31 July 2026Manufacturing / Production Technology, Hardware & Services
Greg Baron, Actum director
A cordless ESD wrist strap does not work by grounding the person in the same way as a traditional wired wrist strap. Instead, it works by reducing or balancing the static charge on your body so that you are less likely to discharge electricity into sensitive electronic components.
Different types and how they work:
1. Traditional wired ESD wrist strap (the industry standard)
This is still the most effective solution.
• The wrist strap is connected to your skin.
• A cord connects it to a verified earth ground through a 1 MΩ safety resistor.
• Any static charge on your body continuously bleeds safely to ground.
Your body remains at the same electrical potential as the ESD workstation and the product you are handling.
2. Cordless “dissipative” wrist straps
These contain a conductive or dissipative material, but have no connection to earth.
They work by:
• Increasing the conductivity between your skin and the strap.
• Slowing the build-up of static.
• Allowing small charges to dissipate into the surrounding air or through contact with grounded conductive surfaces.
They do not continuously drain charge to earth.
3. Cordless ionising wrist straps
Some modern cordless products incorporate:
• miniature ion generators,
• conductive polymers,
• or other charge-balancing technology.
They can reduce body voltage, but they generally cannot guarantee the body stays below the voltage limits required for handling highly ESD-sensitive electronics.
Many ESD professionals do not recommend cordless straps.The preferred options are:
• ESD footwear used with an ESD floor
• Heel grounders on conductive flooring
• Ionising blowers to neutralise charges where grounding is not practical
• A wireless monitor system that still maintains a true ground connection
For handling sensitive PCBs or electronic assemblies, a wired wrist strap or an ESD footwear/flooring system remains the recommended solution because it provides a continuous, measurable path to ground.
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