Let's Make Robots!

Gloves for electronic parts / high voltage parts?

F4LLCON's picture

Dear fellow people, 

Yesterday I tried to open up my ATX power supply and test everything if works, so I could transform it to a lab bench power supply. I knew that the two large 200v capacitors were dangerous to touch so I did my best not to touch them. But somewhere near the capacitors I touched gave me one hell of a shock that my eye view went to static view for a few seconds and I started to overheat and sweat, could not even talk normally. So.......... I want to buy some gloves I can use to handle these parts. I want gloves that fit well so I can handle parts easy, not like those thick rubber gloves. 

What gloves are good for these parts?

I also have these: https://www.safetysolutions.com/retail/item/080206898/51-151-EDMONT-GLOVE%2C-SZ%3A10%28LG%29/206898

But I do not know if they are good for handling like high voltages or even low voltages. They are made out of Vinyl. The tips of my fingers are not that good for holding smaller parts so I also need gloves that look like these:


I read these are good and not melting or conducting electricity. 


So my main question is if someone haves experience with such gloves and which one are good?



Comment viewing options

Sweeney's picture

Hi, I built what you are describing a little while ago and it has been very useful. There is no reason to open up the case just install the whole thing in a bigger box and put the binding posts and switches on the outside of that.

I was going to do a write up of it, I wish had now it might have saved you a shock.

OddBot's picture

From what I have read you obviously have no idea what your doing and should stop now before you kill yourself. If you do succeed in killing yourself then I promise to nominate you for a Darwin award.

I strongly suggest you buy a power supply or top up your life insurance.

merser's picture

After reading how you nearly killed yourself I would advise you not to touch it again. But if you must then I would recommend this. It has the gloves you asked about plus a few other accessories that might come in handy. Of course this would be overkill for some and I suggest this with a small amount of humor but perhaps based on your accident it is not such a silly suggestion.

Dan M's picture

I am not sure what you are wanting to do with the ATX supply that required you to work inside it.  The only thing I can think of is that you wanted to install a different power switch or a meter... (?)

If you wanted to change the on-off switching, I would recommend installing a switch between the green wire and one of the black ones. That will turn the power on and off. (Makes it think there is a motherboard attached.)

Then for meters, it would be more meaningful to meter the outputs (5 volt, 12 volt, etc.)


As to kevlar gloves, I had a pair at one time. Really liked them, especially when handling sharp metal parts, but they are woven and splinters and shards can still go through between the strands. Same thing for electricity. The woven type kevlar gloves will allow a spark to jump through the gaps to your skin. 

The kevlar itself does not conduct electricity, as that advertisement says, but they do not address the case where you may touch a sharp corner or pointy wire that will go right between the fibers and you are history.

It also will not stop voltages that are high enough to jump across the gap and arc between the fibers.


As to using a one megohm resistor, that is too high for a normal wall outlet. (a.k.a. Mains supply).  For a 120 volt line, It will only tap off 0.00012 amps at a time, which could mean it may takes from minutes to hours before the charge is gone from the capacitors !  An insulated wire across from the high voltage to ground (Always hold only the insulation when touching it, and do not ground yourself to anything.) will result in a bang like a firecracker or gunshot, so Max had a point, but the value he quoted is far too large.

If you want to use a resistor, it's better to use something up to the 1000 ohm range and no larger. That will discharge just over a tenth of an amp, but could still take a while to drain a high capacity circuit.


Best advice is "Don't Touch".  Leave the power supply closed and work with the green "turn-on" wire and the low voltage 5V and 12V wires.

Second best advice is "If you HAVE TO work with high voltage circuits, Turn off the power / unplug it. Then put an INSULATED jumper wire between the high voltage contact and the ground, and then leave it connected there while you work on the circuit."


Lastly, Static Discharge straps are meant to drain off "static" charges that build up on you, to protect sensitive ICs. They are NOT meant for working with live circuits with active potential. Let me give an example: You put a static discharge strap on your left wrist and hook it to ground. You touch a live wire or circuit component with your right hand. Let us say it is at 150 volts. You now have 150 volts on your right hand and zero on your left hand. Current will ZAP through your body passing through your heart along the way. Someone finds your body later that day and tries to figure out why the heck you were cooked like a roast beef.

Are you getting the picture?  I hope so. I would hate to hear you died. LMR needs ALL our members.


F4LLCON's picture

Thank you for all the information :) After that accident I am careful not to touch anything while I am grounded. The reason was that I wanted to make an LAB bench power supply out of those ATX power supply boxes, but I figured out that not opening it and just taking all the wires and put it into a smaller plastic box and connect those wires to binding posts is a much safer way to do this. 

Anyway, when I was smaller I took two nails and put them in the wall power socket and yelled for a few seconds, 220v, Maybe I am just stupidly lucky haha. 

Thank you once again for the information :)

Maxhirez's picture

ESD is mostly to protect the components, not the people.  If you're working with high-voltage enough components to make you see double then the discharge is current, not electrostatic, and you'd more likely melt your ESD parts than just get a shock.  BDK is right-always discharge caps before getting anywhere near them.  A good 1MΩ resistor across the terminals will usually do the trick, but use some long pliers to hold the resistor because it can still get hot (Unless you like the taser sensation.)

F4LLCON's picture

Thank you, but I will try it without the resistor, don't got any laying around.


bdk6's picture

Without a parachute, cause I don't have one lying around.  I highly recommend you take Maxhirez's advice and leave this to someone who knows what they are doing.  

Maxhirez's picture

I'm not sure quite what you're going to put across the terminals here, but please PLEASE PLEASE DON'T try to discharge a capacitor with just a pair of pliers.  You'll end up starting a fire and shooting yourself into the next room.

I'm going to take back my earlier recommendation and just say that this really is something that you shouldn't be doing if you don't have experience and professional training.  It is very dangerous.

bdk6's picture

The resistor is better, as Maxhirez said.  But remember it takes a lot longer to discharge with the resistor, so hold it for several (5-30) seconds.