RE: Zapping the PC (was: Baseline Skillset for Technical Writers?

[Kevin McLauchlan <KMcLauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com>]

I open my work PC all the time, on carpet, on 
the desk, wherever it happens to be. I don't 
bother with a grounding wrist-strap unless I'm 
handling something special for temporary installation 
in my box, and then only because somebody might 
be watching. My PCs last TOO long. I find myself 
looking for creative ways to get rid of outdated 
ones, so I can get modern equipment. Nine out of 
nine times, if something goes wrong it's a 
Microsoft software product (probably because 
that's most of what's on my machines, most of 
the time... so no special dig at MS intended).

What I always DO, though, is keep the PC plugged 
in when I open it. I keep devices in/on their 
anti-static pouches, and make sure my bare wrist 
or other part (no, not THAT part... this is a 
polite office...) touches the chassis before I 
separate a device from its pouch and introduce it 
to the PC.  For that matter, I touch the pouch 
before I touch the device itself. 
That's quite sufficient for static protection. 

Having the PC plugged in ensures proper grounding 
of the chassis and anything connected to it. (To 
forestall a usual objection, there are no exposed 
high-voltage terminals in a modern PC, and the 
power supplies are quite safe if you 
don't poke your screwdriver into them... )
Touching things in the right order ensures that 
all the bits remain very close in relative charge.
Touching the package before you touch the device 
ensures that any differential charge bleeds off 
slowly (microseconds), rather than zapping 
(pico-seconds) and does no harm.  

But, when I mention opening equipment in my docs, 
I always hypocritically tell the user to unplug, 
use static straps, work in a static-treated 
environment, etc.  That's standard butt-covering, 
motherhood, boiler-plate.  I don't want to assume 
that my audience are idiots or uneducated, but 
I can never know for sure. "Safety" first, the 
lawyers always say -- and they don't mean the 
safety of the user, right?      :-)


Kevin McLauchlan
kmclauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com    


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Halter, Meg [mailto:HalterMC -at- navair -dot- navy -dot- mil]
> Sent: Sunday, December 19, 1999 1:19 PM
> Subject: RE: Baseline Skillset for Technical Writers?
> 
> 
> You're right, Gina, that it would be dumb to do this to key 
> equipment or
> code. One would pick non-essential equipment and code (or 
> whatever) to learn
> on. And no, it isn't *necessary* to experiment. I'm 
> suggesting that it's
> helpful -- if done with good judgement!
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:	Ginna Dowler [SMTP:gdowler -at- questertangent -dot- com]
[snip-a-lot]