how do those anti-static straps on trucks work??

[07ROUSHSTG3]

so...with all the out of towners up here working on the pipeline and all the windmills we are seeing a lot of trucks. they all have a "static strap" on them?!?! how does a piece of rubber hanging off the frame do anything to eliminate a static charge? how does it differ than the 4 pieces of rubber that are mounted to your rims??

[Cryptic]

When working with small electronics, you don't even have to see/feel an arc to damage it.

[07ROUSHSTG3]

When working with small electronics, you don't even have to see/feel an arc to damage it.

:confused

these are the 1-2 foot straps hanging off the bumpers and frames of pickup trucks and cars. i asked a guy once and he said that when sitting under the highlines all day the car can build up a charge, these straps stop that from happening so he claimed. just wondering how it works :confused

[ND4SPD]

It grounds out the static electric charge that builds up in some vehicles (my dad's '86 Eurosport used to shock the hell out of me) by allowing the charge to flow from the car to the ground. It should have some conductive material in it (though some of it may be rubber so it doesn't rattle around).

Think of it this way... all electricity (static, or otherwise) is basically looking to get to the ground. It will take (most of the time) whatever the path of least resistance is. As a car rolls across the road it can build up a static charge. When you get out and go to close the door... SNAP! You provide a path for the static charge to make it to the ground (since the tires are insulators).

[PonyKiller87]

I think that rubber strap has braided copper or steel in it that sticks out from the end. All it does is give any charge that could build up a constant path to ground.

Your tires won't give you that path to ground, actualy the tires are one of the reasons your car is a fairly safe place during lightning. They give you a pretty good amount of insulation from the ground making it a bad path and less likely to get hit.

[07ROUSHSTG3]

that makes sense then, i didn;t know about the conductive material inside the rubber. thanks

[Cryptic]

How the straps work or how the truck gains electrical potential?


edit... nevermind... yeah the rubber insulates the actual ground. Electricity always takes the path of least resistance. You hope it's the copper wire ground and not your ass.

[fivonut]

Your tires won't give you that path to ground...

Unless you're driving with belts showing....:rolf

[Al]

Do you think they will eliminate the static shock you get during the winter from most cars?

[WhatsADSM]

Do you think they will eliminate the static shock you get during the winter from most cars?

Don't think so. Pretty sure that is from you (as opposed to the car) building up static electricity. As you get out of the car you touch the car chassis which is at a much lower potential, and you get shocked. Having something that electrically binds the car chassis to the ground won't change anything in that scenario.

Basically the same thing as rubbing your feet on a carpet and then touching something metal in a house like a pipe.

[ND4SPD]

I think the charge is built up in the car... because I can remember trying to zap friends after I'd get out of the car and it wouldn't work. Then I'd close the door and bam.

[Syclone0044]

So what's the best way to neutralize the static discharge when you get out of a car and reach to shut the door?

[GRAMPS SS]

Do you think they will eliminate the static shock you get during the winter from most cars?



spray fabric softner on the seasts...thats what i did with the S-10 and the wagon..the wife uses it as well in her car for the winter...J/my 2 cents...

my dad had them things on our cars when i was a kid...i remember them...god i'm old...now there being used again....please don't let DISCO come back...

[WhatsADSM]

So what's the best way to neutralize the static discharge when you get out of a car and reach to shut the door?

Gramps is right... usually a spray will work because it will prevent the charge from building up on your body.

Another way is to first open the car door. NEXT hold on to the metal frame of the door (or something else metal on the car that is grounded to the chassis). Then LASTLY as you are holding the metal piece get out.

That way the charge doesn't have a chance to build up on you because it is being constantly dissipated to (chassis) ground.

[Al]

I've made it a habbit to hold onto the metal part of the door as I open it in the winter.

I'll start doing that again in about two weeks.

[UnderPSI]

If we are working on tower lines or under them, the coils of new wire that are wound up in the bed of the truck will pick up induced voltage and you will get zapped off the truck every time you touch it. Kind of fun trying to get the people you are working with to lean on the truck.

[indyzmike]

The rubber straps usually do not have wire in them. They are made of a type of rubber that is able to conduct high voltage electricty. This is due to the high carbon content of the rubber.

[lordairgtar]

Because rubber has a carbon content like the conductor of a spark plug wire, the static charge will follow that path easily. Experiment: use a rubber vacuum line as conductor between coil and distributor, the car will run...not too great, but it will run. Learned that when someone took the coil wire off my car once.