deskthority

I wanted to use one of my 60%, but I was surprised to learn that nothing happened when I plugged it in, so I tested the other, which has been fucky for a while (and which was in the case originally), it didn't work either. As I was loosing patience, I was talking with somebody about it and they told me that it could be an ESD. From what I've gathered this is the most convincing option as I didn't touch the software so the hardware is most likely the problem and here's why I think it is : I think it has to do with case and where I put it, I stored it on a metal shelf and I guess electrostatic potential built up and when I swapped PCBs it fried both as they touched the case. Because the PCB that was in it when I got the case worked perfectly. So it was obviously when I changed the PCB that it happened, which would explain why I had so much trouble with my XD60 on this case.

the PCBs are a DZ60 and an XD60, the DZ60 doesn't do anything while the XD60 does light up and is recognized by the PC (Win10 makes a sound)


what do you guys reckon I could try/do to make both of these work again ?

Hard to see that a metal shelf could cause this. Electrostatic discharges have a high potential (V) but a really low current (A). The shelf more likely protect against ESD, since it would dispense the the discharge over the whole shelf. Do you have a lot of connected electronic devices in the shelf? It could be leaking current from one of them. But even that is not likely to become so bit that it can actually damage the MCU on the circuit board.

The MCU's used in keyboards should be very hard to damage with ESD, the cause is likely something else. If they where damaged by ESD it's more likely while you handled them, try to always be connected to ground while handling electronics and avoid wearing clothes known for building up static electricity such as fleece or shoes with plastic soles that insulate you against the floor.

Do you have a lot of connected electronic devices in the shelf?

Not at all, I just have a light's cable running behind it but apart from that nothing else, they're just there to store keyboards.

the cause is likely something else.

okay I see, but I still wonder what that something is, because, not only have I lost 2 keyboards, I may not be able to use that case anymore, which is my favourite one without a doubt.

try to always be connected to ground while handling electronics and avoid wearing clothes known for building up static electricity such as fleece or shoes with plastic soles that insulate you against the floor.

I don't think I ever do, though if I had been for a long time, then I should have fried PCBs way before those two no ?



I'd like to know what happened at least and try to find a solution to it, I maybe not be able to recover the keyboards, but I at least want to protect future builds from frying. I'm lost as to what happened, I really have no idea, and that makes me really frustrated, I'd like to do something about it but I don't even know what I can do. This sucks