How to ground yourself

[cooldudie3]

Hi guys, what is the best way to ground yourself? I see people saying to wear antistatic wrist straps and some say to plug in PSU and touch it. I don't really get which is the best way...

[iMav]

Just wear rubber slippers while working with such equipment. Make sure your body is not in contact with anything but the rubber slippers and the equipment you're playing with.

[cooldudie3]

WHAT???? Rubber slippers? No really man..
I don't want to fry my components and waste money.

[iMav]

That my friend is electricity 1-0-1. However, it depends on the equipment you are fiddling with. Rubber slippers act as an insulator thereby not letting the circuit being completed. But, as I said it depends on the amount of current/voltage you are playing with, every insulator has a point beyond which it will snap and you will be fried.

[uchiha_madara]

Just touch some grounded iron or conducting thing like a railing ,it will be fine in most cases(well I just touch my cabinet when working on it's innards and that's it).

@cooldudie3:some say to plug in PSU and touch it.

Man never operate on a working PSU or even a disconnected PSU for that matter or you will get the shoock of your life or death because a disconnected PSU still holds charge .Btw why would you want to TOUCH the PSU.

[pimpom]

@uchich_madara: I think the OP was talking about touching the cover of the PSU, not the insides.

@cooldudie3: You may already know that the purpose of grounding yourself while working with computer hardware is to drain off any static electrical charge that may have accumulated on your body and clothing.

Plugging in the PSU and touching the case works IF your house wiring has a proper ground connection - which many houses don't.

Wearing an antistatic wrist-strap works the same way provided the other end is connected to ground. Such wrist-straps have a high resistance in series with the ground wire. This is vital. The high resistance limits the current flowing through your body in case you accidentally touch a live point. If the strap is simply connected directly to ground with a wire, you could end up getting a severe shock or even dead.

If you're going to mess around with the insides of your computer only for a short while, there's no need to buy a special wrist-strap. Just touch a grounded metal water pipe for a moment before touching your hardware. And you can keep touching the pipe at regular intervals if your explorations take longer than you expected.

Also, it's best not to wear synthetic clothing, especially in the dry season. Synthetic material can easily generate and retain enough electrical charge (hundreds to over a thousand volts) to damage the sensitive CMOS-based components. There is less danger of that in the hot and wet season as skin and atmospheric moisture keeps bleeding off the charge.

[acewin]

very good reply pimpom.
appaloud for such clear explanation

[pimpom]

Thanks. I hope my explanation helps the OP and other readers.

[chesss]

AFAI understand one really doesn't need to worry about static in India, specially during monsoon season. Its more of problem in colder and drier countries..I think..

[cooldudie3]

How about just touching the case? Does that work?
P.S. I am thinking about building a computer.

Originally Posted by uchiha_madara

Man never operate on a working PSU or even a disconnected PSU for that matter or you will get the shoock of your life or death because a disconnected PSU still holds charge .Btw why would you want to TOUCH the PSU.

I never had the idea of opening it and touching the insides of PSU

[dheeraj_kumar]

Just strip naked and build the comp.

[pimpom]

Originally Posted by cooldudie3

How about just touching the case? Does that work?
P.S. I am thinking about building a computer.

Read my post again, especially the third para. Touching the case works if your house wiring has proper grounding and if the power cord is plugged into your wall socket. Some house wirings do not have proper ground - the third pin socket is just left unconnected.

Originally Posted by chesss

AFAI understand one really doesn't need to worry about static in India, specially during monsoon season. Its more of problem in colder and drier countries..I think..

Not all of India is hot and wet. Where I live, for example, it's so dry in the winter and early summer that I have a chain dangling from my car to discharge static electricity. Otherwise, I almost always get a nasty shock when I get out of the car and touch the door to close it. I often get a shock too when I touch the kitchen tap. Sometimes a visible spark jumps from my hand to the metal before I actually touch it. That means a voltage well over a thousand.

[cooldudie3]

WE have a third socket in the plug here in HK. It is the UK one. And the humidity here in HK is breaking a world record.
So I just touch the case and that's it, no need for antistatic wrist strap?

STRIP NAKED? you joking?

[chesss]

And the humidity here in HK is breaking a world record.

well if its humid then I don't think u need to worry abt static atall. BUt I am not sure abt this funda. wait for someone else(pimpom) to confirm it..

[Cool Joe]

That's right. I checked it out. In humid places, there's no need to worry about static electricity at all. In places like India, where humidity is high, there isn't enough static electricity in our body to bother our PC components. Still, better not risk anything. After all, we're dealing with components worth thousands of rupees.

[pimpom]

Originally Posted by cooldudie3

WE have a third socket in the plug here in HK. It is the UK one. And the humidity here in HK is breaking a world record.
So I just touch the case and that's it, no need for antistatic wrist strap?

Yes, if the third (ground) pin is properly connected to actual earth. That's the whole point. If the house wiring does not connect that pin to actual earth, the pin by itself is useless.

@chesss and beta testing: It's true that in humid places, the chances of accumulating dangerous levels of static electricity is very low. But it's still a good idea to make sure by touching a grounded metal object first. It takes negligible time and effort anyway.

And let's not forget that not all of India is hot and humid. And also that, even it's hot and humid outside, it can be cool and dry inside an air-conditioned room.

[Bandu]

I've never bothered about grounding when building a comp. (Mumbai). But seems that I've just been lucky so far.

After reading through all these posts, it still isn't clear what "touching the case" really means. Yes, I understand that I need to touch the metallic part of the case (lol), but what about the case itself? Does the PSU need to be connected (although not switched on) to the 3 pin plug? Or does the case be just as-is lying on the floor?

Do I really need to worry if I am just building the PC without even touching the golden pins from the CPU / RAM / PCI cards?

Can someone also point out to locations where these products are available (strap, gloves, etc.)?

- Bandu.

P.S: Would be a nice idea to add a poll to this thread Do you ground yourself when working with / building a PC? (a) Yes always, (b) Never, (c) Depending on environmental factors

[pimpom]

Originally Posted by Bandu

I've never bothered about grounding when building a comp. (Mumbai). But seems that I've just been lucky so far.

After reading through all these posts, it still isn't clear what "touching the case" really means. Yes, I understand that I need to touch the metallic part of the case (lol), but what about the case itself? Does the PSU need to be connected (although not switched on) to the 3 pin plug? Or does the case be just as-is lying on the floor?

Let's see if this makes it clearer:

You can see from the picture that the discharge path is from you, through the cabinet/PSU metal, through the power cord ground line (green wire), to the wall socket ground pin, to actual ground (earth). Power does not have to be switched on.

Do I really need to worry if I am just building the PC without even touching the golden pins from the CPU / RAM / PCI cards?

Yes. Because 1) you can never be sure you won't accidentally touch the pins;
2) Because those gold contacts are not the only sensitive points. There are many other points through which damaging discharge can take place.

Can someone also point out to locations where these products are available (strap, gloves, etc.)?

Sorry, can't say at the moment. I expect that they'll be available at many good computer hardware shops.

[chesss]

HOw about a light bulb? those zero watt ones?
Just smack it on your forehead, if it lights up, Great, you are being discharged.

[toofan]

Originally Posted by chesss

HOw about a light bulb? those zero watt ones?
Just smack it on your forehead, if it lights up, Great, you are being discharged.

By the way the best and shortest way is to rub your hands and then touch any metal thing toughing the ground but not the pc case or anything else which is connected to electricity.

Belief me I suffer from a problem of giving others electric shock during winters. Most of the time during winters when I shake hands to others I and at the same time the other person feels the electric shock form my body. Its a chit chat sound.

and when i touch a metalic body ups of some computers its 90 out of 100 times i get a electric shock. So my Computer guru told me to rub the hands before touching the ups and then touch the metal chair. By the way luckily I own a plastic body ups form APC , these are the best.

sometime I think myself as a electric man.

[Bandu]

@pimpom: Thanks for the detailed explaination. Nice drawing you made there. Put a pair of spectacles on that stick man, and that would be me

Thanks,
Bandu.