Question 1

never used one- where do you place clip to ground yourself?
i will be replacing dlp chip in tv.

Accepted Answer

Place the alligator clip on something that you know is a ground, water pipe, cable TV ground wire or other known ground. DO NOT use ground from electrical outlet.  If no ground is available, hook it on the biggest piece of metal in the house, IE. stove, refer, etc.  Hope that helps you out.

Question 2

Is the alligator clip detachable from the cord? 
If so, what is the diameter of the pin that connects to the alligator clip.

Accepted Answer

I don't think that you can detach it.  However, I found the wrist strap very easy to work with - the grounding cable is quite long and stretches easily.

Question 3

what do you clip to to ground the wrist strap?  Or can you plug into the grounding outlet?

Accepted Answer

The main objective is that the difference in volts between you and the surface that your component or device is resting on is zero. For example if I put a motherboard on my desk and there is a static charge on my body (usually in the order of several tens or hundred thousands of volts), I will want to put my hands on the desk long enough to equalize the potential, so that the equalization does not take place when touching the motherboard, else the current would flow through some device on the board and damage it.  The use of a wrist strap assumes that it is attached to desk or a grounding pad on which you place the device and then you and the pad are both attached to an earth ground. The best and safest earth ground would be a grounding rod driven into the earth deep enough per local electrical code. Then run a wire from there to your pad and wrist strap. You can ground through your household circuit, but you must absolutely verify that it is safe. If the electrician that wired your house was having a bad day, so will you.

Question 4

Do you ground it to the PC case like the picture?

Accepted Answer

I just clip the alligator clips to the PC on the inside somewhere metal, usually the frame and wear the elastic side on my wrist. There are other steps to be taken with the wrist strap being one.

Question 5

Is this necessary to build a PC or is there other ways to ground yourself?

Accepted Answer

It's not 100% absolutely necessary, but it does make your work a bit easier. You can take other measures to ground yourself, such as:
- working on a clean, hard surface without socks or shoes
- avoiding wearing static-friendly clothes like wool or synthetic fabrics
- occasionally touch a grounded metal object to ground yourself. In some cases, touching your PC's case should be sufficient for this

Question 6

is zapping electronics really common today? Is it truly worth getting one of these? After my current build I will be building another budget build in december-january, and in mid 2018 build my own rig

Accepted Answer

Static electricity is always a concern, you have exposed circuits you will be touching when you assemble. It’s a good thing for protecting your parts and can stop a frustrating process of returns and parts that dont work. Think of all the times you have a read a bad review of a part that was “dead” on arival...it probably wasn’t.

Questions & Answers