So much for disconnecting the battery.

[Lawman]

Most of the boards I work with are pretty bomb proof, not laptops though haha :-/

No electronic boards are immune from ESD

Think about that the next time you get in a lift then Mr TheBoy  

Noooo! Don't say that!

Muahahahaha!



Seriously though, I've seen boards stacked then carried and generally roughly handled...they can take it

[Marks DTM Calib]

They might at first....but time will tell.

Seriously, ESD is a big issue, even more so in the modern world of sub micron silicon (almost everywhere now).

In our factories, its a big deal with antistatic floors, footwear and heal straps (wrist straps are rarely used in a production environment) and ESd can build up with just the movement of an arm (hence touching a case before hand its no guarantee...)

The big issue is that ESD can often do un-seen damage which can ause problems later.....like damaging the aparsitic diodes on the IC's I/O, memory is very prone to such damage

It costs big bucks to impliment and follow and buisnesses dont spend money unless they have to...

[TheBoy]

The big issue is that ESD can often do un-seen damage which can ause problems later

That is the big problemt with ESD - people change stuff without protection, and because it works afterwards, think that its OK.  Its not, and damage would have been done - often resulting in differcult to find intermittent problems.

Also, "it's ok, I held by edge of board" type comments aren't valid either.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Also, "it's ok, I held by edge of board" type comments aren't valid either.

Nope, inner planes extend right to the egde of the PWB....

[Taxi_Driver]

Also, "it's ok, I held by edge of board" type comments aren't valid either.

Nope, inner planes extend right to the egde of the PWB....

PWB? same as PCB? Last time i worked for a computer manufacturer (along time ago) they were designing PCB's upto 14 layers thick......wonders how many layers you can get to now?  :-/