General > General Technical Chat
Workbench electrical safety advice
themadhippy:
In the uk at least,the advantage of using proper sockets instead of power strips is power bars often have a fuse fitted,so thats a fuse in the plug powering the power bar ,a fuse in the power bar and another on the plug feeding the bit of kit,now which ones blown?
EPAIII:
I will add to the grounded workbench idea. In over 45 years of work in electronics and at least 15 additional ones where it has been a hobby, I have only been shocked twice. The second and worse time was about 40,000 Volts DC that passed through a probe I was holding (not a HV probe), through my hand, out my foot, through my shoe, and into the grounded, metal bench I was working at.
My present electronic benches are wood and wood top with a metal frame below. Neither one is grounded.
As for anti-static mats, I have worked with and without them. I saw ZERO difference. Perhaps if you find that static discharge is a problem for you, then get one. But I see no reason otherwise. Not having a carpet on the floor is probably a better anti-static protection than those mats ever will be.
--- Quote from: tooki on December 16, 2022, 06:25:29 pm ---
--- Quote from: l9o on December 16, 2022, 05:28:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: Brianf on December 16, 2022, 04:55:32 pm ---You don't have enough outlets. My workshop (well the one I'm in now) has 16 of them easily accessible for occasional kit, soldering irons, and similar. Then there's the two 9-way strips behind the test equipment shelf. There are then another 12 under the PC bench for PC stuff.
--- End quote ---
Oh yeah, I was planning on just using strips to complement those. Is that a bad idea?
--- End quote ---
Yes, power strips are always inferior to real outlets. This is exactly the moment to equip yourself with enough outlets so you don’t have to mess with power strips.
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EPAIII:
If you buy your power strips at WalMart, yes they well be inferior.
Every professional shop I have built has been equiped with the Wiremold, Plugmold strips. I also specified them for professional rack installations. They are better than all but the best, high end, most expensive outlets. I never had a single problem with them. I always got the ones with an outlet every six inches. If you don't specify that, the electrician will go cheap with the ones with them only every ten or twelve inches. Then they curse like hell when you make them take them back out and install the right ones.
--- Quote from: tooki on December 16, 2022, 06:25:29 pm ---
--- Quote from: l9o on December 16, 2022, 05:28:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: Brianf on December 16, 2022, 04:55:32 pm ---You don't have enough outlets. My workshop (well the one I'm in now) has 16 of them easily accessible for occasional kit, soldering irons, and similar. Then there's the two 9-way strips behind the test equipment shelf. There are then another 12 under the PC bench for PC stuff.
--- End quote ---
Oh yeah, I was planning on just using strips to complement those. Is that a bad idea?
--- End quote ---
Yes, power strips are always inferior to real outlets. This is exactly the moment to equip yourself with enough outlets so you don’t have to mess with power strips.
--- End quote ---
nctnico:
--- Quote from: themadhippy on December 17, 2022, 01:08:19 am ---In the uk at least,the advantage of using proper sockets instead of power strips is power bars often have a fuse fitted,so thats a fuse in the plug powering the power bar ,a fuse in the power bar and another on the plug feeding the bit of kit,now which ones blown?
--- End quote ---
Is that actually useful? IMHO that is more like a UK 'thing'. Having fuses everywhere means introducing places where you can have contact problems and increased costs. All AC powered equipment has fuses inside it already. In the past 20 years I only tripped a breaker once and that way because a big ass power supply wasn't completely set to 230VAC (it had another hidden voltage selection strap). The fuse was sized for 110V operation so it had a higher rating than the mains breaker.
Sherlock Holmes:
--- Quote from: l9o on December 16, 2022, 03:44:51 pm ---I'm currently setting up a workshop with a workbench for developing, debugging and reverse engineering electronics. Pretty standard stuff: an oscilloscope, power supply, function generator, etc.
I have an electrician redoing my basement electrical, so this feels like a good time to think about safety of my workshop.
What is some advice you would give to someone who is setting up a bench from scratch? Do I need GFCI outlets? An AFCI breaker? Something I should do to ground my workbench? Anything else?
Currently I have planned:
1. A separate 20A breaker for the workshop area, shared between lights and all the outlets in the room
2. On top of the workbench, 4 outlets: so I can plug in DUTs and other temporary devices like soldering iron. I might add a wall switch for these 4 outlets, just for peace of mind.
3. On the bottom of the workbench, 2 outlets: so I can leave a few instrumentation devices plugged in all the time (mostly power supply and oscilloscope)
4. On another corner of the workshop I also have outlets for computer, etc - though I don't expect those to be using DUTs all that often
For context, I'm a Software Engineer who likes to play with electronics and radio/SDR, so mostly low voltage stuff. I would imagine I want to protect myself and my gear from ground loops, issues with scope grounding and accidental fuck ups I might do with the DUTs like shorts.
If there are any EEVBlog videos or other material that you find useful, feel free to send my way - I tried searching for this but mostly just found material about electrical safety in general, not a whole lot of advice for an electronics lab. Would be glad to get recommendations of any products as well.
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Shame you can't get switched power outlets in US. In UK one can cut power just by switching the outlet off, here in US you must pull it out, very kludgy.
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