Preventing Electrostatic Discharge Damage

Many services gateway hardware components are sensitive to damage from static electricity. Some components can be impaired by voltages as low as 30 V. You can easily generate potentially damaging static voltages whenever you handle plastic or foam packing material or if you move components across plastic or carpets. Observe the following guidelines to minimize the potential for electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage, which can cause intermittent or complete component failures:

• Always use an ESD wrist strap or ankle strap, and verify that it is in direct contact with your skin.

  Caution: For safety, periodically check the resistance value of the ESD strap. The measurement should be in the range of 1 to 10 Mohms.

• When handling any component that has been removed from the chassis, verify that the equipment end of your ESD strap is attached to one of the ESD points on the chassis, which are shown in Figure 10 and Figure 11.
• Avoid contact between the component and your clothing. ESD voltages emitted from clothing can still damage components.
• When removing or installing a component, always place it component-side up on an antistatic surface, in an antistatic card rack, or into an electrostatic bag (see Figure 9). If you are returning a component, place it into an electrostatic bag before packing it.

Figure 9: Placing a Component into an Electrostatic Bag