Electrostatic bracelet??

How important is it really to wear an electrostatic bracelet when installing a new HD or RAM? What qualifies as one?

 

as long as you discharge any potential static buildup (touch something metal) and you aren't shuffling your feet on carpet while you do the install, you'll be ok

 

That's what I thought because I installed an HD in a 12" PowerBook once with no problems. I just wasn't sure how often problems actually occur.

 

Make ur own. Rubber band + 10 paper clips + 3 feet insulated coper wire + metal clip or another paper clip.

 

if you ground yourself or are working in a really dry environment, static isn't a problem.

 

You dont want to DISCHARGE the static from your body, but EQUALIZE The potential difference between you and what you are working on.

 

A dry environment is key for static build-up...

 

I've been told by some quite clever physics people that it's entirely worthless. (as far as I know, it has to actually touch something else to have any effect. You might as well believe that wearing yellow hats will protect your computer from electrostatic discharges)

Furthermore, I've assembled lots of computers, and have never had any trouble from not wearing one. The common rules still apply though. Try to avoid carpets, make sure to ground yourself by touching a radiator or something, and basically, just don't do anything that cause static charges

 

I would have to say always wear a wrist strap. You have been lucky if you work in a cool dry climate Ram does not aways fail immediately due to ESD according to a few web sites. As long as you use a proper earth ground what do your clever physics people mean that it's entirely worthless touching it?

Cheers

 

Put it this way. It only takes once to fry a component to make you wish you had worn the thing.

 

I cant stress this enough... gont just ground yourself... If you do that and the pc isnt grounded the pc will shock you and that does the same thing as you shocking it.

You must EQUALIZE the electrostatic difference between you and what you are working on.

 

Does a metal wrist watch work?

 

Please tell me your joking...

Never have any jewlery on when working on a box... use your noggin...

Nor should you wear a silk tie... I've seen several not so smart techs lean into a case while the fancy silk tie they are wearing is rubbing on the mainboard...

 

Ok, you're saying what you should do but not how to do it. How do you EQUALIZE the difference?

 

Touch the side of the case.

Now if the case is grounded, you are now both 0. If its not you are equal, and hence no ESD.

 

Could someone please tell me the reason why these bracelets should have any kind of effect? So far, the argument I've heard for why they're useless seems a lot more compelling. (It's kinda hard to ground yourself by touching something that isn't, well, connected to the ground.)

Grounding yourself, yes, find, that's obviously a good idea. Touch a radiator, touch the case, whatever. Avoid carpets, and if that's not possible, at least avoid rubbing your feet on it. And yes, make sure the case is grounded too. (Which is often achieved by placing the thing on the ground to begin with)

But why on earth should a little copper wristband have *any* effect on electrostatic discharges? It doesn't touch the ground, it doens't touch the case, it doesn't do anything other than sitting on your arm. Can anyone tell me why I should consider it more than just superstition?

Er, why not wear jewellery? Last I checked, jewellery weren't exactly known for their ability to deliver sudden shocks.

And did those "not so smart techs" actually harm the hardware with their silk ties?
If not, I fail to see the big deal. YOu end up touching the hardware anyway. Whether you do it wiht a silk tie or not doesn't seem a big deal to me.

 

Uhh, these ESD wristbands are connected to an earth ground. That is how they ground you.

Jewelry, two reasons. Number one, you don't want to scrape around in a box with metal the reasons there are fairly obvious. Number two, jewelry can flake/break possibly leaving metal bits on the mainboard.

Silk ties... Remember back in jr. high when your teacher rubbed that bit of silk on that glass rod and demonstrated how static can buld up on things? Same rule apply's here silk is very good at generating a static charge. Same with wool. You know when you take of a sweater and you hear the static jumping around on it? same thing can happen if scrape it across a mainboard.

And yes it did fry it out.

 

Then its really humid. you're right....the balloon on the head thing only works when dry...

 

The wristband is a ploy to steal your money. I've never used it and will never use it. Lifelong DIYers will say all you have to do is touch the case. That is it. Also, do not work on your PC if it is on a carpet floor. I always work on it on a chair or on a table.

 

It works my attaching to your wrist and connecting to the case. And since you are constantly connected to the case you will always be equal and destroy any components.

Im glad you guys are giving such good advice about it being useless. Its nice that you think all the DIYs think its ok, but if thats the case then why do companies that deal with electic components use them or similar anti-static devices. Just because you havent fried a component yet does not mean static isn't a threat. Remember you can inststantly put a very high ammount of volage through very very thing gold wire that is not made to handle more than a few volts. So for 10$ its worth it to get a static strap, especially in a warm dry climate.

 

there's a big difference between someone handling components 8-10 hrs a day in a busy environment versus a home user replacing a HD or stick of ram; and even then, most techs don't use them.

for anybody who's ever seen somebody working on a desktop or a server in a professional environment, have you ever seen someone using one?

fine, call it a "best practice", but so is changing your oil every 3000 miles and checking your tire pressure once a month.

 

*shrug*
Or just touch the case. Same effect, $10 cheaper...
I'd be quite impressed if you can assemble a computer *without* constantly touching the case anyway.

 

A hard drive is one thing, I wouldnt be as worried touching it. In fact most of the time when Im putting a HD in a desktop build I am not wearing my static strap. I wont touch ram without one. I frequent a lot of computer forums (overclocking ones mainly) and I see a lot of people that get "bad ram". I wonder how many of them are like you guys and go "well thats just bs, it cant really happen" then when their ram gets a bunch of errors they assume they got a bad set and RMA it.

I have also seen videos testing the affects of static electricity on electrical components and guess what it either fried them or put them out of their correct operating range. So when you are constantly having computer problems then maybe this is the cause.

 

Be sure not to walk back and forth on a carpet like the girl in this video.

 

I haven't worn a wrist strap since my A+ class in high school. PC components these days are rather resistant to ESD, it isn't like in the 386 and 486 days, or with some of the not so old Sun hardware which were extremely easy to fry.

If you do wear a wrist strap you can do one of two things:

1) Attach it to the case, this will equalize your charges
2) attach it to another ground, and do the same with the case

If you just ground yourself or just ground the case you're making matters worse.

Another suggestion, if you're in a dry climate like me (Arizona). Have a few plants in your work area and keep them well watered. That will help keep the workspace a little more humid, which will reduce electrostatic buildup. If things are really bad you can also get a small humidifier.

Don't work in your socks on a carpet. Wear rubber soled shoes. Avoid working on carpet in general. Clay tile is best, hardwood isn't bad. I don't know about linoleum, but I suspect it's not the best of ideas.

Grab cards by the sides, avoid touching traces or connectors. A lot of static can still arc, but if you have that much static buildup your component is screwed anyway.

 

I've taken apart and assembled computers (desktops and laptops) quite a few times and never used a bracelet. All you have to do is to remember to touch something metal before starting to work on the system (power supply casing, metal table etc) and maybe once in a while after that.

 

I dont see how you can say that components now are more resistant than before. The PCB has more layers and smaller traces....How is that more resistant? So im glad you guys havent fried anything, but like I said. When you do start getting errors from the ram or something you are just going to assume that its a bad set, not that you toasted it by not wearing the strap.

 

lol. simply remember to discharge yourself! But hey, if wearing a bracelet gives you that warm fuzzy feeling, then do it. I have nothing against it.

 

It's quite easy, really. It used to be that you could hardly look at a PCB if you had some static buildup, now boards seem to be able to take quite a bit of discharge. It's just an observation of my own, but I've heard others say the same thing. I would assume it has something to do with purity of materials, but maybe there's some sort of coating they're using these days. Boards do have a bit of a shine that they didn't used to.