Grounded Wrist Anti-static Bracelet vs Non-Grounded?

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Boris_yo

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
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Hello,

I saw grounded wrist anti-static bracelet and non-grounded one. The latter is more convenient because there is no need to look for ground and you are not space-restricted.

Screenshot_20201118-172541_AliExpress.jpg

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I wonder if non-grounded bracelet works equally well as grounded bracelet.

Thanks.
 
I would say no. I imagine what is inside that bracelet is either a battery or a capacitor.

If it's a battery, then your potential becomes whatever the battery voltage is, which could be thousands of mv higher than what a circuit can handle, and if it's not rechargeable then it's useless if the polarity is wrong. Polarity depends on whether the charge builds on your skin or the skin of the electronics.

If it's a capacitor, then it would only concievably work if the charge is on the skin of the electronics. Your body already works as a capacitor, so adding one with a resistor doesn't solve anything. A discharge occurs when a new path to a high capacitance is created. A capacitor would only work the first time an event occurs, and only if it hasn't been charged completely from static buildup on your body.

The reason a grounding strap works is because it has a mega Ohm resistor between you and the device. Any change in potential occurs very slowly, some uA at a time. If you're touching the device directly, then whatever circuitry in the wireless strap to slow the flow becomes useless–you formed a direct path between you and the device.

Now, if both you and the device have (say) a 5V battery connected to ground, then your potential becomes ~5V ± your individual static charges. You're basically just shifting the floor of ground up or down 5V (depending on polarity). You still have the issue that once you touch the device, there's a direct path created with no resistor to slow the flow.
 
turn your psu off but leave it plugged in, now you can ground yourself(touch it). no need for a stupid strap or a fake wireless one.
 
pendragon1 said:
turn your psu off but leave it plugged in, now you can ground yourself(touch it). no need for a stupid strap or a fake wireless one.
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I read about touching chassis, PSU, electric radiator but the issue is that they have plating and that in order to transfer static charge the spot I am supposed to touch should not have any plating. It should have pure metal to conduct static discharge.
 
Boris_yo said:
I read about touching chassis, PSU, electric radiator but the issue is that they have plating and that in order to transfer static charge the spot I am supposed to touch should not have any plating. It should have pure metal to conduct static discharge.
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youll still ground out but if you doubt it, screw a steel screw into one of the screw holes and touch that.
edited speeling
 
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I was curious enough to use a multimeter to test. The paint does have a little bit of blocking. But GPU's PCIe plate, some expansion cards, the small rim of exposed metal on the MB IO backplate, and a couple of unpainted screws all sounded the continuity tester I had. :)
 
pendragon1 said:
youll still ground out but if you doubt it, screw a steal screw into one of the screw holes and touch that.
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Inserting ends of an unraveled paperclip into the middle two ground sockets of a molex connector that's connected to such a powered off PSU I've also read is effective if a case and PSU is painted/etc.
 
Okatis said:
Inserting ends of an unraveled paperclip into the middle two ground sockets of a molex connector that's connected to such a powered off PSU I've also read is effective if a case and PSU is painted/etc.
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yup, that would work too.
 
Grounding works, because the Earth can be viewed as an infinite source/sink of electrons. I fail to see why anyone would risk thousands of dollars equipment because they can't be bothered to wear a cheap grounded strap. Just crazy, as is any 'non-grounded' fake grounding device - Jeez.
 
When working with an electronic device I just give the unpainted part of the case a touch. After I do, and I walk away for some reason I repeat this after returning to work on it. Only thing I remember zapping to death was an IR led IIRC.
 
Namenick said:
Grounding works, because the Earth can be viewed as an infinite source/sink of electrons. I fail to see why anyone would risk thousands of dollars equipment because they can't be bothered to wear a cheap grounded strap. Just crazy, as is any 'non-grounded' fake grounding device - Jeez.
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No need. Most of those thousand dollar parts are pretty dang difficult to break and you can take proper precautions that makes it even more difficult.
 
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