ELECTRIC FENCE ENERGIZER. HOW IT WORKS?

[kumar]

HI ALL,

I READ SOME WHERE THAT ELECTRIC FENCE ENERGIZER GENERATES AN ESD PULSE. IS THAT TRUE?

IF SO, CAN WE USE IT FOR ESD TROUBLESHOOTING. THIS EQUIPMENT IS REASONABLY PRICED BET. $50-$400, AS AGAINST A PROFESSIONAL ESD GUN USED IN COMPLIANCE TESTING.

PLEASE ADVICE.

[dr_p]

Of course, but then it will only be "Electric Fence Compliant", and that's not of much use.

[Sigmoid]

Of course, but then it will only be "Electric Fence Compliant", and that's not of much use.

Would be an awesome ploy to market the device to cow ranchers.

[G7PSK]

Not sure if it's an ESD pulse, all the good units will burn back any vegetation that comes into contact with the fence wire. I am pretty sure such a pulse would damage most electronics. I will try the one I have on a few diodes, 9.6 joules output, cant see even a power diode surviving that.

[SeanB]

I tried one on a Celeron processor. The processor survived that but did not survive the arc welder test I tried afterwards.

The electric fence energiser is limited by design ( and law) to 1 pulse per second and a max energy of 10J per pulse. Max voltage is limited to 10kv as well.

[Neilm]

I doubt that the output waveform would comply with the standard. ESD guns are designed to output a specific waveform with a specific rise and fall time. It might work for indicative tests but you could not claim compliance with it.

[Stonent]

HI ALL,

I READ SOME WHERE THAT ELECTRIC FENCE ENERGIZER GENERATES AN ESD PULSE. IS THAT TRUE?

IF SO, CAN WE USE IT FOR ESD TROUBLESHOOTING. THIS EQUIPMENT IS REASONABLY PRICED BET. $50-$400, AS AGAINST A PROFESSIONAL ESD GUN USED IN COMPLIANCE TESTING.

PLEASE ADVICE.

Didn't know if you were aware but there's something wrong with your keyboard.

[BravoV]

Didn't know if you were aware but there's something wrong with your keyboard.

You have to live with it, thats a typical Indian posters, they always love to use eyes catchy style in their post.  I guess its a culture thing.

[AlfBaz]

I actually hand write in capitals, no wonder everyone thinks I'm loud

[Stonent]

Didn't know if you were aware but there's something wrong with your keyboard.

You have to live with it, thats a typical Indian posters, they always love to use eyes catchy style in their post.  I guess its a culture thing.

You for got the PLEASE HELP ME!!!

[mdszy]

Didn't know if you were aware but there's something wrong with your keyboard.

You have to live with it, thats a typical Indian posters, they always love to use eyes catchy style in their post.  I guess its a culture thing.

You for got the PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Well, he did write PLEASE ADVICE. Which is pretty close if you ask me.

[kumar]

One of our equipments failed the ESD test. We have done some changes but are not sure whether it will work.

Testing in labs is very expensive and one has to book the lab at least 3-4 weeks in advance.

I know that the output waveform is not the same as the one generated by ESD gun used in compliance testing.

So I want to know whether we can use this kind of equipmet for an indicative test before going to the lab.

Please advice.

[Stonent]

Do things right or don't do them. You may spend more money working around it than doing it right.

Also just to help you out "advise" is the correct word to use. Advice is a noun and advise is a verb. I'm not picking on you personally, I just see a lot of people make that mistake.

In usage "I need your advice on the purchase of a new oscilloscope."
"Can you advise me as to which one you would recommend?"

[deephaven]

I use one of those piezo-electric gas lighters for preliminary ESD testing.

[granz]

When you say "failed the ESD test" that doesn't really tell us much.  There a many ESD models.  For ICs the most common is the Human Body Model, or which there are several classes:

(found online somewhere)

0 = 0 ~ 250 V
1A = 250 ~ 500 V
1B = 500 ~ 1000 V
1C = 1000 ~ 2000 V
2 = 2000 ~ 4000 V
3A = 4000 ~ 8000 V
3B = > 8000 V

(these also have a specific defined pulse waveform).

As Stonent said, don't waste your time trying to work around a real test.  The real ESD testers will produce the correct pulse waveform for the model of interest.  If you just zap your device with some high-voltage pulse and it happens to survive that doesn't really tell you much.  The width and tail of the pulse also matters.