Electrostatic charge when I touch my Snap!

Hi guys,
it happened to me more than one times that when I touch my A150 I feel like an electrostatic charge…
Don’t know if could be a Snap or my power line issue but I can I solve it? Is it dangerous for me or my Snap?

Thanks

Static buildup isn’t good. You could hook a bleed wire to earth ground

I think where I’m working now there is no ground! :frowning:

Where are you working?

If you’re in anything like a modern building, there’s ground. If you see a three-pin mains outlet, one of those pins is ground.

This is for the States, if you’re elsewhere I’m not sure what’s available: https://www.amazon.com/StaticTek-Adapter-Universal-Connection-Unbreakable/dp/B071J61CSV
and https://www.amazon.com/Grounding-Cable-Alligator-Clip-16-5/dp/B07Z1DXW7B

If you’re suspecting an electrical fault just make sure whatever circuit your equipment is plugged into is GFCI protected, or buy a GFCI plug adapter like so: https://www.amazon.com/GFCI-Inline-Single-Outlet-Cord/dp/B01GSPTUZG

Edit: internationally GFCIs are also referred to as RCDs or RCCBs. GFCI is the North American name. Thanks Streupfeffer for the wiki link.

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At the moment I’m working in an old garage and I suspect the power line has no ground or at least not sure. That’s make sense with the Electronic charge I’m getting in the garage and not in my house.

Is there a way to prevent this charge without having a good heart on the power line?
If not… how can I do to work save? Should I touch before some other point then the Snap or …

What is this GFCI?

GFCI https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device

Meassure with a multimeter if you have voltage between another outlet earth and your SN frame.

That’s pretty easy to fix–drive your own ground rod. Available widely at home stores for around $12-$15. You’ll also need a bonding clamp and some bare copper ground wire.

You can use the ground rod directly, if you need to. Better is to bond (conductively connect) the ground rod to your electrical ground; this is best done at the main panel, but can be done elsewhere. If you’re in a high-lightning area, be careful to use star-wiring (no loops); do a bit of reading to learn why. Added: If you put in a ground rod in the garage, make sure to bond it to the existing grounding system. Read below for why this isn’t a simple as it seems.

Bond both the body of the machine itself as well as the frame of the enclosure to earth. These machines seem to have little to no protection against EMI (electromagnetic interference), a category that broadly includes static discharge. The most common symptom is some piece of electronics suddenly failing to work at all, but intermittent failures also happen. Anecdotal reports on this forum of sudden failures are caused in part, in my view, by poor static control. I should also mention that damage from low-level static discharge can be somewhat cumulative; I would not be surprised that poor static control in the factory is causing many modules to be electrically fragile.

Good ground bonding is only one element of a full antistatic system. If you’ve got carpet in the garage, that can contribute to static buildup if it’s made of certain materials. Antistatic mitigation is an important specialty market; there’s lots available.

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At least here in Michigan it is against code to have a ground rod anywhere but at the main panel. Though it is still effective. Just wanted to point this out.

I can get into trouble forgetting to put in all the disclaimers I need to sometimes. I’ve edited my original to add the requirement that any additional ground rod be bonded.

Electrical codes all have variation; I certainly don’t know Michigan’s. The NEC (National Electrical Code) states “All grounding electrodes that are present at each building or structure served shall be bonded together to form the grounding electrode system.” In general “auxiliary electrodes” are permissible in addition to one at the main panel. You’d have to dig to see if in Michigan has overridden the NEC in this regard.

One thing to remember about electrical code: they were written for fire safety as their principal aim. Life safety entered more recently. Device safety has just recently started; I found out while looking up code sections that the 2020 code now has a surge protection requirement. (And that’s great, because sales volumes will go up and prices will fall.)

What they’re not written for is static discharge. While researching this morning, I found there’s lot of talk about how useless auxiliary electrodes are, that they serve no electrical safety purpose. I mostly agree with this, but the important bit here is that there are other purposes to auxiliary grounds than safety, and static discharge is one of them. Current flows on the path of least impedance for the signal. For low frequency (including DC) that’s generally going to mean the bonding conductor. For high frequency and transients, though, a grounding electrical at the point of generation can have lower impedance.

General warning: If you’re not sure you understand all this, hire a licensed electrician.

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Many AHJs disallow auxiliary grounding electrodes outside of very specific application requirements as they cause more problems than they solve. Aux electrodes are not required to be bonded to the building grounding electrode system and in my opinion are safer being operated not bonded. It must not be the effective ground fault current path.

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I agree with @brent113 grounding is a tricky thing and can cause problems unless isolated or done properly. And I just wanted to point out that there are local codes that could be proble.atic for the op in the future :slight_smile:

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