D Inscribed thus:

On 3/22/2011 12:41 PM, Baron wrote:
Meat Plow Inscribed thus:

On Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:16:06 -0700, William Sommerwerck wrote:

I notice that no one in this whole thread has mentioned taking
suitable precautions against causing damage from static discharge!

It's implicit. It's assumed anyone who wants to do this knows the
routine.

I would suspect that based on the OP question, that might not be a
safe assumption.

That's what I thought also. You need to be aware of ESD precautions
before you experiment with most modern electronics. I've been using
an anti-static mat and wristband for a good 25 years. I've run my
fair share of computer equipment while testing components using a
motherboard set atop a non-conductive surface.


I don't disagree. But then you and I have been doing this kind of
work
for a good many years. I'll bet that you will have had odd failures,
particularly in the early years that you couldn't explain. ;-)


I am assuming grounding myself on the grounded PSU case would be
sufficient, correct?

Dan

The point being that any potential difference between you and whatever
you are handling must be minimised. Its easy to generate more voltage
on your body than a semiconductor device can tolerate. Simply getting
up from a chair or opening a postal packet can often be more than
enough to generate damaging voltages.

As William mentioned anti static wrist bands help by equalising the
potential difference between two points. The nasty thing about damage
to semiconductors is that the damage doesn't always appear straight
away and can cause creeping failures.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.