Static discharge can range from an annoying inconvenience such as feeling a mild shock touching a metal surface to a costly problem such as destroying sensitive components or equipment.
Mitigating static buildup is a tedious and sometimes complicated process. All of the following and more can contribute to excess static:
- Dry air (lack of humidity)
- Fabrics and materials (your chair, trousers, shoe soles, carpeting, desk surface)
- Friction from moving parts (if you work in a factory, static can arise from all sorts of moving items including conveyor belts, piping, powder dispensing, plastic film, etc.)
- Lack of grounded structures/wiring/connections
- And more...
Mitigation steps:
- Test different materials for trousers and shoes (try leather soled shoes). Chair and carpet are also factors but likely more inconvenient and costly to change.
- Purchase an ESD mat for your desk. They dissipate electrostatic charge and you could make it a habit to be in contact with it as you get up.
- Increase the humidity of your workspace. 35-40% RH should be sufficient, but this may not be possible due to your location, employer, etc.
- Touch a metal/conductive portion of your desk (such as the frame under the top surface) as you get up. (If this doesn't help, your desk is isolated and could be grounded with a connection from the metal frame to ground -- it should already be grounded if it is a mechanized standing desk).
- There are various anti-static products such as clothes dryer sheets, water misters, etc. which may work but be inconvenient to use, refill and maintain.
- An employer of mine required everyone to wear ESD shoes or heel straps when entering a particular production area. You could potentially try inexpensive heel straps, but the effectiveness will depend on the type of flooring and construction of your work area.
The monitors you are using may be unusually sensitive to static discharge, potentially due to poor cable shielding, improper or insufficient grounding, or component/circuit/PCB that isn't chosen or designed well to reject interference from such discharges (read: cheap monitors). You could try changing signal and power cables to ones that include shielding or ferrite cores to help reduce their exposure to ESD, but in my experience it has rarely helped as much as reducing static directly.
Cool. But you might want to get a more professional solution such as anti-static mat or even a wristband. Or some other listed in the answers below. – Eugene Sh. – 2019-02-13T16:19:26.660
@EugeneSh. It seems to help a lot ! Thank you. – André DS – 2019-02-13T16:18:24.830
@EugeneSh. We'll try this in few minutes with one of my colleagues – André DS – 2019-02-13T15:58:38.510
3Then you might want to ground your chair/desk. Just pull a wire from it and connect it to your desktop case or some other grounded surface. But better do it through some resistance to avoid shock if you have some bad equipment around... – Eugene Sh. – 2019-02-13T15:56:29.370
5@EugeneSh. No pants also works, and might be more fun. – pipe – 2019-02-13T15:56:27.203
I already tried to change my pants, and everyday, with every pants it's happening :( – André DS – 2019-02-13T15:54:16.477
If it is a static electricity problem, a humidifier might help. I don't think that would completely fix the problem, though. – Hearth – 2019-02-13T15:53:56.900
Yes @EugeneSh. ! I can feel it through my body. – André DS – 2019-02-13T15:52:50.880
2What is the chair made of and what are your pants made of? Eugene isn't joking about wearing different pants; that seriously could help. – Hearth – 2019-02-13T15:52:49.003
@JYelton It's EXACTLY this problem! I'll edit my original post – André DS – 2019-02-13T15:52:15.137
Do you feel the discharge? Could it be not a static electricity problem? – Eugene Sh. – 2019-02-13T15:52:07.943
Thanks, I'll edit my original post : Screens are fully grounded. The screen panel shows a black screen for like 2 or 3 seconds, and then it works again. Sometimes, the screen panel stay black until we reboot the screen. – André DS – 2019-02-13T15:51:13.527
4
Oh, you mean computer monitors go blank due to a static discharge when you get up. Sorry for the confusion. I saw a recent video by Dave Jones on this very topic.
– JYelton – 2019-02-13T15:50:28.8279Try wearing different pants. I am serious... – Eugene Sh. – 2019-02-13T15:50:14.060
What does "it cuts some screens" mean? – JYelton – 2019-02-13T15:48:39.630
Welcome to EE.SE! You have an ESD immunity problem. Are the screens grounded? – winny – 2019-02-13T15:48:20.137
Same thing is happening to me. – quartaela – 2019-11-15T08:19:31.607