Don't Shock Your Chips!

Did you know that walking across nylon carpet can generate up to 4kv of static electricity? Walking across a vinyl floor can generate up to 12kv. These voltages are extremely harmful in the world of electronicsand electronic repair. If you carry a circuit board loaded with TTL chips across carpet you have most likely fried them all as they are 5v devices. Memory chips don't fare well either. When handling chips and circuit boards in an area with carpet or vinyl care has to be taken to eliminate ESD or Electro-Static discharge. This is done via several different means. One is to attach a ground strap sending static straight to ground. Another is to use static bags when transporting circuit boards across the room. Here at REA we take the utmost precautions to reduce static electricity. This is a very important detail to keep in mind when sending your pcb's for repair. As mentioned earlier, would you like 12kv to zap your motherboard? I think not. Send it to the professionals, REA. We won't cause you any static!