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I keep getting shocked!

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There's this trick I heard a while back: Keep a quarter coin in your pocket. when you think you are going to get shock, hold the quarter and touch other metals with it instead of your hand.
 
jaedaliu said:
Apparently one of the guys I work with was schocked yesterday in the lab. The lab with the ESD guarded floors.

Get your boss to buy a wrist strap.
Click to expand...

was ist dad "boss"?

I keep meaning to order one. Last time I got distracted by porcupine dryer balls.
 
I figured it out!

Its my soldering station. Don't know where the fault is yet, but its for sure in that. I never noticed it when only using the soldering iron because I normally have hold of a spool of solder that is connected to the base of my vice, therefor grounding me.

BASTARD! Now to tear it apart and find out where the fault is.
 
It also happens due to the rubber sole winter shoes most people wear these days. You can also spray water on the carpet. You can add a grounding strap on your ankle and let it dangle on the ground. That should work too.
 
Static shocks and shocks from the flow of AC are completely different! They feel completely different as well.

As brought up many times with the source and environment that's conducive to receiving static shocks and becoming a victim of ESD failures, nobody has really discussed this "fork in the road" path!

A static shock will be very brief like a pulse. This is because it's a high voltage and the snap you hear is the sudden breakdown of the air between two points of potential. Potentials under the right conditions can be 100s of kilovolts! Current is fairly low in most cases but can be high enough to startle or even stun in extreme cases.

A shock from lines mains or a power supply in comparison is more of a continuous flow that will continue to occur until the power source is disconnected or whatever is bridging the gap is removed.

This discussion appears to be scenario number two. As RS pointed out previously you can easily have potential in an AC system between two devices if the power sources are unbalanced or you have a floating ground somewhere. With a DMM or VTVOM (high input impedance) it's easy to find the culprit. Bring any high resistance paths to ground down to as close as zero as possible and make sure everything is bonded to a common ground. This will eliminate differential potentials that you feel when connecting the path.

Also you may want to protect the circuit with a GFCI in case there is a total failure of chassis ground somewhere. If you touch a hot chassis with one hand and a grounded ESD safe station with the other, the flow can be sufficient to stop your heart!
 
Rubycon said:
Static shocks and shocks from the flow of AC are completely different! They feel completely different as well.

As brought up many times with the source and environment that's conducive to receiving static shocks and becoming a victim of ESD failures, nobody has really discussed this "fork in the road" path!

A static shock will be very brief like a pulse. This is because it's a high voltage and the snap you hear is the sudden breakdown of the air between two points of potential. Potentials under the right conditions can be 100s of kilovolts! Current is fairly low in most cases but can be high enough to startle or even stun in extreme cases.

A shock from lines mains or a power supply in comparison is more of a continuous flow that will continue to occur until the power source is disconnected or whatever is bridging the gap is removed.

This discussion appears to be scenario number two. As RS pointed out previously you can easily have potential in an AC system between two devices if the power sources are unbalanced or you have a floating ground somewhere. With a DMM or VTVOM (high input impedance) it's easy to find the culprit. Bring any high resistance paths to ground down to as close as zero as possible and make sure everything is bonded to a common ground. This will eliminate differential potentials that you feel when connecting the path.

Also you may want to protect the circuit with a GFCI in case there is a total failure of chassis ground somewhere. If you touch a hot chassis with one hand and a grounded ESD safe station with the other, the flow can be sufficient to stop your heart!
Click to expand...

I for sure narrowed it down to my soldering station. Its a hot air/ IR heater/ soldering iron all in one. I have a spare iron at home, so I can test for sure tomorrow. I'm sure me holding solder when using the iron by itself grounded me to the vise.

No more zaps for me!
 
SON OF A
BAD WORD

I ordered a new iron and same result

Actually used a grounding strap and I got nailed worse than ever.

really bad word
THAT HURT!!!!
 
Are you storing enough charge to cast lightning yet?

Let's see, you're grounded. And you're getting shocked when you touch something. That thing needs to have its case grounded. (or ground yourself to the thing that's shocking you.)
 
Rubycon has a point. I am curious.
Do you charge up with static or is it AC leakage current ?
Is your soldering iron grounded to earth through a megaohm resistor or just a hard 0 ohm connection ?
If your Iron can build up charge, that is serious and potential lethal for your electronics you are soldering on.
I had a problem once that my old cute russian oscilloscoop would discharge through my probe killing my microcontrollers.
It had French text instead of Russian and it was my first oscilloscoop.

Such good memories.. Sniff... ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujTlo3oo4as
 
Last edited:
rudeguy said:
SON OF A
BAD WORD

I ordered a new iron and same result

Actually used a grounding strap and I got nailed worse than ever.

really bad word
THAT HURT!!!!
Click to expand...

that makes no sense. you are grounded, the iron is grounded. do you have a faulty ground maybe? do you hear a *pop* when you get shocked? if so that's gotta be static b/c mains voltage isn't high enough to do that. if not it might just be leakage, possibly a bad ground? could do some measurements with a multimeter.
 
It might be the cushions of your chair in combination with your clothes. It can even be the separate cushions for your back and where you sit on. These two cushions can build up charge separately from each other on your clothes and you. Then when you touch something grounded, you discharge.
 
William Gaatjes said:
It might be the cushions of your chair in combination with your clothes. It can even be the separate cushions for your back and where you sit on. These two cushions can build up charge separately from each other on your clothes and you. Then when you touch something grounded, you discharge.
Click to expand...

hmm yes, you may be suddenly building up a large amount of charge that takes time to dissipate through the strap (they are designed to have a high value resistor so they don't kill you if you accidentally touch AC).
 
William Gaatjes said:
It might be the cushions of your chair in combination with your clothes. It can even be the separate cushions for your back and where you sit on. These two cushions can build up charge separately from each other on your clothes and you. Then when you touch something grounded, you discharge.
Click to expand...

I stand up when I solder 🙁
 
dighn said:
that makes no sense. you are grounded, the iron is grounded. do you have a faulty ground maybe? do you hear a *pop* when you get shocked? if so that's gotta be static b/c mains voltage isn't high enough to do that. if not it might just be leakage, possibly a bad ground? could do some measurements with a multimeter.
Click to expand...

I went as far as plugging a power cord into the same outlet with the hot wires taped up, so just the ground was exposed. Hooked the ground to my multimeter and poked everything that I touch. Nothing registered.

Today was bad enough that I have sworn off powering anything up until I either replace my solder station or figure it out. If I don't get it figured out tomorrow, I'll just order a new solder station.
 
On my work, our at the time secretary would get zapped every time she touched the metal knob of the door. As it turned out, when she got of her chair, her sweater and trousers would rub in a sliding fashion from her chair( She is not that tall). This would cause her to charge up statically. I made a little wand for. It was comprised as a little stick with 5 x 100K resistors in series. One end would be a pointy metal tip and the other end that she would hold was a copper tape strip soldered to the resistors. Every time she would have to open the door, she would touch the knob with her wand and discharge enough without pain to safely open the door. Maybe you could try the same. It could be you are already charged up before you touch the iron.
 
William Gaatjes said:
On my work, our at the time secretary would get zapped every time she touched the metal knob of the door. As it turned out, when she got of her chair, her sweater and trousers would rub in a sliding fashion from her chair( She is not that tall). This would cause her to charge up statically. I made a little wand for. It was comprised as a little stick with 5 x 100K resistors in series. One end would be a pointy metal tip and the other end that she would hold was a copper tape strip soldered to the resistors. Every time she would have to open the door, she would touch the knob with her wand and discharge enough without pain to safely open the door. Maybe you could try the same. It could be you are already charged up before you touch the iron.
Click to expand...

I'm going to try smashing something if it happens again.
 
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