Grounding Question with All painted surfaces?

[arda21]

I am about to start a build, almost everything in this location is carpeted, also very humid wet air quality, I have been wearing socks to make matters worse. working with some expensive boards.

I got both anti-static wristband, and a separate anti static mat with its own clip. however every part of the power supply that I already installed, and case all painted black couldn't find any safe area that is like explained in online tutorials with no paint.

I also found an old pc (Already installed) laying around, desktop that is, the PSU on that pc is also painted (My luck!) however inside frame seems non painted metal, with brush metal color, my question is what is the best way to ground myself;

-Can I just plug the old pc to the surge protector, (with all the powers off but surge protector connected to the wall plug) and while keeping the old pc off, have my wristband touch that unpainted-like frame next to power supply?

or utilize somehow the mat as well?

Thank

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... Take a old Power cord and cut off the power blades... now you have a portable ground PIN/Wires to clip everything to... and you can plug it in a wall outlet for earth ground.
You could buy the parts at a hardware store to do this too.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

1. It's dry air that worsens static electricity

http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/temperature-humidity-static-charges-last/

2. Socks is OK, shoes no.

3. Keep in mind that 98% of home PC builders don't use static wristbands.

4. If the PSU is installed in the case and plugged in (not ON), if you get in the habit of touching the case before grabbing anything you will be fine. Leave your power strip On, PSU Off.

5. Normal procedure for mats is PC => Mat then Mat => You

If looking for a place to get a ground... a screw hole or screw is what I usually choose. If ya case accommodates larger MoBos than what you are using, add in an extra MoBo standoff to one of the unused screw holes to the right of the MoBo and clip on that.

 

[tlhudson69]

Hook your strap/mat to one of the PCI screws that hold the back plates/card. This will give you a solid safe ground to the PC case.

 

[arda21]

Thank you for quick answers; JackNaylor;
All this applies even if everything is Painted too right? because people say on online videos you have to find a unpainted case / psu surface?

 

[ccampy]

The paint of a computer will not be thick enough to make it unconductive

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Thank you for quick answers; JackNaylor;
All this applies even if everything is Painted too right? because people say on online videos you have to find a unpainted case / psu surface?

The paint is not that much of an insulator but recognize that you are talking about very low charges here.... However, bet you have been shocked walking down carpeted stairs while touching a painted metal hand railing. That being said, if ya use a meter, you will see the conductivity go to 0 now and then when the wire shifts or jiggles a bit so a **secure** ground is important.

Yes the case is painted but the inside of the screw holes, once used, is not. It may get some paint in there during the factory paint but the act of screwing in the screw and unscrewing it is enough to scrape it off. I served as an expert witness in a court case where a kid trying to steal candy from a vending machine burnt off the tips of two fingers and they key evidence that determined the outcome was the a plastic safety cover was never installed over the point of contact. It still had paint on the inside of the screw holes while every other cover, once the cover was removed, showed screw holes with no paint.

Another place you see this is in water cooling builds where screwed fitting are used. One reason I suggest acrylic "see thru" blocks is that after many a build you will find paint flakes from the fittings as when fitting is screwed into the radiator, the tightening of the threads scrapes the paint off and after a few test fits, some is uusally laying in the rads and / or blocks.

So if ya screw an unpainted MoBo standoff or an unpainted screw of correct thread in there, that's about the ebst connection you will find.

 

[arda21]

Hi Jack hows this setup;
The old desktop next to me plugged into surge protector (surge protector on via wall plug) But old desktops power is off, then my wrist band connected to unpainted surface of that inside of case. While I work on the new pcs motherboard and parts on a different anti static mat (not connected anywhere) OR

should i just connect the anti static mat's cable to the old desktop like plugged above to the surge protector (on or off?) and me not having wrist band at all?

and no latex gloves right? even when installing this expensive CPU?

 

[arda21]

so my old pc connected with psu power on but actual pc power is off (you can see its motherboard light is on inside so there is power coming thru) ita case inside is better as it is mostly unpainted, I was going to connect my wristband to that case, while working on the motherboard which is on another anti static mat on the table, is this a good idea?

should I have the surge protectors switch on or off?

here is a photo for reference

 

[JackNaylorPE]

It sounds like an unnecessarily cluttered work space... also you are grounded, old PC is grounded... what about the new one ?

As I said above, power strip on PSU off.

You are over thinking this. Again, most builders don't have mats, wrist straps, etc ... just touch the case every now and then and you're covered.

BTW, I'd suggest:

New PC => Mat
Mat => Ankle not wrist

That wire can be a PITA when installing components getting caught and getting in the way.

 

[arda21]

Thanks Jack, I have put everything on Mat regards to new pc, the old pc with unpainted inside, was connected to surge protector to the wall unit and I had my anti static wrist band connected to that, (logically I thought I am grounding myself constantly thru my wristband thru old pc that way) and the new pc always being on anti static mat I thought maybe there is no build up for that? I may be all wrong, and Yes I am probably over-thinking just like you said,
Thanks for taking time for your feedback, hopefully these posts help others when they search in the future as well.