Static Electricity problem?

[Shpira]

I just bought a set of decks (cdj 200) with a djm 600 mixer.

I got it all set up in my bedroom in a metal flight case with padding on the side. Its one of those flight cases from which you can play without taking anything out. I hooked it up to some speakers and everything works fine but if i touch the equipment after leaving it on for like 10 minutes I get a small electric shock?
I was wondering if anyone knew why this was and how I could solve this problem? Also can this cause some circuits to fry or any damage to the equipment?

Thanks for your reply.

[KinKyJ]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

Static electricity can cause damage to electronic circuits yes. Not in all cases, but I know that for instance a lot of IT'ers or technicians working on PLC's take measures to prevent static electricity.

Why are you getting shocks?

Rotating parts in your set up will cause a build up of an electric load that can't be discharged. As soon as you touch the metal, you'll become the conductor and the electricity will discharge trough you.

How can you prevent it?

One way is to boost up the relative humidity in your room to 65% (leave a pan of water on the radiator for instance). This will improve the conductivity of the air and will prevent the build up of charges.

Or you can connect a copper wire from the casing/equipment to the ground, creating an equipotential bonding. This way you'll have a continuous discharge of electricity.

What is the floor made of btw? On what did you mount your shit?

[Shpira]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

The flooring is wood and the case is on top of a wooden set of drawers..
I was thinking about connecting a wire as you say to ground the equipment but I don't know what to connect the other end to i.e. the wooden floor won't help much...lol
And I am in a flat not a house so i can't really ground it myself.

The humidity is something I didn't think of to be honest but thats more of a temporary solution really.

i don't know you seem to know a fair bit about this.
What would you do?
Thanks for the advice by the way!

[Miroslav]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

I dunno much about this, but I presume you've already properly grounded your decks to the mixer when you hooked everything up...

[psylucas911]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

dig a cooper bar outside your home, its gotta ve 1 meter long or more, then make a 3 hole input and plug the wire from the cooper wire in the rounded hole, and plug your sound system in on of those regular voltage stabilizators with 4 holes or more, like a NO Break. and tcharam! no static!

[Shpira]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

That would be interesting...
I live in London in an apartment building on the second floor.
I wonder what the neighbors would say if they saw a wire coming down from my window and me drilling a hole in the pavement...lol

[Shpira]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

I dunno much about this, but I presume you've already properly grounded your decks to the mixer when you hooked everything up...

well I am pretty sure i did and everything works fine.
maybe if I took the equipment out of the box?
Do you guys think that would help at all?

[AntonyM]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

I would agree with making a ground probably the simplest solution without taking anything apart.

[feather]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

Is it actually static or could eletricity be I don't know, leaking from the equipment ... Those are CD decks, I wouldn't think they're that prone to accumulating static charges.

[Shpira]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

I think that my whole building may have just bad wiring and because the decks/mixer are made (predominantly) of metal it just shows more. I don't know...I'll try and figure out how to ground them...I have a fuse on the plug so I think that should protect them from a power surge.

[KinKyJ]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

Is it actually static or could eletricity be I don't know, leaking from the equipment ... Those are CD decks, I wouldn't think they're that prone to accumulating static charges.

That could be the deal too: faulty wiring somewhere in the system causing a leak. The quality of the wiring in your building doesn't cause this.

Maybe you should take your gear out of the box and see which component causes the discharges.

And indeed, the fuse will only protect against surges. Don't you have a ground pin in your power outlet btw?

[Dhar_2]

Re: Static Electricity problem?

^ if he is in london he will be using the 3 pin uk plug so there will be an earth.

its sounds more like the copper wire grounding of the gear. probably because its in the flight case. just need to ground that and u will be fine. nothing too traumatic.