Need cheap ESD Generator

I recall something like that to discharge static on old vinyl records. Have you tried your local stereo shops?

Aidan Grey

Piezo spark lighter works fine. You get just what you asked for, uncontrolled spark. If you want a BIGGER uncontrolled spark, use a stun gun. You can add an adjustable gap to limit the voltage.

For final testing, you're better off with a high voltage source and some doorknob caps and resistors (body model) on a wand. Charge it up and you get one controlled zap. mike

Well, I really need an already built system. This is for something at work, so I meant cheap in as less than $100, not the $1000+ ones I've been able to find. If I could just remember who made the one I used at my last job, I'd get the same thing.

For a hundred bucks, you can't even cut a PO! Test equipment under $1000 IS cheap; under $100 is an eBay miracle case. A professional ESD gun will be "under $5k" .

Go with the BBQ igniter; even that's gonna be $10-$20. If you want a sexier look, then invest a couple of hours to mount it in a plastic tube. You are only going to be able to do roughly qualitative work with this source; if you need a calibrated voltage / charge / source impedance, then go with a professional gun.

Remember, if you want somebody else to do the assembly / packaging work for you (you said you wanted an "already built system") then how little do you expect those "other guys" to work for? If your company can't afford to do it right, then YOU have to pick up the slack and contribute your time and effort.

Ed wb6wsn

I don't want a system. I just want something to generate a small electrical charge. I don't need to have an exact voltage or anything. The one looks like a small probe with a button on it. You push the button a few times to build up a static charge and you have a small clip that clips onto a machine ground and you touch the probe to different parts of the machine and it delivers one small shock and then you recharge it by pushing the button a few times. ESD Gun is probably the wrong term, but I can't think of anything else to describe it.

My company makes laundry conveyors for dry cleaners and we're having problems with static from the clothes rubbing together at one of our sites. And when someone touches the machine the static discharge is resetting our controls. I am having trouble simulating the same thing and want something that will just generate the small charge consistently and will be portable and somewhat professional looking if we do testing in the field. I've used it before and just can't remember what it was called, but I know it would be nowhere near $1000, namely because it was small and didnt have any extra components and also because my last company would be too cheap to pay for anything like that. I'd at least know I'm not going crazy if I saw it and it was more expensive than I thought, but all I can find are these expensive systems with these big generators. The closest thing I've seen is the minizap

If you're hung up on the thing you used at your last job...have you considered calling/visiting someone at your last job???

No, you don't really know what you need. You ask for cheap, small, simple, consistent, portable & professional. Duh, too many conflicting constraints!

Also, what in the world do you mean by "generate the small charge consistently"? How do you know anything at all about the charge that's creating your field problem? What's a "small" charge to you? More importantly, what's a "small" charge (discharge actually) to your product? Do you have a decent product that's being disrupted with a uniquely large ESD event? Or do you have a sloppy product that fails a lot more than you know about? Is this a problem with only one model in one location, or do your customers just learn to live with your flaky design?

Assuming that you plan to be in business for the long term, why are you so inclined toward product design on a shoestring? Do you treat insulation breakdown, EMI and mechanical safety with a similar haphazard approach? If somebody gets a hand sliced off due to an ESD event, your legal department is not going to be pleased to hear that you designed a product with no quantifiable safety levels. Maybe at that point, a $5k ESD tester will look awfully cheap.

So, for the LAST time, get a BBQ igniter and use it on your product. It's better than nothing. Or build a tester, using a tiny HV supply, a capacitor, a resistor and a probe tip. Again, better than nothing, and it allows for a small amount of charge adjustment. Or rent a decent tester for a couple of weeks. Or buy a used ESD tester.

BTW, consider what happens when you discharge a 150 pF capacitor, charged to say 15 kV, through 1500 Ohms (human body model). Ten amps is the initial discharge current. Now consider that the human body model may be inadequate for your true field conditions. Maybe the operator approaches the equipment and makes contact through a metal key or a metal ring or watchband. Now, you have a scenario with a lot less than 1500 Ohms source resistance, and a lot higher current.

Don't be so fixated on "how you used to do it", instead, focus on what you properly should be doing. It might be interesting for you to look at the EN61000-x product requirements for marketing into Europe. In the USA, you don't have any general immunity requirements. But the EU is a whole lot more difficult. Perhaps you might be able to justify what your company does in the domestic market by highlighting what they would have to do if they wanted to sell in the EU.

Ed wb6wsn