Electrostatic Discharge

G'day LPF, I just have a question on ESD that I'd like to ask some of the clever cookies on this forum.

I (being as unorganised as I am) do not have an ESD wristband or whatever. Upon receiving my (freakin' awesome) flexdrive today, I noticed I have all required parts to make a functioning laser circuit. My question is to you kind sirs/madams, is are there any different ways to prevent ESD?

I though of wearing latex/rubber gloves as they seem to not conduct electricity. Would this be a viable option for me?

Cheers everyone.

el-taco said:

I though of wearing latex/rubber gloves as they seem to not conduct electricity. Would this be a viable option for me?

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Too uncomfortable IMO

Either touch something grounded when you are about to handle your LD and ESD sensitive parts OR keep a glass of hot water nearby to keep humidity levels up, preventing ESD.

What do you mean by something grounded?

like a computer case...

you must be in contact at ALL times with the case, and the case must be grounded to your home's electrical system. If the case is just sitting on your floor and not plugged in, then grounding yourself to the case does no good at all.

ground yourself on something then have everything grounded (all lines in/out on the driver and diode and you and the iron) just link it all with a thread of copper and then to you thats everything grounded to you.. so theres no voltage difference anywhere...

I never use an ESD strap or anything of that sort, but that's mostly because this house doesn't generate a lot of ESD, even when walking around with components (like going outside to use the vice to press the diode into the module). However, at an old office I worked at, I destroyed more than one motherboard even though I put it into ESD bags and stuff like that. The carpet was just the kind that generated static electricity.

Just in case, however, whenever I'm handling ESD-sensitive stuff, I just take a moment and touch the side of my computer case, which is grounded to the power supply's ground line. Any excess charge on my body will then be discharged.

The real way things get fried is if there's a voltage potential between two sensitive leads of your semiconductor device, not necessarily charge that appears on you or other stuff. It's why you should put your chips in foil to keep the charge potential zero between pins. On diodes, if you're afraid of zapping your stuff, I'd just solder the ends of your wires and stuff together so they can't build up charge, then clip and solder when you're ready.

I only watch out for ESD in the dry air of winter. That's when I do as they say --"touch something grounded" If you have wood or concrete floors, go barefoot.
I also use a drop of solder to short the legs of a LD until I'm ready to add it to the circuit.

Mike

So Id be okay if I just have my foot on my PC tower when im doing this?

Cheers guys

I'd put a 470K Ohm resistor between me and ground for personal safety.

Mike

Or you can buy a bracelet, they're cheap. I found several places you can order one for less than $5, here's a Belkin branded for less than $8. http://www.provantage.com/belkin-f8e093~7BELK182.htm

Seriously, they're cheap. Especially since if you're worried or nervous, you're more likely to make a mistake. Personally, I wear a bracelet and work on a grounded mat all the time just out of habit, and it helps me to not have to worry about it so I do other things better.

And like Mike said, you need to have a big resistance between you and ground. I think most bracelets come with a resistor built it, mine did and it was only like $4, but it's easy enough to test it to make sure.

i nicked mine from my old work

Go with the wristband/bracelet. They're cheap and easy. You can connect them to ground by plugging them in the GROUND (3rd prong receptical) at your nearest AC outlet. DON"T do this unless you know which one is ground!

If you want additional protection, you can pick up an anti-static mat to set things on while you're working on them.

pullbangdead said:

Or you can buy a bracelet, they're cheap.  I found several places you can order one for less than $5, here's a Belkin branded for less than $8.  http://www.provantage.com/belkin-f8e093~7BELK182.htm

Seriously, they're cheap.  Especially since if you're worried or nervous, you're more likely to make a mistake.  Personally, I wear a bracelet and work on a grounded mat all the time just out of habit, and it helps me to not have to worry about it so I do other things better.

And like Mike said, you need to have a big resistance between you and ground.  I think most bracelets come with a resistor built it, mine did and it was only like $4, but it's easy enough to test it to make sure.

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Shipping to Australia is $35

Ill take a look around though, thanks for your input.

Im buying a "Laser" brand one off of ebay Australia for $7.50 posted.

Personally I don't like the rubberband (for lack of a name) wrist strap. I like the one that has all metal that's elastic. This way it's more guarentee contact. The elastic cloth version wears out after a while, which risks skin contact loss. But if you don't have anything else.. it's better than nothing, definitely better than foot to chassis.