Are These Soldering Mats ESD Safe?

[@sdgelectronics]

I noticed with mine, particularly after some hot air rework, when I went to peel the silicone mat from my ESD mat it was crackling away very loudly. It had built up significant charge and immediately went in the bin!

[@wezelball]

I have same problem too. I have a wooden workbench with one of these mats on it. After watching this video, I'm going to buy a proper ESD mat.

[@CLGilbert]

Same. When I peeled it up from the table immediately I couldn't see how it could claim ESD safe. Heat safe sure but ESD no way. And 100s of them are on Amazon claiming ESD safe with lots of positive reviews 😮

[@rotatorcuffs8140]

I hope you left a review of the product so other people know not to buy that crap

[@t1d100]

Long ago, when I was researching the ESD mat for my bench, I discovered that there were basically two designations for mats... ESD and Heat Resistant. As usual, for the inexpensive solutions/mats, you had to read the information carefully, because the sellers did not mind misrepresenting the mat's specifications. The mat you are testing may, at best, fall into the heat resistant category. A basic test may be determining if the mat has a grounding point. Without that, it is not likely to be ESD.

[@G-P_H-T]

According to my own observations, almost all silicone mats have the ability to accumulate high-voltage static charges very quickly in motion. They are really dangerous to work with all kinds of boards, especially logic! Because of such a mat, the TinySA spectrum analyzer went into a knockdown.

[@argcargv]

Silicone has terrible triboelectric properties. I got a silicone mat once and it didn't take me long to figure out I needed to junk it. I didn't need to use a special meter to figure it out, I could just feel it with the hair on the back of my hand.

[@norfolkchas]

Same here! Thank you so much @KerryWongBlog for this really helpful video and the discussion it's prompted. I've just bought a similar silicone mat that's advertised as "anti-static" - and it wasn't cheap. I'll be returning it.

[@tiagoferreira086]

These silicone mats not only are really dangerous for electronics in general, they are also quite annoying when you are dealing with some plastic working (drilling, sanding, deburring, etc) all those tiny bits get charged from the mat and they stick everywhere making an absolute mess, the best solution is a vacuum cleaning, i bought one of those portable battery operated mostly for this situations. By the way for those who use them for light duty metal working, be aware that WD40 make them swell up and possible cause damage.

[@JanJeronimus]

Interesting and good to know!!! I would be interested to know how the silicone mat does compaired with a separate piece of ESD of around the same size ? (As is it more easy to replace a small piece than the complete ESD mat of your workbench.)

[@YeahNoTellTheTruth]

Does the ESD mat still hold up against hot air?

[@jspencerg]

I just got an esd mat which I cut to fit my table. It has no snap to attach grounding wire. Could I separate filaments on stranded wire and tape them to the mat to create a grounding connection?

[@KerryWongBlog]

There are roughly two types of ESD mats. Most used in electronics labs like the one I have utlizes two dissipative outer layers with a conductive layer sandwiched in between and the grounding 1M resistor is tied to the inner conductive layer. Some mats are just a single high resistance layer and if you have that kind you could attach a 1 M resistor and ground it yourself like what you mentioned.

[@BL00DEYES]

@@KerryWongBlog What would happen if you make ground connection to the mat that you have in your video ? Would it dissipate the charge that it collect to the ground or is the silicon not enough conductive to dissipate the charge (or too slowly) to the ground ? Thank you.

[@JonWilsonPhysics]

A grounding snap is cheap and also easy to install.

[@CLGilbert]

Grounding snap isn't going to do anything when connected to non-conductive material.

[@ohaya1]

Thanks so much for this video and to others who have commented. I was considering buying one on AliExpress as they are around $3 but I think I'll pass and get something from a reputable seller of electronics items

[@kungfumaster8171]

Great video.

[@YeahNoTellTheTruth]

Nothing is going to beat an ESD mat, but dragging it across and moving it definitely isn't going to help or now we can't tell if you gave it electric charge or that's it's real world state. In any case, this was an eye openner really. Just would have been better if it was tested in a more realistic fashion, in addition if discharging it would have helped.

[@CLGilbert]

He did the same to his ESD mat first to show no build up.

[@CLGilbert]

This is a PSA. These things are the opposite of ESD safe.

[@martinho53]

👍

[@attore17]

thanks.......

[@TheOpticalFreak]

Why is there a resistor between the ESD mat and the ground!? Why don't you connect the ESD mat directly to ground!? 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@KerryWongBlog]

This resistor is mainly for safety.

[@ratatajk7187]

​@@KerryWongBlogdoesn't that kill the purpose grounding? 🤔

[@dmaifred]

Slows ground transfer minutely, less peaks if I remember correctly.

[@JonWilsonPhysics]

You don't want zero resistance to ground. You want to limit the peak current of any electrostatic discharge. A zero resistance path to ground would give you a very high peak current. The sheet resistance of a proper ESD mat, along with the MΩ resistor, give you charge dissipation with very low peak currents. Also, assuming you are wearing personal grounding equipment like a bracelet, suppose you touched something at a fairly high voltage? You'd have a large current flowing through your body to ground. The MΩ resistor keeps you safe.

[@fraskerbasker6120]

You bought the silicone mat to do this video and then dump it in the bin?

[@MattA-fi5qe]

Can you not just clip on a ground wire to the mat with an alligator clip?

[@KerryWongBlog]

If the material used is not dissipative, alligator clip wouldn't help.

[@knightwar3]

The first thing i did with my heat resistant mat was to wash it i don't feel any hair sticking to it now but still it's not esd safe

[@puffinjuice]

You shouldn't move it while taking a reading. When surfaces separate it induces charges.

[@booboo699254]

Isn't that the point? Things are not static (no pun intended), but are mobile. You are moving things over the surface, etc.

[@puffinjuice]

@@booboo699254 Rubbing surfaces moves charges between them. Separating surfaces changes the potential between the trapped charges (think capacitor plates). Ideally you'd measure the potential of trapped charges in the state you are going to use the mat, flat and immobile.

[@rikimiki12]

@@booboo699254 but you are not moving the mat on the table while working. i'm not saying that mat isn't crap for esd protection, but the test isn't right either, since the 0:50 moment when he ruined the test it by dragging the mat

[@kenshin7440]

I guess this is a soldering mat/ heat resistance and handy for tools that's it

[@stickboyfpv4742]

Well yeah so long as nothing touches it while its on there!