st it kept crashing and I wanted an amiga so I got this idea of trying to kill it via static and then go back to shop for a refund *chuckles* waaaaat!! sheesh the man had conned me out of money for a refurbished sold as new Atari ST I was a student and 19 thats my excuse and i'm sticking to it!

So I removed the casing (no stickers as it was refurbished) and I tried everything to wipe/damage the chips you name it fleece etc, yes I could give myself a pretty healthy shock but no matter what I couldn't blow that system.

In the end me and house mates got a little drunk and went in the backyard with the two air pistols and rifle and put about 300 holes in the damn thing:)

Wierdest part is next day my house mates came to me all apologetic having consumed a lot more alcohol than me not remembering I was with them and ended up paying for an amiga for me.

I learnt a couple of things from this fateful event

1)You gotta be damn unlucky for static to ruin your stuff.
2)Atari ST are made well but 300 rounds of 22 177 ammo will kill it.
3)Rich stupid housemates that drink too much have benefits
 
OK here's what you do. Go to your nearest window, throw out a (long) power cable, go outside, uninsulate several inches and stick it in the ground. Touch it and you're done.

Extra cred: Firmly attach the other end to just next to your window so when you modify your PC you can just open your window and touch it.

If you like playing safe do this with 3 cables and keep one in each hand, and the third in your mouth when modifying.
 
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