Static electricity and metal case?

[ATB]

I walked over to my S3 the other day and touched the metal case just above the buttons. Being dry, there was a spark of static electricity between my finger and the case. I heard a pop through my speakers followed by silence and got a full green screen output from the tivo. No amount of button pushing did any good. After a unplug/plug, it seemed to startup normally.

Is this something I should be concerned about? One of the minuses of the nifty metal case vs the old plastic ones?

[SNJpage1]

there is a spray that you can put on your rug that helps with static electricity see if you can find it in the supermarket. Should be the same stuff they use for static cling.

[pl1]

Is this something I should be concerned about? One of the minuses of the nifty metal case vs the old plastic ones?Plastic? Are there plastic ones? My S1 & S2's all have metal cases. Which ones are plastic?

[TydalForce]

I did the same thing last week when I was reorganizing and cleaning. Rebooting fixed it.

Of course, I zapped it again during startup. There's one point in the boot process where the OLED on the front goes blank for a minute. That's exactly when I zapped it, and thought I'd killed the display!

Indeed, static spray would help. Also, just don't touch it ;-} lol

[ATB]

Plastic? Are there plastic ones? My S1 & S2's all have metal cases. Which ones are plastic?

The front of my S1 is plastic. I don't touch the top, bottom, or sides of it when trying to use the front panel buttons.

Could it be a problem if it keeps happening? Just seems like it may be a design issue. Can't recall any other consumer device that freezes / resets when it gets a static shock.

[hornblowercat]

Just a suggestion. Don't touch it. Use the remote. :)

[aaronwt]

I always touch my old DVD recorder to discharge any static electrcity(since it's old I rarely use it so I don't care if it gets damaged)before I touch any of my more expensive components. I have always done this with electrical components when the air is very dry. Otherwise a big static electric discharge can do some serious damage.

[cokyq]

Here is a simple home remedy...

In a spray bottle (like an old empty windex spray bottle) add 1/8 cup of fabric softener (I use CostCo's Kirkland Fabric Softener) and then fill it with water. Spray your carpet with the watered down fabric softener and the static should go away. Spray every few days as needed!

[DCIFRTHS]

I always touch my old DVD recorder to discharge any static electrcity(since it's old I rarely use it so I don't care if it gets damaged)before I touch any of my more expensive components. I have always done this with electrical components when the air is very dry. Otherwise a big static electric discharge can do some serious damage.

Regarding static electricity:

How many feet do you think a discharge of static electricity can flow through an Ethernet cable assuming you touched one or two of the conductors on the jack?

[rdrrepair]

Couldn't you add a ground wire to the case? Wouldn't that be more practical then spraying your carpet every few days? Heck, isn't it grounded thru the cable anyway?

How much voltage does a typical static electrical shock emit?

[cramer]

Couldn't you add a ground wire to the case? Wouldn't that be more practical then spraying your carpet every few days? Heck, isn't it grounded thru the cable anyway?It already is... as you noticed, the cable line should be grounded. However, I've never seen a cable line properly grounded. My cable line has a huge 60Hz noise on it; on the ground itself.

How much voltage does a typical static electrical shock emit?30k or more. 10kV "events" happen all the time, we just don't feel it.

[SNJpage1]

I guess you could place a small copper sheet on top of the unit with small rubber feet so it isnt in contact with the S3 and ground the sheet to the middle screw of the electrical outlet. Then touch that before you touch the metal of the S3.

[aaronwt]

Regarding static electricity:

How many feet do you think a discharge of static electricity can flow through an Ethernet cable assuming you touched one or two of the conductors on the jack?

I'm not worried about the Ethernet cable carrying the discharge but the component itself. Over the last 25 years I've seen several components get hosed from a static electric discharge. Usually if it does anything it might make it freeze up or reboot, but sometimes it can cause irreparable harm. My brother and Dad has had that happen a couple of times as well as one time for me. That is why I'm so careful with those components now. I've had a TiVo reboot when I forgot to discharge the static and touched it. Usually there isn't a problem but 1 to 3 weeks out of the year here the static can be really bad.

[DCIFRTHS]

I'm not worried about the Ethernet cable carrying the discharge...

I was asking because I have seen this happen, and I am genuinely curious.

[CraigHB]

Ironically, I fried my PC's motherboard a few weeks ago due to a static discharge. I'm usually careful about static, but I carelessly had one of my computer's peripheral cables unplugged from its device and hanging off my desk. Walking in from the next room, I brushed by it and ZAP!!! My computer went blank. Had to replace the motherboard. I won't make that mistake again.

As far as what happened to your TiVo, static discharge can crash the programming even if it doesn't cause any physical damage. It's like an electroshock therapy to a human, scrambles your brain. If it's working ok now, I wouldn't worry about it. In any case, take some static precautions. All electronic devices are vulnerable to static discharge. Sometimes it just interrupts the programming, other times it can fry the chips, just depends on the path the current takes.

The TiVo doesn't use a grounded power cable so it doesn't have a typical case ground. It gets its case ground from the cable and/or antenna connections since they should have ground blocks in the run fairly close to the TiVo. Otherwise a ground wire can be added to the case. Normally, one can be picked up from an electrical outlet cover screw.

[ckoszarek]

My husband also had a major static discharge on our Series 3, but for us, the TiVo green screened and restarted. It seems to function now, but the OLED is off, and I can't seem to get it back on. Do you think he did permanent damage? Any suggestions for repair?

[vfrjim]

I blew up a computer 4 yrs ago due to static electricity, but NO MORE. I have added humidity from then on, I installed an Aprilaire model 360 and it works fantastic. 37-42% humidity all winter.