Michael, Back when I used to design coin operated games we had a problem with intentional ESD doing damage to the electronics.
Turns out, that ESD would, every now and then, give a free game. Being rewarded with free games, they quickly learned a damaging ritual - the kids would link arms, up to six of them, scuff their feet around the carpeting and then discharge to the machine through a quarter to really blast the machine. More than likely they killed the machine, but what did they care? First thing I did was make the electronics extremely robust for ESD, *THEN* I modified the software so the slightest (interpret that to mean so low level that it wasn't damaging) ESD event simply reset the game, even erased accumulated games. They lost their money. Never had problems after that. The next time we watched a field installation, you couldn't believe how the kids protected those machines from even the most accidental of discharges. Like yelling at another kid to keep away while he's playing the game. Anyway, it was one way to get the customer to help protect your electronics. It's all in the reward/punishment system. - Robert - Robert A. Macy, PE .. m...@california.com 408 286 3985 . . . .. . . fx 408 297 9121 AJM International Electronics Consultants 101 E San Fernando, Suite 402 San Jose, CA 95112 On Wed, 3 Sep 2003 10:31:58 -0500 "Sosnoski, Michael" <gl...@wmsgaming.com> wrote: > > Ladies & Gentlemen, > > I am wondering if you have ever heard or know of any > printed circuit board > conformal coatings that are better than others for > protecting against ESD? > Are some just better than others for anything? > > Not that we don't use proper grounding, shielding & board > layout techniques, > but this industry is concerned with deliberate, and > intentional > stimuli to the equipment, and the more robust I can make > the boards, > connectors, etc,.. the better. Also, as in any > commercial industry--the > accountants.... > > Thanks, > Mike > > > > > ------------------------------------------- > This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety > Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. > > Visit our web site at: > http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ > > To cancel your subscription, send mail to: > majord...@ieee.org > with the single line: > unsubscribe emc-pstc > > For help, send mail to the list administrators: > Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com > Dave Heald: emc_p...@symbol.com > > For policy questions, send mail to: > Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org > Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org > > Archive is being moved, we will announce when it is back > on-line. > All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the > web at: > http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: emc-p...@hypercom.com Dave Heald: emc_p...@symbol.com For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org Archive is being moved, we will announce when it is back on-line. All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc