>If you have to stick with resistors, go as large as you can. The thing is,
>you can never say how large a whack you're going to have to take.. I made a
>home-made ESD tester a while back that might (with the help of a scope) get


How can I get this tester, or info on building one?

>you where you need to go.. I used a 12V CRT power supply, 15kV output
>(module, surplus) to charge a 200pF cap made out of 0.062" PCB material
>through a 60 meg resistor. This whole thing sits on a sheet of PCB material
>about 1' x 2'
>The thickness of the pcb material is such that it arcs over when you obtain
>about 2000V. This provides crude regulation. A 1500 ohm resistor between
>that cap and a probe, lets you feed calibrated "zaps" into your gear.
>Schaffner makes the "pro" version, but be prepared with your bosss's credit
>card!


Forget it, I know him (it's me ;)

>
>If you use a fast storage scope on your chip inputs, then you can watch
>what happens.  The cap and R were chosen to be real close to the standard
>human body discharge model. This isn't any kind of maximum. I've personally
>thrown a lot hotter spark than that does, just by wearing the wrong shoes.
>Hint: There's a REASON that the vegas slot machine crowd taps the metal
>machine case with a quarter before touching it, and it isn't for luck!
>
>Additionally, since this is industrial gear, you can educate your user to
>use a ground strap, which will help.
>
>You also have to worry about cables that might be carrying a charge between
>the conductors, (they actually make a fair capacitor that way) and longer
>cables are obviously worse. Further, some insulation is triboelectric, so
>if Mr Tester drops a coil of cable on the floor, he can induce a spike that
>could still kill your inputs. This is probably stretching it for
>triboeletric insulation, but it's a possibility.
>
>So this is a lot different than if you had some device out in the field
>used by Joe public as he shuffles across the casino carpet in his
>plastic-soled shoes, causing all the ladies fur coats to look like rabid
>raccoons on a bad hair-day..
>There is hope.
>
>:)