I think it should be fine from a technical point of view, but man, this is damn ugly!

Sorry, just you have some nice looking hardware, and then this

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronnin426850

I think it should be fine from a technical point of view, but man, this is damn ugly!

Sorry, just you have some nice looking hardware, and then this

Well good to know I haven't made a logic error.

The gentleman from Seasonic customer support was not impressed by my solution when I sent him a link to this forum post. He was even less happy when I suggested I create a solder trace from the PSU to the frame

I'll drill out a custom bracket one day...

 

That's not doing ANYTHING. Sorry. The reason is simple: Paint is not conductive. Nor is doublesided tape. The paint is blocking anything from flowing. Even if it could make electrical contact, the poor mechanical contact would likely lead to arcing.

First of all, computers all use wire grounds and not chassis, so I'm not sure I'd worry about it. It'll ground through to your computer case via your ATX header, GPU, HD, and optical drive if you have one.

Otherwise, just take a length of wire and strip the ends back about an inch. Wrap one end of the exposed around a case screw, and screw it into one of the case mounting holes on the PSU. Do the same on the other end of the wire to the case. Any screw hole that is threaded into a metal part of the case will work.

The screw holes don't have paint in them, so your wire will make electrical contact to the case through the screw and threads.

 

Indeed, you could scratch off the paint, but if you really want to do it, making use of screw holes as described above is the usual DIY way of getting it done. Check continuity with the buzzer feature of a multimeter to make sure it's working.

 

Whoops you're totally right. How did I not think of running a wire and screw into the stripped ends? Silly me.

 

Screwing a piece of wire into one of power supply's threaded holes will give you a pretty good ground, but do NOT do it because it's easy for the wire to come in contact with something inside the PSU and cause a short.

It's better to put a standard PSU mounting screw (6-32, 1/4" long, not longer -- could short to something) into the hole and wrap the grounding wire under its head before tightening the screw. You may need a metal washer to keep the wire from slipping out.

If you want to be really tidy, get some spade or eyelet connectors (Radio Shack, hardware store, auto parts store):




and attach one at each end of some #18 or #16 stranded wire that's had 1/4" of insulation stripped from its ends. You don't need a crimping tool to attach the wire; just hammer the connectors.

 

I forgot to reply back then!

Thanks for the advice, here is my solution:



Thanks!

 

Cases have to be grounded? My PSU is currently sitting on the carpet with the motherboard laying on a static bag....

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyson Poindexter

Cases have to be grounded? My PSU is currently sitting on the carpet with the motherboard laying on a static bag....

Seriously? Besides having a computer on carpet being a great way to collect dust, putting the MOBO on an antistatic bag is dangerous since it the outside of the bag is usually conductive. You must really be living right to get away with all that. And yes, cases need to be grounded, same as any other electrical appliance. Otherwise, a short from, say, the PSU to the case could leave it hot, something that could kill someone.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Seriously? Besides having a computer on carpet being a great way to collect dust, putting the MOBO on an antistatic bag is dangerous since it the outside of the bag is usually conductive. You must really be living right to get away with all that. And yes, cases need to be grounded, same as any other electrical appliance. Otherwise, a short from, say, the PSU to the case could leave it hot, something that could kill someone.

I better go buy a lottery ticket then, because I've been running computers like this for over a decade.

How can a computer case be hot when the PSU enclosure is grounded, and all the mains voltage is inside that enclosure?

 

The issue is that a metal chassis that is not grounded is essentially electrically "floating". It can pick up stray voltage from any source: radio waves, static, induced current from nearby devices. This means that the chassis essentially carries a static charge, which can then shock the user or, worse, arc to a component. Considering this static charge can be thousands of volts (though only nA or uA), it can easily destroy MOSFET devices, such as most microprocessors, memory, general purpose ICs, and power transistors.

If your "chassis" is not metal, but simply a box or something, it will not conduct significant electricity, and thus doesn't need to be grounded.

Anti-static bags contain strips of moderately conductive material, depending on the type of anti-static technology. This can cause short circuits between solder pads on the back of a motherboard, which could kill the motherboard or cause various faults. The anti-static bag is purely anti-static, for use during transportation and handling. It is not safe to use a motherboard resting on an anti-static bag.

 

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but while static is being discussed, what can I do to protect my rig? It's currently winter here and I regularly zap my rig (usually the case, sometimes the mouse). Before replacing my old PSU it also tended to make the rig so unstable that even the reset switch didn't work.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by CM Phaedrus

The issue is that a metal chassis that is not grounded is essentially electrically "floating". It can pick up stray voltage from any source: radio waves, static, induced current from nearby devices. This means that the chassis essentially carries a static charge, which can then shock the user or, worse, arc to a component. Considering this static charge can be thousands of volts (though only nA or uA), it can easily destroy MOSFET devices, such as most microprocessors, memory, general purpose ICs, and power transistors.

If your "chassis" is not metal, but simply a box or something, it will not conduct significant electricity, and thus doesn't need to be grounded.

Anti-static bags contain strips of moderately conductive material, depending on the type of anti-static technology. This can cause short circuits between solder pads on the back of a motherboard, which could kill the motherboard or cause various faults. The anti-static bag is purely anti-static, for use during transportation and handling. It is not safe to use a motherboard resting on an anti-static bag.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by JKuhn

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but while static is being discussed, what can I do to protect my rig? It's currently winter here and I regularly zap my rig (usually the case, sometimes the mouse). Before replacing my old PSU it also tended to make the rig so unstable that even the reset switch didn't work.

I live in an extremely dry climate and static electricity is a huge problem for me. I always ground myself to discharge any charge I've built up before touching any of my computer gear. Fortunately, there is a pull chain on the light over my desk so I have an easy place to ground myself. I never handle HDDs or SSDs with my bare hands; I always wear antistatic gloves when handling them.

 

Also of note is that a computer case acts as a Faraday cage, as well as mechanical support. Radio/microwave transmissions and random noise ranging from a few MHz to several GHz can interfere with the computer's electronics; and vice versa, a computer radiates noise in those frequencies, which could for instance reduce the effective signal strength of cell phone transmissions, wifi, or Bluetooth, or possibly even interfere with groundwave TV.

A metal case which is electrically grounded will work as a Faraday cage, to stop any interference from being emitted or absorbed by the computer. Also it gives mechanical support and protection for your components, reduces dust build-up, and improves cooling by providing structured airflow.

In short: don't be dumb, use a case. And make sure it's grounded.