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ground static elec

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Jesse & Nicky

ground static elec

I saw a post a few days ago about this. I have a table mat with snap on alligator clip. I do not have unpainted metal ground. How exactly do I do this using a resistor and 3 prong plug ??
73 de Jesse W6JMM
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Mike Scott-7

RE: ground static elec

Jesse,
Sacrifice a three wire plug/cord. Cut the cord at a convenient length.
Expose the ground wire and trim the insulation. Solder a 1 Meg resistor to
the ground wire. You can solder a piece of hookup wire to the other side of
the resistor and form a small soldered loop to connect the alligator clip
to. Heat shrink everything when you are sure there are no exposed hot/common
leads.
Plug it in and melt some solder.
If you are still concerned about the hot lead, clip the plug hot prong off.

Mike Scott
AE6WA
Tarzana, CA (near LA)
Elecraft KX1 4-Watts

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Jesse & Nicky
Sent: Thursday, June 08, 2006 11:33 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] ground static elec

I saw a post a few days ago about this. I have a table mat with snap on
alligator clip. I do not have unpainted metal ground. How exactly do I do
this using a resistor and 3 prong plug ??
73 de Jesse W6JMM
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Don Wilhelm-3

RE: ground static elec

In reply to this post by Jesse & Nicky

Jesse,

If your 'table mat' is really an anti-static mat, it should have a 1 megohm
resistor built into the attachment cord - check it with your ohmmeter.

It is OK to attach it to a utility grounding point - I remove the plate
mounting screw on a standard receptacle and attach the wire there (but make
certain it is actually grounded first by checking continuity to the ground
pin on a 3 prong socket - in the US, the center rounded pin should be
ground, but if you are not certain about it, check with an electrician or
someone who does know 'which pin is what' on the receptacles - there is
dangerous AC voltage on the pins - BE SAFE! There are testers that simply
plug into a receptacle and show if the ground is connected and if the
receptacle is wired properly, I suggest that you obtain one and check before
sticking any probe into the rectangular holes in the receptacle. If your
household wiring conforms to code, any metal parts associated with the
wiring should be grounded, but never trust it until you verify (by testing).
I wired my house myself and have a lot of confidence in the wiring, but I
still check to be certain - stuff can happen over time and ground
connections can loosen on occasion.

73,
Don W3FPR

> -----Original Message-----
>
> I saw a post a few days ago about this. I have a table mat with
> snap on alligator clip. I do not have unpainted metal ground.
> How exactly do I do this using a resistor and 3 prong plug ??
> 73 de Jesse W6JMM
>

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Rick Hampton-2

Re: ground static elec

To reinforce Don's comments, I've lived in several houses, none of which
I wired, and found broken ground wires, broken neutral wires, broken hot
wires, outlets with the hot and neutral wires reversed, and outlets with
the ground and neutral wires reversed. I strongly suspect that if
reverse wiring the hot and ground weren't a self-limiting entry for the
Darwin Award, I'd have seen this one too.

Rick's Rule of Electrical Work: Double-check EVERYTHING. NOTHING is
safe until proved safe.

Rick Hampton, WD8KEL

Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Jesse,
>
> If your 'table mat' is really an anti-static mat, it should have a 1 megohm
> resistor built into the attachment cord - check it with your ohmmeter.
>
> It is OK to attach it to a utility grounding point - I remove the plate
> mounting screw on a standard receptacle and attach the wire there (but make
> certain it is actually grounded first by checking continuity to the ground
> pin on a 3 prong socket - in the US, the center rounded pin should be
> ground, but if you are not certain about it, check with an electrician or
> someone who does know 'which pin is what' on the receptacles - there is
> dangerous AC voltage on the pins - BE SAFE! There are testers that simply
> plug into a receptacle and show if the ground is connected and if the
> receptacle is wired properly, I suggest that you obtain one and check before
> sticking any probe into the rectangular holes in the receptacle. If your
> household wiring conforms to code, any metal parts associated with the
> wiring should be grounded, but never trust it until you verify (by testing).
> I wired my house myself and have a lot of confidence in the wiring, but I
> still check to be certain - stuff can happen over time and ground
> connections can loosen on occasion.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>

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dlajr

Re: Re: ground static elec

In reply to this post by Jesse & Nicky

Quite a few years ago, I bought (I think from Jameco) one of those yellow, plastic plugs with the three lights that tells you if an outlet is wired correctly and safely. However, this one had a female receptacle for the banana plug on the end of the wire from an anti-static mat/wrist strap. It connects to ground. I can plug the plug into an outlet, check the lights to make sure that it is wired correctly and grounded, plug my anti-static mat/wrist strap into the yellow plug, and feel (somewhat) safer.

I think they still sell it.

Dan Allen
KB4ZVM
K-2 S/N 1757

>
> From: Rick Hampton <[hidden email]>
> Date: 2006/06/08 Thu PM 04:38:07 EDT
> To: [hidden email]
> CC: Jesse & Nicky <[hidden email]>, [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] ground static elec
>
> To reinforce Don's comments, I've lived in several houses, none of which
> I wired, and found broken ground wires, broken neutral wires, broken hot
> wires, outlets with the hot and neutral wires reversed, and outlets with
> the ground and neutral wires reversed. I strongly suspect that if
> reverse wiring the hot and ground weren't a self-limiting entry for the
> Darwin Award, I'd have seen this one too.
>
> Rick's Rule of Electrical Work: Double-check EVERYTHING. NOTHING is
> safe until proved safe.
>
> Rick Hampton, WD8KEL
>
> Don Wilhelm wrote:
> > Jesse,
> >
> > If your 'table mat' is really an anti-static mat, it should have a 1 megohm
> > resistor built into the attachment cord - check it with your ohmmeter.
> >
> > It is OK to attach it to a utility grounding point - I remove the plate
> > mounting screw on a standard receptacle and attach the wire there (but make
> > certain it is actually grounded first by checking continuity to the ground
> > pin on a 3 prong socket - in the US, the center rounded pin should be
> > ground, but if you are not certain about it, check with an electrician or
> > someone who does know 'which pin is what' on the receptacles - there is
> > dangerous AC voltage on the pins - BE SAFE! There are testers that simply
> > plug into a receptacle and show if the ground is connected and if the
> > receptacle is wired properly, I suggest that you obtain one and check before
> > sticking any probe into the rectangular holes in the receptacle. If your
> > household wiring conforms to code, any metal parts associated with the
> > wiring should be grounded, but never trust it until you verify (by testing).
> > I wired my house myself and have a lot of confidence in the wiring, but I
> > still check to be certain - stuff can happen over time and ground
> > connections can loosen on occasion.
> >
> > 73,
> > Don W3FPR
> >
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