ground wiring question.

  • Thread starter Thread starter maskedman72
  • Start date Start date
M

maskedman72

Member
i have 1 rack with all my gear in it and it is in a carpeted room.
any time i get up and than sit back down and touch anything in the rack there is a major static shock. how could i ground the entire rack so this stops?
 
If your rack is plugged into a proper receptacle, it is ALREADY grounded - that's the reason you're getting a static shock.

If the humidity is low and/or the carpet has a high nylon content, the situation will be worse.

Short of getting new ANTI STATIC carpet, one trick that usually helps -

Go buy 2 or 3 bottles of FANTASTIK (this is a particular BRAND name) household cleaner, tilt your rack back using blocks under the front edge (or just move it out of the way)

Now, take the FANTASTIK spray and WET DOWN the carpet where the rack will sit on it, and in a radius around the rack where you could be standing when you touch it, and let it dry.

(If you care a lot about the carpet, test by wetting a patch somewhere out of sight and watching it for a day or two, first) -

After the carpet is dry, put the rack back where it was and test the "shock value" - usually, it will be reduced or completely gone.

The reason this works is that FANTASTIK has a pH of about 12, and is fairly conductive. What you're doing is essentially converting your carpet to the anti-static variety.

Any time you shampoo the carpet, you'll need to repeat this treatment... Steve
 
The rack isn't the problem. It's the static you're carrying on you. Each time you get out of the chair or move across the carpet you charge yourself up. Clothes that slide on you (like a coat or sweater) make it worse. I work in an electronic calibration lab with a tile floor waxed with conductive wax. When the humidity drops below about 30% (right now it's 17%) we wear a static strap on one of our shoes. This discharges the static from us to the floor. My chair (made for electronic work) has a chain below it that drags on the floor to discharge static from the chair. My co-worker has a regular office chair. Anytime she gets out of the chair or rolls it she gets a shock when she touches metal. She always wears the strap. I'm not sure if it would work for you since you are walking on carpet. The other alternative is to buy a static free chair designed to work in an electronics (anti-static) environment. Another alternative is to put a humidifier in the room. Not the one you use for kids when they're sick. That kind blows out a mist - not good for your gear. This might sound crazy but you could try putting a bucket of water somewhere in the room (away from your gear). If the humidity is really low the moisture will be drawn from the bucket and bring the % of humidity up some. Static (like you're experiencing) occurs while there's low humidity. If you want, I'll find a source for the shoe static strap and chair.

Here's the strap we use. http://www.elexp.com/ant_2051.htm

DD
 
Last edited:
Hey Don, that's kinda what I was trying for, only cheaply - the FANTASTIK increases conductivity in the carpet, so hopefully walking on it won't generate and at least won't store as big a charge.

The Fantastik trick works pretty well for a cheap antistatic desk surface too - spray it on the desk, let it dry, makes a much more conductive surface.

The bucket of water idea should help with too low humidity-

As well as it would work on the static, I can't imagine having a chain dragging around under your chair in a STUDIO, unless you were doing a sound track for the Munsters... :=)
 
couldnt i attach a wire onto the rack and attach the other end to the ground inside the electric outlet box in the wall? when i say that i get a shock when i touch the rac(or the gear in the rack) i mean i get a nice jolt! i am afaraid that it will one day wipe out a piece if gear. is my gear in any danger? what could happen to gear in this situation? i would assume that if you send a good jolt to the right place on a hard drive recorder that it could wipe out the drive.
 
Maskedman, if you do the wire thing, first of all you're setting up a potential ground loop. As stated, the problem isn't the rack grounding. I work in a telephony headend built to Belcore specs. The floor is anti static tile which in turn is grounded every 10' witha 8' ground rod driven around the parimeter of the room plus there's a grounded anti ststic matt at the door ment to discharge you when you enter the facility. Something you could do is go to Radio Shack and pick up a static wrist band and attach the other end to your rack to keep you and the rack at the same potential.
 
maskedman72 said:
couldnt i attach a wire onto the rack and attach the other end to the ground inside the electric outlet box in the wall? when i say that i get a shock when i touch the rac(or the gear in the rack) i mean i get a nice jolt! i am afaraid that it will one day wipe out a piece if gear. is my gear in any danger? what could happen to gear in this situation? i would assume that if you send a good jolt to the right place on a hard drive recorder that it could wipe out the drive.
Click to expand...

Apart from ground loops, the jolt is not dangerous to *you*. It might not do your gear much good though.

Don't be tempted to ground your chair or yourself to a mains outlet, unless you use an approved anti-static lead with a built in resistor. Grounding yourself is asking for a better electric shock off any faulty/live equipment.

Using an approved lead (look in the tools/health and safety section of any good electronics catalog) means that there's 2-10Meg between you and earth, enough to drain static away, not enough to electrocute you on domestic mains.
 
i thank you all for your wisdom. just one question for track rat.
what is a telephony headend?
the problem with doing the wrist band is taking it off to go far away and than getting it all twisted up in guitar and headphone cords. i do plan on replacing the carpet soon. mabye that will help too.
 
When you pick up a telephone it's a central point where your call is routed to where ever it's going.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top