Resistors in Charleswater Mat Ground Cords

Using a current limiting resistor in the ground cord is the user’s choice; however, the resistor is not for ESD control purposes. Either without resistor or with a one megohm resistor is acceptable, but most all Charleswater ground cords do contain a resistor at the snap end.

Here is advice from our industry’s standard:

“An easily accessible dedicated EBP [EPA ground bonding point] for the wrist strap shall be established adjacent to each working area, or working surface. A sufficient number of EBP shall be provided for operators and visitors.” (EN 61340-5-1 section 5.3.3)

“EPA ground cords shall be used to make electrical connections between groundable points and the EPA ground facility.” (EN 61340-5-1 section 5.3.4)

Regarding 1 megohm resistor, “A nominal 1 megohm resistor is commonly used in wrist straps and to ground work surfaces.” [EN 61340-5-2: Section 5.1.1] However, for Working Surfaces, it refers to “it is allowed, when approved by the ESD coordinator, to use surfaces which are “hard ground” i.e. less than 1 X 10^4 ohms to EPA ground.” (EN 61340-5-1 Note 6 of Table 1)

“The EPA ground facility shall be connected to EPA ground and provide a low resistance path to EPA ground (<2 ohms). When available, the mains protective earth shall be used. (EN 61340-5-1 section 5.3.2)

When an in-line resistor is used in Charleswater’s common point grounds it is isolated from the banana jacks