Wrapping Boards in Foil

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Sat Aug 15 19:12:28 1998

On Sun, 16 Aug 1998, Tony Duell wrote:

> The foil forms a faraday cage round the boards and protects them from
> static. About the only danger from wrapping boards like this is that if
> the foil and board are at different potentials when wrapped, there will
> be a diacharge from the foil to the board. But apart from that, it's
> perfectly OK to wrap them in foil.

Time for me to brush up on my physics. So, does this really work well in
practice? It seems to me that when I'm holding a board in one hand, I'm
grounding any components that happen to be touching the foil, but there
will be plenty of microgaps. If I then zap the foil, I would guess my
chance of zapping more than one component would be greater than if the
board were either completely isolated from the foil or completely in
contact.

-- Doug
Received on Sat Aug 15 1998 - 19:12:28 BST