geekhack
geekhack Projects => Making Stuff Together! => Topic started by: Martinsos on Sat, 23 March 2019, 16:34:06
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TLDR; my keboard has steel plates and I constantly get static shocked, and finally damaged my MCU, what can I do to protect it in the future besides air humidifier, can I do some changes to the keyboard to protect it? What do you all do with your keyboards?
Hi all,
I have created my first mechanical keyboard (blog post being produced, I will post it when it is done!), and it is made as a sandwich with 2 steel plates. Btw. I would have never done that without Geek Hack, tnx a lot :)!
Problem I have is that in my home I often get static shocks.
I started using my keyboard 2 days ago and since my keyboard has casing made of steel plates, I had multiple static shocks in those two days, some of them pretty strong -> some of them would bring keyboard in such state that I had to unplug it from my PC to restart the MCU to get it to work again.
Finally, after shock number N, I realized that one of the columns on the keyboard stopped working :(. I am fixing that right, since everything else works I am hoping just changing pin could be enough, we will see.
Since I did not take static shocks seriously enough, I decided to change that.
I read about it and am now buying air humidifier, however I would also like to somehow protect keyboard itself.
I was wondering, did anybode else have similar problems and how did you solve them? Is there a way to somehow modify keyboard to protect it from static shocks? Maybe throw in some eletrical element somewhere to soak that burst of high voltage in, or somehow ground it or smth (I am not experienced with electronics but willing to pick it up if pointed in the right direction).
Thanks!
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First check that the outlet where the computer is plugged in is wired correctly by using a tester (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_outlet_tester). After that, grounding the case is your best bet. You may be able to connect the metal case to somewhere on the PCB where the USB ground is. Or you could connect a wire from the metal case to any ground. Usually the screw holding the cover plate on the electrical outlet is grounded and you could connect to that.
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It happens with all metal keyboards.
The cleanest way is to open it up and find the USB ground wire and/or shielding and make that contact your case. This will route the spark away from the pcb and down to the computer where it will exit and go to earthen ground.
Your humidifier should keep the static down low enough for you to not feel it, but make no mistake it still happens.
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Thanks for the responses!
That sounds great, I should connect case to the ground. I like the idea of connecting it to the USB ground, although I am not sure how to do that exactly, can I do that without dissasembling the USB cable? I am using USB-C cable and Postage Board (https://keeb.io/products/postage-board-usb-c-controller-board-for-handwiring), would you have any suggestion how to approach this (my electronics knowledge is not the best)?
Thanks!
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Thanks for the responses!
That sounds great, I should connect case to the ground. I like the idea of connecting it to the USB ground, although I am not sure how to do that exactly, can I do that without dissasembling the USB cable? I am using USB-C cable and Postage Board (https://keeb.io/products/postage-board-usb-c-controller-board-for-handwiring), would you have any suggestion how to approach this (my electronics knowledge is not the best)?
Thanks!
On your board, the holes with square solder pads are ground. You can connect the metal case to any of these. I've marked a few here:
[attach=1]
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Awesome thanks :)!
And regarding the USB cable, should I do a check to make sure it actually has ground in it, or is that guaranteed? I bought one for $2 from ebay, that is why I am asking.
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Awesome thanks :)!
And regarding the USB cable, should I do a check to make sure it actually has ground in it, or is that guaranteed? I bought one for $2 from ebay, that is why I am asking.
If there were no ground in the cable the keyboard (or whatever the cable was used for) wouldn't work at all.
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Also keep in mind that if the electrical outlet where the computer is plugged in is not properly grounded, none of this other work will do any good. You'll still get the static shocks. That's why I advised also checking the outlet wiring.
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Ok great, so USB cable is good.
Yes thanks, I will also have the outlet checked, but wanted to also protect the keyboard itself.
Thanks everybody, now I have my checklist!
1. Buy humidifier.
2. Ground steel case to the Ground pin on PCB
3. Have the electrical outlet checked to confirm it is grounded correctly.