Static electricity & primers

Spray the rug with Static Guard.

That will be the end of it.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Static-Guard-Fresh-Scent-Spray-5.5-oz/21092566

NO idea how static electricity could possibly zap two 18V Dewalt's and the charger, plus all the other stuff.
It is all grounded when it is plugged in.
That is beyond my comprehension.

You might want to have an electrician check out your wall sockets for proper ground, hot, and common wire connections.
Sounds more like improper outlet wiring, or power surges to me.

rc

I was going to mention Static Guard but I see it's already been done. It works extremely well.

I have to agree with remodel, I don't see how static electricity can damage batteries or appliances. In 37 years at a power utility I never heard that. Now a direct hit on an electronic component, like a computer chip, can harm it, but appliances are usually grounded. If you are using a press, ground its frame. If you are doing it by hand then buy a grounded arm band that is used when handling computer chips.

Has anyone here ever had a primer go off from a static charge? Not heard about it, but actually seen it?

No.

But I have never heard of static electricity burning up two Dewalt drill's and the charger either!

rc

The minimum voltage to feel static electricity is about 3000 volts. But there is no amperage to do damage with the exception of very low voltage electronic devices like capacitors or LED's

But I have never heard of static electricity burning up two Dewalt drill's and the charger either!

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Me either.

It would take a heck of a lot more than the discharge from a static poke.

If you are getting static of this nature, GS, I think primers are beyond your worries.

When the batteries popped, did your breakers go with it ?


Your charger has an internal breaker- mine does, anyway. May have an internal fuse -vs- a breaker.

When my 18v dewalt batteries started slowing down about 4 years ago, I started popping them in the freezer overnight. Amazing how that one worked.... However, it sounds like you have a much bigger problem. Thankfully,, if you pop them in any dewalt charger( apparently except yours ) , the fault codes should tell you whats up.

The drill itself is very simple- there are no computers, etc in it- depending on your model, you may have blown a soldered connection in the drill, or fused the brushes. I've fused the brushes on mine more than once.... no comment. But, its as easy to fix as dissasembly, manual rotation + filing, and reassembly. If you really want, chuck it all in a flat rate box, and I'll give it a once over. I still have an 18v charger that works


As for the static and primers- its been known to happen. Grounding your bench however is not difficult. However, until this wiring thing checks out, I'd be careful what I'd run "what to what" in that house !

+1 to the above post. To answer your question how to remove the static electricity without using sprays, use an anti static wrist strap like I use when repairing computers if you are that concerned about it being static electricity. They are not that much and easy to find. Here is one listed on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Static-Wrist-Strap-Grounding-Adjustable/dp/B002O6U65W/ref=pd_sim_op_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0E87FT0AHR5KBMEZ7TKS

I can see blue sparks jump from one metallic item to the next, to the next, then finally making it's way to the electrical socket.

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This is likely a ground fault. While the first spark is likely static, being able to watch it jump from appliance to appliance into an outlet is........terrifyingly bad. The fact that its going into your outlet means a ground is present...but something else is seriously amiss if you are blowing up appliances.

Dry you've got. Cold you don't. How you are generating amperage like this is beyond me.

it dose have some disconnected wiring leads outside that once serviced a hot tub and such that aren't secured. Another strange event, there is a breaker that is labeled "Hot Tub", I once turned that on while trying to determine which breaker had been tripped, when I reset it, it instantly threw the main breaker.

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This is a disaster. Could be the cause of the ground fault.... maybe. Dangerous ? Certainly.

Call an electrician.

You have a serious problem with the electrical in your house, and its causing problems like you would see in the movies. Thats not funny. I know you strive to be a safe person based on how you load, this electrical situation is the opposite of what you are striving for.

Static guard. ELECTRIC Check I agree W/Big time!

+1 to CALL AN ELECTRICIAN. Please!!!

Doc7 said:

+1 to CALL AN ELECTRICIAN. Please!!!

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I can not stress this enough. This is not from a new carpet unless they drove a nail through something. Very well could be an issue with the neutral leg that is feeding your house from the power company or if there is a problem with the ground in your service. There is no way a static charge took out the two DeWalt batteries. There just is not enough amperage.

Pick up a receptacle tester:




http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-3-Prong-Receptacle-Tester/16561511

I build tube amps for guitar and these are lifesavers, literally. An incorrectly wired outlet can hook the guitar strings to the hot side of the circuit. I have probably a dozen of them in lots of different tool kits, amps, speaker cabs, and buckets. Start plugging it into outlets and see if things are kosher. It won't eliminate everything but it'll give you more info to give to an electrician.

Matt

I certainly Would Not wire myself to a gound with an anti-static wrist strap until I got to the bottom of his home frying cordless drills, chargers, batterys, mico-waves, and blowing breakers & GFI's!!!!

That Would Not Be Prudent, as you would just make your body part of the faulty wiring, and could go up in smoke too!!!!

If it gets hold of you wired in to a ground with a wrest strap, you won't survive!
Not to mention, it sounds to me like some of your outlet ground wires may in fact be 'hot' wires.

rc

gamestalker said:

Morcey2, is that what the polarity switch does on my amp? I've been juiced pretty good before when trading guitars with someone else who is also plugged in. I've been juiced quite a few times over the last 45 yrs. or so doing that. Now I always unplug first as a result.

But ya, me thinks I got a major problem. I'll skip the ground strap thing until the problem has been identified and fixed.

GS

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Yes fix the electrical problems first before using the strap by all means.

Agree about the electrician.

A guy I work with had the cable or satellite techs come out and hook up for another T.V. One of the techs had a cable spark. After having an electrician come out and troubleshoot, found that somewhere in the house, the cable and electrical wiring got crossed, causing a hot cable wire.

As others have said, you may have a ground fault. Don't take a chance.

morcey2 said:

Pick up a receptacle tester:









http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-3-Prong-Receptacle-Tester/16561511



I build tube amps for guitar and these are lifesavers, literally. An incorrectly wired outlet can hook the guitar strings to the hot side of the circuit. I have probably a dozen of them in lots of different tool kits, amps, speaker cabs, and buckets. Start plugging it into outlets and see if things are kosher. It won't eliminate everything but it'll give you more info to give to an electrician.



Matt

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Tube are not forgiving at all..... Just like a quick blow fuse. Done...

That will help but if he has an intermitting problem it will not help. I had an issue a few years ago with the power coming into my house and it was a problem with the neutral. There was a break in the line two poles down. Did not effect anyone else on my road. It took many times dealing with the power company before they found it. I run a hydro plant for a living but they still would not believe me when I told them I was getting 245 volts out of. 120 socket. It was an intermitting problem.

As others have said, you may have a ground fault. Don't take a chance.

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On that note.
Years ago I got on an aluminum ladder to change a yard light fixture on the side of the house on a rainy day.

Working 'hot' as is usually my custom when working with 120v stuff.
(Normally, it just tingles real good if you are not well grounded.)

So, I leaned against the aluminum house siding and disconnected the black Hot & white Common power wires.

Then I touched the bare ground wire screw with the screwdriver and got knocked off the ladder on my butt clear out in the yard.

Turns out, the bare Ground wire was spliced into the black 'Hot' wire inside the house wall by the guy that wired the house!

So Black was ground, and the bare ground wire was 120v!

Yeoser!

Years later, I had the siding replaced due to hail damage.
And the siding guy drove a nail through a hot wire inside the wall and electrified the ungrounded siding again!

Another electricity launched trip off the ladder on my butt cleaning the gutters that time!

rc

I'd also call an electrician or use a volt meter to measure your wall receptacle voltages. A loose neutral in certain type of circuits can cause half the circuit to go above 120V and the other half to go below 120V. This needs to be done with differing loads are applied. You'll get 120V on each side if everything is shut off (except for the circuit breaker).

I doubt it is grounding. If the chargers or clock don't have the 3rd ground prong on the plug, then the grounding of the receptacle doesn't matter.

Many of these new Li-Ion batteries have smart batteries and smart chargers. There is electronics in them. I can see it being possible that static from your hand induced onto one of the battery pins could fry electronics in it. I think with no electronics, the batteries will not charge. I have probably 4 Ryobi batteries that stopped working after a few uses. Either static or just defective electronics killed them.

"Black Boxes" on aircraft have plastic covers put on all their cabling connectors when those items are removed and carried about. Static from your body, if induced into certain pins, can take out the electronics. There may be clamping diodes or other input protection on an aircraft black box, but each hit degrades that protection device. I doubt they spent the money on a battery or battery charger.

Get into the habit of touching a grounded object before picking up a box of primers. It doesn't have to be a great connection either -- static can drain out through a 1 million ohm resistance which is quite high. A wire to a power grounding wire will be less than 1 ohm. I think most anti-static wrist bands have a 10K to 100K resistance. This keeps you from getting shocked should the "ground" you connected accidentally get energized.

rcmodel said:

On that note.
Years ago I got on an aluminum ladder to change a yard light fixture on the side of the house on a rainy day.

Working 'hot' as is usually my custom when working with 120v stuff.
(Normally, it just tingles real good if you are not well grounded.)

So, I leaned against the aluminum house siding and disconnected the black Hot & white Common power wires.

Then I touched the bare ground wire screw with the screwdriver and got knocked off the ladder on my butt clear out in the yard.

Turns out, the bare Ground wire was spliced into the black 'Hot' wire inside the house wall by the guy that wired the house!

So Black was ground, and the bare ground wire was 120v!

Yeoser!

Years later, I had the siding replaced due to hail damage.
And the siding guy drove a nail through a hot wire inside the wall and electrified the ungrounded siding again!

Another electricity launched trip off the ladder on my butt cleaning the gutters that time!

rc

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Wow, twice you say! I would stay off the ladder in the yard because you know what they say, strike three and you're out! (funny but not really)

Years later, I had the siding replaced due to hail damage.
And the siding guy drove a nail through a hot wire inside the wall and electrified the ungrounded siding again!

Another electricity launched trip off the ladder on my butt cleaning the gutters that time

Click to expand...

Two words....vinyl siding.