Static electricity, shocks and crackling speakers

S

Snel

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
75
Hello. I recently got a shock when i touched the metal on my usb front port and after that my speakers and headset did not sound right. Both front and rear 3.5mm ports did not work correctly. The sound was crackling very much and came mostly on the right side of my headset. So I had probably damaged thebinternal sound card on my motherboard. I bought a cheaper Asus sound card and everything worked great again.
Anyway, I have been getting a lot of shocks recently. All i have to do is go downstairs and when I come back up and approch my computer, the speakers will begin to make a crackling noise for a few seconds. I will also get a shock or two when I thouch the metal legs of my desk or for example the keyboard which is made of aluminium.
Does anyone have any ideas why this could be happening?
 
Static build up every time 2 different materials are in contact (might not be the best wording, sorry for my English). Low humidity will greatly affect this in a negative way. (By low I mean <=20%)
I would recommend monitoring the humidity levels, and ensure you discharge yourself prior to using/manipulating ESD sensitive devices.
You could also look into air ionizers, but that could get expensive.

Might sound stupid but when you do your laundry, do you use bounce / etc. ? and also, every clothing materials have different behavior, I would recommend researching on that and maybe wear clothes that would minimize the static buildup.

EDIT: Keep in mind that static buildup always occur even if you don't feel them. The human body need X amount of ESD event to feel while electronics may be damaged (instantly or over time) for Y amount. Y in this scenario can 10 or 100 times lower than X... But at this point, I'm been insane :)
 
Your shoes can also contribute... did you change recently?
We are all building up and losing charge - if you are insulated (in this case by rubber shoes for example) then the charge doesn't leave until you touch for computer.
 
Chapeau said:
Your shoes can also contribute... did you change recently?
We are all building up and losing charge - if you are insulated (in this case by rubber shoes for example) then the charge doesn't leave until you touch for computer.
Click to expand...

You're right, I was assuming he was in "socks" mode :)
I would still like to know the humidity levels since... if ESD event increased that much recently, an habit or clothes or whatever changed...

Also, do you have a lot of carpets at home ? (Those build static against socks pretty well)

EDIT: Not sure where you're from, but if it's winter and cold where you're, heating plate will cause low humidity and problems. We currently have concerns in our electronic lab at work because of that...
 
Thanks for the quick replies. When home i usually walk around in sweat pants, t-shirt and socks. Sometimes warm slippers when it is cold.
I am not sure what bounce is sorry.
How should I discharge myself before I sit down at the computer?

Hopefully I did not damage anything more on my motherboard, It is working so far. Just the sound was affected. I have a Asus Z-97a and a i7 4790k so there doesn't seem to be many motherboards available for that socket now. Maybe a used one.

Edit: No I don't have many carpets. But the whole bottom Has parquet and tiles and is also heated.
 
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You can discharge yourself by touching the ground of your home. Basically, touch the metal frame of your computer when it's wired to the wall (easiest method but assumes your home ground is OK).
I would suggest reading on ESD, here's Keysight (formerly known as Agilent/HP) application note about ESD.
Link

And by Bounce, I meant the anti-static thingy we put in the dryer to ensure our clothes do not get out charged with static. (Not sure how much this can contribute to ESD damage)
At home, static is always present and most of the time OK if I may say... but some scenario like yours can be problematic.

Remember, even if you didn't feel the discharge, ESD event can occur and even if no immediate damage occurred to your electronics, those could fail over time (Like a TV that dies 2 years after purchase for now reason...)
 
everything mentioned above plus get a humidifier, even a small room-sized one.
 
Yes keeping humidity >35% is a very good best practice and will highly reduce the risk of ESD damage.
You could also buy an ESD mat for the floor (Will not work if you wear rubber shoes & if not grounded properly).
We use such mat when we're at customer site and they do not have ESD flooring.

I would say that you could also have a "grounded metal point" around your computers, that way whenever you want to use those devices you could simply touch the metal grounded (To home ground / earth) to discharge yourself.
You would still charge a little while using it but the most charge probably come from your socks and the floor.
 
I live in a rather humid country and I can say that ESD is pretty common. I always make sure to discharge any static build up first before touching any of my computer's components. One way to eliminate the charge on yourself is to buy one of those anti-static straps. I use one from time to time, just wanted to chip in because you might be interested in one.
 
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