How do I ground myself?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Leif K-Brooks
  • Start date Start date
L

Leif K-Brooks

Sorry for the newbie question, but what's the correct way to ground
myself when opening a computer? I've heard that I should plug the
computer in and tocuh any unpainted metal part of the case, is that
right? Should I leave it plugged in after that or unplug it?
 
There are lots of ways to ground yourself:

For One, You could touch a HeatRegister in your house or anything that
is connected to pipes...

But in your case I should recommend you plug in your case, leave the
toggle switch in the back of the PS (if you have one that supports
emergency shut off/power safe shutoff) to the the I/|/1 setting (i am
talking about a switch that has an | and an O on it, which are acutally
Ones 1 and Zeros 0, which mean On and Off) while making shure that your
case is plugged into a GROUNDED power receptacle (ie.: a plug with the
little round third hole that looks like a little mouth) make sure that
the PS has a plug connected to it an make sure that plug is plugged into
a SurgeProtector/UPS or If you are really bad or ignorant the wall,
then touch an unpainted part (ie.: one that is shiny and metal (does
not work on plastic casesm in this case you have to touch the PS insead)
as you said, pause for approx. 1-30 seconds (you only really need a
short time 30 seconds is a bit paranoid), turn the swithc on the back of
your PS to O/0 , or if your PS does not have a Switch then just unplug
the Cord that is connected to the PS then you can "fool around"
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Leif K-Brooks said:
Sorry for the newbie question, but what's the correct way to ground
myself when opening a computer? I've heard that I should plug the
computer in and tocuh any unpainted metal part of the case, is that
right? Should I leave it plugged in after that or unplug it?
Click to expand...

IF your power supply has a switch at the back of the PC, leave the PC
plugged in and this switch off ("O").

If you don't have the switch, unplug it from the wall and occasionally touch
something else grounded. Plate screw on a light switch or outlet is good.
 
Leif said:
Sorry for the newbie question, but what's the correct way to ground
myself when opening a computer? I've heard that I should plug the
computer in and tocuh any unpainted metal part of the case, is that
right? Should I leave it plugged in after that or unplug it?
Click to expand...

Never work on a system with it plugged in, period.

People think something must be "grounded" to a wall outlet or the ground
itself to discharge static electricity. If this was true, you wouldn't get
a static shock touching a car sitting on it's rubber tires! Nor would you
shock someone else by touching them. Also if this was the case, the
component would have to be grounded itself to be damaged.

Static electricity doesn't work that way. If you touch the case unplugged or
any other large piece of metal, that will discharge any static in your
body.
 
stacey said:
Static electricity doesn't work that way. If you touch the case unplugged or
any other large piece of metal, that will discharge any static in your
body.
Click to expand...

I don't know much about static electricity, but wouldn't that put a
charge in the metal which would go back to me if I touched it again? I'm
guessing I'm totally wrong, but it's late.
 
I would think all you would need is a grounding strap from your wrist to the
case. I never seemed to have a problem, but come to think of it, I sure have
had a lot of bad luck with hardware in my day.

Dan
 
Your body would not be discharged to a ground potential. Your body and the computer would be charged to the same voltage, which would be OK if you touched only the computer, but would be a problem if you touched a component that was not charged at all. It is better to have everything with no static charge at all, which can best be accomplished by having the computer plugged in and using a ground strap.
 
Leif said:
I don't know much about static electricity, but wouldn't that put a
charge in the metal which would go back to me if I touched it again?
Click to expand...

The whole deal is we are talking about microamps of curent. You've put the
charge into such a large piece of metal, it's absorbed 99.9999% of it. What
you're talking about probably does exist in a lab but in practical use is
immaterial as it would be micro volts at that point which isn't going to
harm anything. You're much more likely to do something stupid leaving it
plugged in than some theoretical latent static charge you're thinking about
here. Who's to say the part doesn't have more of a charge than a perfectly
grounded case would have and also theoretically cause a problem?
 
Mike said:
Your body would not be discharged to a ground potential. Your body and the
computer would be charged to the same voltage, which would be OK if you
touched only the computer, but would be a problem if you touched a
component that was not charged at all.
Click to expand...

How do you know the part doesn't have a slight charge and perfectly
grounding yourself would be a mistake? :-)

Either way once you've drained your charge into the case, what is shared is
WAY below the threshhold of doing any damage.
 
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