Funny behavior - Simpson 260

I have a Philips meter which does the same thing, and always has. If I touch the plastic and earth the other hand, the needle goes back to zero.

Ron(UK)

I've heard it's pretty common, especially in low humidity. One fix I've heard is to use a dryer sheet to dissipate the charge.

jak

Absolutly normal during cold or other static prone weather and happens with glass or plastic. The meter movement is sensitive to be deflected by static charges as it must be to read properly.

Easy to prevent clean the plastic with a mild dish washing detergent solution and rinse. That should cure the problem. If the problem persists afterward use a 10/90% mix of detergent and water and wipe the face with it but don't rinse. This is what we had to use on statc mats to keep them conductive.

Gnack

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Simply grounding the meter leads and also grounding your body should put everything at a ground potential and zero the meter. This is a common situation in northern USA where the indoor humidity in wintertime is very low unless there is a large humidifier operating. But that causes moisture condensation and mold, so most of us keep the humidity fairly low, even with double-pane windows and such.

Thanks for the feedback. It's good to know that this is common. I did the soap-and-water thing & it's working well - thanks.

Bob

We had several of these meters, someone rubbed their fingers across the glass, and for about 6 months it would not come back to zero. I finally opened up the case, breathed (closely) to the inside of the transparent window, and the problem went away. It is surprising how long the charge can be held by the glass (or plastic on some meters). The soap will do a good job of dissipating an induced charge. It's the same idea that the antistatic dryer sheets (Downy, etc) use.... The active ingredient in them is sodium stearate, which is pretty well what soap is made of. Soap is the cheapy antistatic agent, but it isn't all that reliable, and doesn't last all that long. Are there any more reliable spray-on antistatic treatments that will last ??

I've seen cracked faceplates that develop an internal charge, and nothing seemed to get rid of the charge.

Paul G.

Just breathe some warm breath on it. Zeros right out.

G=B2

Indium/tin oxide (ITO) can be put on glass relatively easily, I recall a spray-on solution and a bake cycle. It's possible that original equipment was so coated, and the malfunction resulted from changing out a broken window (or heavy cleaning of the original).

If you see this message on an LCD panel, you're looking through a conductive ITO layer.