Static Shock (absorber) Discharger to Never Get Shocked by Static Again.

by kenyer

9.8K14947

Intro: Static Shock (absorber) Discharger to Never Get Shocked by Static Again.

Lately I get static shocks a lot. I'm not sure if it is the dry weather, my shoes or my car. Or it might be all of the above.

Every time when I get out of the car and touch something metal I get a terrible static shock. Most of the time it is my car door handle.

Something has to be done!

I couldn't find a solution on Instructables so I had to find my own solution. I thought it might be an idea to discharge myself through a resistor. I tried a 1.5M resistor and it worked perfectly. (other resistors might also work)

I could just bind a 1.5M resistor on my keychain, but I wanted to make something nicer, so that's what I did.

STEP 1: You Will Need

materials

  • metal tube
  • plastic tube
  • resistor 1.5M
  • non conductive O-ring

tools

  • metal saw
  • sander
  • solder stuff
  • pliers
  • snips
  • multimeter (optional)

STEP 2: The Tubes

  • Find a metal tube that fits the resistor inside. (I used brass)
  • Find a plastic tube that just fits the metal tube. (I have no idea what my plastic tube was in his previous live)
  • Sand (or file) a nice chamfer on one site of the metal tube.
  • Cut it as short as possible while it still is long enough to stay in the plastic tube. (1 cm worked for me)
  • Cut an other piece longer for the back. (2 cm or something like that)

STEP 3: Put It Together

  • Cut the plastic tube long enough that it mostly covers the chamfered tube and just the straight tube.
  • Put the O-ring around the resistor.
  • Put the resistor with the long lead towards the chamfered side. (most resistors have leads that are the same side, so than it doesn't matter how you put it)
  • The O-ring should divide the two metal tubes.
  • Snip the wire that sticks out on the chamfered side, flush with the tube.

STEP 4: Solder the Resistor

  • Solder the snipped wire to the metal tube. I soldered it with a nice dome for looks.
  • Bent the wire on the other side back into the tube, so you get a ring on the back.
  • Solder the bend wire on the back to the straight tube.
  • (optional) measure if the resistance between the two tubes. It should be 1.5 M

STEP 5: Finish It

  • Push the plastic tube over the metal tubes to connect them. You might need glue to keep it stuck.

Now the thingy is finished.

Use it:

  • To use it you hold one side in your hand. (the straight side)
  • You need to touch the metal, but NOT the metal on the chamfered side.
  • Touch something metal with the chamfered side to discharge yourself.
  • Never get shocked again!

45 Comments

JeremiahM24 7 years ago

Could this be worn while working on circuitry to avoid frying it? Like, if I was looking at my motherboard, do you think this would prevent it from being shocked?

Lenora Benton 7 years ago

I have a simple solution for you in order to prevent static from interfering adversely, on your motherboard or any other circuitboard, while you work on it. I soldered extensively on circuitboards for hardware security devices years ago. You must ground yourself to prevent transferring static electricity to the board, potentially damaging or blowing up components. I use a metal elastic wrist band with an insulated wire attached. Make the wire long enough to reach to your table or workbench, from a receptacle outlet screw or from an object that is large, stationery, and metal, like a metal desk leg. Attach the one end of the wire to that and place the wristband, with the wire attached, on your wrist: NOW YOU ARE GROUNDED!!

kenyer 7 years ago

Where can you buy the metal elastic? I don't think that I have ever seen that in the store.

kenyer 7 years ago

Nope, that's not what this is for.

Roamin63 8 years ago

Keys, coins, and metal jewelry will all absorb the shock so you don't have to.

electric guy 8 years ago

great idea!
happens to me to I just use my car key and it works for me

Nitro101 8 years ago

Solution Fast easy and cheep. Just grab hold of the glass or frame on the car before you exit. The shock will go directly to ground, leaving you unharm.

Caution: don't ever leave a gas pump unattended and go back into your car, you will create another new charge that could sparks the fumes.

Techniack 8 years ago

Try a resistor soldered to a diode so if the car door has a static charge it won't go into you.

morsed2 8 years ago

WRT shocks, you may want to try living in the desert (ie Las Vegas or Yucca Valley) where the humidity is VERY low, just after some rain a few days ago, the humidity in my room is 33%. I can get static shocks by blinking! The cat comes upto me and KABOOOM! we both jump! When I go into stores these days, I touch the metal part of the door with the back of my hand before opening it, I still jump 10 feet in the air! But like all things we get used to them.

kenyer 8 years ago

there should be a startup finding an easy solution for this. Kickstarter anyone?

LauriS9 8 years ago

Why would you need a resistor in between? Just use any conductive material to even the potential. Say a paper clip. When the current goes through a larger area you wont feel a thing. Nice build though.

morsed2 8 years ago

My I suggest LauriS9, you build 2. One with a resistor and one without.

You will soon find out which one works! One will give you quite a belt (shock!)

(I will give you a hint, it's the one with the resistor!)

kenyer 8 years ago

I know for sure that the one with the resistor will not give a shock. That's the one I build.

LauriS9 8 years ago

i suggested the "paperclip" method from my personal experience. im a medical doctor and the doctors coat is polyester/synthetic. so during winter i get these nice pops quite often when touching faucet/running water/patients. so whenever i wanted to wash my hands, i would grab a metal reflex hammer/tuning fork and touch the water with that first. you can se the spark between water and metal. no pain, full gain. (with children i first ground my self to something)

kenyer 8 years ago

I really love how everybody is thinking about this subject. I am learning stuff here.

morsed2 8 years ago

Ah, Ah! the "paperclip" method is a great one, you still get a minor shock, but as you are grasping a rather large area of metal, the voltage is spread across a larger area, When I used to go to Las Vegas, I would always touch a gambling machine with a quarter ($0.25) before losing it!

I would venture the idea that the pain involved is not so much from the electrical current, but from the local heating that the arc causes.

Hummm. I think I am wrong on that one!

kenyer 8 years ago

Are you sure about that? My idea was that the resistor would slow down the discharge.
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