static electricity/signal shutdown - why?


Cold weather has arrived and the heat is on. Upon walking
on my carpeted floor to change CD's, I'm setting off a static electriciy charge to my transport when I touch it. The transport tray still works but there's no signal. The DAC light indicates that there's no locked signal- or any signal for that matter - because there's no music coming out. I have to shut down the digital front end (transport,DAC,DIP) for awhile before it decides to start working again.

What's going on? How might I prevent this from happening again? Thanks for your help!
steakster

Showing 1 response by clueless

You are picking up electrons on your socks/shoes and sending them into your component. You are basically a high voltage source (compared to what you touch) when you touch your system. The current is finding its way to a sensitive part of the circuit and causing problems. What that is I do not know. I would not think that it should be this way and apparently it is some kind of short. You could ground your chassis so the charge moves in another way (of less resistance and this might be a can of worms too) or place something else beside your system and discharge yourself before you touch it or get a humidifier so you don't become an ambulatory high voltage source to begin with. I have the same problem with shopping carts this time of year.

What part of the component do you touch? Have you tried touching different parts of it? Always the same result?

I remain,
Static free and