ESD grounding strap for static control & ESD protection
Grounding Strap & grounding wrist strap for ESD personnel featuring elastic & metal single wire bands. Largest selection of wrist band types, cord lengths, & colors.
Single Wire Wrist Straps
Single-wire wrist straps are the most common type. They consist of a single conductor and have a banana type plug. They can be plugged directly into a ground cord, bench-mount style ground, or a single-wire continuous wrist strap monitor jack. The components of most single-wire wrist strap systems include the wrist band, coiled cord, snap connection, and banana plug.
Wrist Band
Single-wire wrist straps come in three different types of wrist band material: elastic knitted clothe, metal, or disposable. Clothe bands are constructed from elastic knitted clothe material with conductive fibers woven in. Metal wrist straps are constructed from flexible metal links and which provide extreme durability and are good for clean room applications. Limited use or disposable wrist straps are used for visitors in the static control area or can be kitted with ESD Sensitive Devices (ESDSD) for field installation.
Snap Connections
For most wrist straps, the band connects/disconnects from the coiled cord. This is a safety feature. The snap connection is made up of a socket and stud and are available in 4mm and 7mm. In addition, there are three types of connections include premium medical grade, premium magnetic, and economy.
Premium medical grade snap connections consist of a machined solid stainless steel 4mm stud and connect to a medical grade socket to create an extremely reliable connection which eliminates accidental disconnects. See the Premium Jewel™ Wrist Straps with Limited Lifetime Warranty and the Premium Metal Expansion Wrist Straps for details.
On a wrist strap with a premium magnetic connection, the wrist band and coiled cord connect with a magnetic snap.
See our Jewel MagSnap Wrist straps for details.
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Magnetic Snap |
Economy snaps consist of studs/sockets that are stamped out garment style. Here, the stud and socket are hollow. Garment snaps are not precision machined like our premium grade snaps.See our economy elastic wrist straps and economy metal wrist straps for details.
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Hollow Formed Snap |
Solid Machine Snap |
Application for Single Wire Wrist Straps
Seated operators must wear wrist straps. All operators that handle un-packaged ESD sensitive items must be grounded.
"All personnel shall be bonded or electrically connected to ground or contrived ground when handling ESD sensitive items. When personnel are seated at ESD protective workstations, they shall be connected to the common point via a wrist strap system." [ANSI/ESD S20.20 section 6.2.2.1 Personnel Grounding Requirement]
The most common application for wrist straps are where the operator is stationary working in a fixed location where the wrist strap can be grounded through its coiled cord. Most wrist straps are usually used in conjunction with a dissipative mat or dissipative laminate work surface. If worker mobility is required in the static control area, operators can be grounded through the use of ESD footwear.
Why Use a Wrist Strap?
ESD Wrist Straps are the most common personal grounding device used in the Electrostatic Discharge Control or ESD Control industry. Why use a Wrist Strap? Since ungrounded people are often the biggest cause of ESD damage, wrist straps are the first line of defense in ESD control.
The purpose of a wrist strap is to provide a groundable path for charges that are generated by workers in a static control or ESD protective area or field service. A wrist strap is made up of two components including a wrist band and a coiled cord. The way a wrist strap works is that a conductive surface on the inside of the wrist band makes contact with the operator’s wrist. The band’s buckle is outfitted with a snap for a coiled ground cord. The coiled cord has a “banana” plug which is to be plugged into a ground cord or continuous wrist strap monitor jack.
Wrist Strap Testing
Wrist straps require regular testing to ensure that the operator is grounded properly. There are two basic type of wrist strap testers: on-demand or periodic wrist strap testers and continuous wrist strap monitoring. If not utilizing Continuous Monitors the Wrist Strap should be tested daily while being worn by the operator.
“The wrist strap system should be tested daily to ensure proper electrical value. Nominally, the upper resistance reading should be <10 Megohms or a user defined value.” [ESD-S1.1 section 6.1.3 Frequency of Functional Testing] “Proper testing of the wrist strap includes the resistance of the groundable point on the end of the cord, the cord itself, the resistor, the cord-to-cuff snap connector, the resistance of the interface of the cuff, the cuff/wrist interface, and the resistance of the person between the wrist and the hand that contacts the test electrode.” [ESD Handbook TR 20.20 section 5.3.2.4.2 Additional User Wrist Strap Testing] “A log should be maintained which verifies that personnel have tested their personal grounding devices.” [ANSI/ESD S20.20 section 6.2.2.2 Personnel Grounding Guidance]
If the wrist strap fails a test dry skin could be the culprit. A special static dissipative hand lotion is recommended.
Terminology
While “wrist strap” is the proper term for these devices, they are sometimes referred to as antistatic wrist straps, anti static wristbands, static wrist straps, wrist grounding strap, or static strap. Wrist straps MUST have a ground system to effectively dissipate charges. While there are claims by some offering a wireless wrist strap, cordless wrist strap, or wireless ESD straps these are not effective grounding devices. Learn more.
To learn more about wrist straps see the article “Wrist Straps and ESD Control” by Mark Hempel – DII Wrist Strap Product Manager, and Gene Felder – DII Corporate Product Manager
To learn more about wrist straps, visit our Q&A library. Ask a question here.
Click HERE for a Selection Chart on ESD Wrist Straps.