[Elecraft] Wrist strap / mat grounding

[Mel Farrer]

May I please put an end to this off topic subject???   While all have presented various points and some good ones, they beg the original point that should be made about wrist straps and use during construction of static sensitive devices.  The ONLY point of concern is that the assembly surface where the parts are located and the person making contact with any components are at the same static potential.  A resistive conductive surface bench and a wrist strap electrically connected to it will present to any component the same static potential and the chance of component damage is reduced to near zero.  Whether the bench is connected to earth ground is not as important as a good static compliant conductive path from the wrist strap the the bench where assembly work will be done.  AND yes, the testing of the wrist strap to the conductive surface needs to be done regularly to ensure proper operation.  Part of ISO protocol.


Mel, K6KBE

--- On Tue, 9/1/09, Paul ZL3IN <ps030409 at varion.co.nz> wrote:

From: Paul ZL3IN <ps030409 at varion.co.nz>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Wrist strap / mat grounding
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 3:33 PM

When I was about 8 years old I discovered that there was a few volts AC 
between the hot and cold taps in my parents house, so I rigged a 
night-light in the kitchen using a bicycle dynamo bulb. It glowed away 
for years, mostly dim, but sometimes very bright, until I learned enough 
about AC power systems to realize how dangerous it was. The hot water 
cylinder and piping were grounded to the utility ground, and the cold 
water piping was grounded via the metal water pipe feeding the house, 
but the hot and cold were isolated by a plastic header tank. We lived 
right next door to a power company 11kV/230 transformer. By the grace of 
God, nobody was ever electrocuted in the house!

73 Paul ZL3IN
______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Elecraft at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html