Grounding wrist strap at home

[Zartan]

Can I buy a three prong plug, REMOVE the two power prongs leaving only the ground prong, plug it into the wall, run 1 wire from that and clip my ground strap lead to it for an effective ground?

[mrkubota]

...maybe... if that duplex was truly properly grounded to begin with.
If not, you run the risk of a ground loop voltage that would do damage you're trying to prevent.

I once had issues in an old barn we were remodeling that kept burning out light bulbs... came to find out it was missing a proper ground wire and was running an extra 120vac (different phase) back up out of the 'earth/ground'
so effective voltage at the lamp was closer to 200vac!

[Zartan]

YIKES!

Well the house is a year old...

[inapirekim]

Personaly I would not plug myself into an outlet. If you have copper water pipes, attach a ground clamp to it and run a 10-14 gauge wire to where you want it. If you plastic water pipes, you can drive rebar 6 ft in the ground and use a ground clamp.

[Zartan]

Maybe I'll modify a wall plate in my work area(inside my house) with a banana jack and connect that directly to the ground wire. Test with a voltage indicator of course. I mean the house grounds terminate at a bar into ground in the garage, which is hidden behind a plate.

[bartt]

You don't need to go that far. The screws associated with the plug plate (eg. the cover screws) are all grounded if the third prong is properly grounded. You could just put a wire loop under the cover plate screw and you'd be good to go.
If you're working on your PC, you don't need to do any of that, just open the case and grab the power supply housing (assuming that the power cord is plugged in). That will ground your body and dissipate the static charge you may have. Now do your work without moving (which is what builds up the charge) and close it up. I've worked this way for years and never blown a CPU or Ram from static.
HTH..

[Zartan]

Thanks bartt, that does help. I'm replacing the motherboard in my wifes laptop, so I'll just use the screw

[DVSmith]

You can buy a wrist strap pretty cheap. You clip it to a ground and it provides protection against static discharge as well as electrocuting yourself.

[darkgrue]

You can buy a wrist strap pretty cheap. You clip it to a ground and it provides protection against static discharge as well as electrocuting yourself.

A wrist strap doesn't prevent electrocution. It can mitigate some of the risk of electrocution while still providing a ground path, but an improperly-functioning (or inappropriately utilized) strap will drastically increase the chances of electrocution.

Make sure the wrist strap has at least a 1 megaohm current-limiting resistor in-line with it (should be even higher resistance for working with higher voltages). Some of them have it built in to the cord, but you really should function check safety gear. It's pretty easy to measure end-to-end resistance with a multimeter.

Without the resistor, you become the best path to ground, and it doesn't take much current to stop your ticker.

[Ralgha]

The wrist straps for working on computers are simply to prevent static discharge between you and the computer components. There's no need for you or the computer to be grounded to the house or anything else, all you need to do is touch the computer case (assuming it's metal), and then do your thing.

Honestly I think the whole wrist strap is overblown anyway. I've never used one, I've been messing around with computer guts for ten years, and never had an issue with static discharge.

[rplusplus]

You don't need to go that far. The screws associated with the plug plate (eg. the cover screws) are all grounded if the third prong is properly grounded. You could just put a wire loop under the cover plate screw and you'd be good to go...

This is what i use... I just use an alligator clip to the center screw.

And yes... Discharge all power supplies before you go a tweaking if working on things like TV's =]

[BigRig81]

I've never used a grounding strap ever and I've built many many many computers. SA comes in handy in many places I guess.

[Brianguy]

wrist strap?! never used one and haven't had a single problem.

[JDay]

The wrist straps for working on computers are simply to prevent static discharge between you and the computer components. There's no need for you or the computer to be grounded to the house or anything else, all you need to do is touch the computer case (assuming it's metal), and then do your thing.

Honestly I think the whole wrist strap is overblown anyway. I've never used one, I've been messing around with computer guts for ten years, and never had an issue with static discharge.

This. And if you really want a wrist strap just buy one, they're dirt cheap.

http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Anti-Static-Wrist-Adjustable-Grounding/dp/B00004Z5D1

[bg]

just open the case and grab the power supply housing (assuming that the power cord is plugged in). That will ground your body and dissipate the static charge you may have. Now do your work without moving (which is what builds up the charge) and close it up. I've worked this way for years and never blown a CPU or Ram from static.
HTH..

This be true and I have done this all the time. I generally work on someone's PC at least every few days and have not had a prob with
any burnouts. If a laptop, I do have a very small steel nub screwed into my work bench wired to a known ground and touch it for a
around a min and go from there.