Safely test power on PB16 board

S

Snunicycler

New member
I'm [slowly] building my first board and the instructions say to "test power" by applying power to the board at selected colts (I'll use 5v). I do not have my board or power supply installed in a housing or anything yet as the build is not completed. Is this something i can test with them sitting loose on my wooden work bench or am i going to electrocute myself that way?

I'll hook everything up BEFORE plugging it in, just don't want sparks to fly just because i didn't do it right... This is a dumb question, I'm probably overthinking it but want to be SAFE, electricity isn't really in my comfort zone yet (I'm terrified of it). THANKS!

also if you can recommend a good BEGINNER guide to electrical info, I'd appreciate it. Most of the info I've looked into (not xmas specific) assume i already know what a "ground" is.
 
First question I would like to ask is what 5v power supply do you have? (e.g. a Meanwell LRS350).

The dangerous part to human life is a power supply with exposed mains voltage terminals (110v or 220v).
Connecting the power supply's low voltage 5v terminals to the PB16 is matching +positive and -negative.
 
Yep, it's Meanwell LRS-350-5 5v 300w. Thanks. I was concerned I'd get it all hooked up, plug it in and the exposed soldered points would short something out, or shock me when i put my multimeter on it.

Thinking about it more - I never get shocked when i jump start my car. I'm sure i am over thinking it but the "homemade" aspect is nerve wracking since i don't really trust the guy who made it (me).
 
If the work bench is dry, you should have no problems. You can easily get the board up in the air by putting a few screws with nuts in the mounting holes. It looks to me that the PB16 uses M3 sized mounting holes. Does that sound familiar? Stop by your local hardware store and pick up a handful of M3 screws and nuts. If you can wait a day or two, Amazon has nice assortments including some in nylon that would really insulate (but not needed).
 
A non-conductive mat works great. Using static protocols is a must working around most electronic boards. (This is one of those "do as I say and not as I do" things. I rarely use one unless I'm super sensitive about the board I'm working on, but I really should.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top