Sony SZ 110 - 120 (brushed metal finish) Electric shock / tingle on palmrest ?

[GlennOC]

First off the SZ laptop is great. Awesome Machine. I bought it to replace my S460 (which I still have and is also great).. but...


I thought I was crazy, but I could swear I was feeling an electric shock from my palms as I lay them on the metal surface of my new SZ laptop.

Mine has the brushed metal surface.

At first this felt like a vibration from the HD, but then I noticed when I glide my fingers gently over the brushed metal surface (palm rest area of the SZ) that I feel a tingle in my finger tips.

If you really want to feel a tingle.. hold the ground / shield of a USB cable from say an external hard drive that is plugged into a wall or touch a large metal desk, then try to softly glide your fingers on the metal area of your SZ.

If you feel a tingle.. you are getting voltage.

I noticed the tingle / shock is much less when you are not plugged into the wall adapter (on battery).

but when I'm plugged in.. I can feel it.

again... test by softly gliding your fingers over the metal surface of your SZ (models with the metal palm rest).. then as your glide your fingers.. touch something that's grounded to feel the difference in your fingertips.. I know it varies.. some can feel voltage less than others.

My volt meter batteries are dead (unfortunately).. so I have yet to test exactly how much of a shock I'm feeling.. I'm going to test it later on today..

but if you feel a vibration or tingle in your SZ laptop in your palms or fingertips (when gliding them or just resting)... it might be voltage your are feeling.

I can feel it on mine for sure.. again.. most noticable when I'm plugged in to the wall and when touching the palm rest with one hand and touching something grounded with the other (like a metal desk, etc).

it may only be my laptop.. and I don't think this affects those with the carbon finish models..

but give it a test and see... I would like to know if it's just my laptop and I should get another or if this is a widespread issue, etc..

[Sunfox]

It's vibration. From the hard drive. Not electricity. And it IS vibration since it completely stops when the hard drive powers down (set it to a 3 minute timeout and just wait).

[GlennOC]

ok I just tested it with a volt meter... there is defanately AC voltage passing through the palm rest area.. .. I can feel this voltage as well... those working with desks with good grounds or while touching the shield of plugged USB cables, etc.. may also feel it.

It's not a terrible "shock".. buts it's absolutely there on my laptop at least..

Normal draw to a good ground is .0x volts on plastic and just the human body passing or touching a good ground (varies).



but on the palmrest area.. it looks like its approx 1.5 - 3 volts (spikes) AC current.. only from the palm rest area.. I tried the test probe on the lid, screen and then on the palm rest.. tested dry probes as well as holding the contacts to include the human body draw.


as soon as you touch the palm rest area.. bam voltage jumps... above shows it at 1.5.. but it varies and sometimes spikes to 3 volts. this is'nt a huge voltage and I can live with it.. but it gets annoying sometimes if you rest on it plugged in for a while.



touch the case and any other place on the laptop including the speaker grille and voltage is normal.


it appears to ONLY happen when on AC (plugged in).. there IS a slight HD vibration.. but that has nothing to do with the tingle feeling.. there is 2 very different feelings.. one is vibration.. the other is an electric shock style feeling.

When running on battery.. you can feel the HDD spinning.. this is true.. it's a small vibration.. and the voltages read normal..

but as soon as you connect AC... you get a distinct 1.5 - 3 volt current translating through the palm rest area (only).. I tested the speaker grille, the underside of the laptop and other areas including the screen and only the metal palmrest gives you the voltage.

edit: since the HDD is mounted right there in the palm rest area.. it could very well be that the voltage is passing through a contact area between HDD and case..

I'm going to test the HDD timeout and see if the voltage drops when it goes out.. again.. HDD vibration is there yes... but I'm checking the voltage passing through the palmrest area.. it's not huge.. but I can feel it for sure..

[Aero]

Wholy sh!t. So if you hands are wet or you accidently spill some water on the palmrest...you are screwed or something...but even a shock of 3 volts wont do much to you...right?

Im getting the SZ in 1 week so want to make sure .

[GlennOC]

ok apprently I'm not the only one... here's a story I just found on the net describing something similar:

http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/20...0308035176.htm

[GlennOC]

Originally Posted by aer0sense

Wholy sh!t. So if you hands are wet or you accidently spill some water on the palmrest...you are screwed or something...but even a shock of 3 volts wont do much to you...right?

Im getting the SZ in 1 week so want to make sure .

1.5 - 3 volts is nothing really... but depending on how it spikes (or if it does) you may feel it.. that's for sure... and so far I only feel it when I'm plugged into AC... but no doubt I can feel this tingle in my palms when resting on the laptop.

I have many other laptops (for my business) of different makes and have not felt something like this before.. haha..

to me this tingle is more of an annoyance.. but what really get's me is that this laptop is excellent and there is no other laptop I'd rather have at the moment but this one...

I may return it for the higher priced carbon version that does not have the metal palm rest as I have no time to go through a Sony recall / service / replacement procedure at the moment and be out the use of this machine.

the machine other than that is excellent.

[dlwoodjr]

I'm not experiencing anything like this with mine... Not sure what to think other than maybe a bad batch...

Don

[Sunfox]

The 160 has a metal palmrest as well.

[GlennOC]

the 160 also has a metal palm rest ? ****..

well.. like I mentioned... I'll probably just deal with the tingle.. it's not something terrible.. but I do feel it... and if I'm touching a good ground and lightly glide my fingers over the palm rest while on AC I can absolutely feel it (and so can my girlfriend on my laptop).


I know that it varies widely from person to person how voltages are "felt".. different people can feel the same voltage some may not feel it all... some will feel it more than others..

but IF some or all of the SZ series notebooks are passing greater than 1 volt of AC through the palm rest.. then it's no doubt that this notebook will be recalled by sony (perhaps only a batch of them).

for those that may not "feel" voltage... you may want to take a volt meter and connect one end to a good ground and hold the other end and touch different areas of your laptop.

or hold a good ground and just glide your fingers (or backside of your hand) across the palmrest (lightly) and feel for tingle, etc.. if you can feel anything.. you are most likely getting voltage...

nothing that will kill you of course.. haha.. very tiny.. and in the case of my laptop.. only when I'm on AC... on battery... everything is normal.


I'm going to some stores tomorrow with my volt meter and a ground strap and testing some of the other models to see if any / some or all of them are passing voltage through the palm rest... if so... bear in mind that there may be a recall on some or all of these notebooks... (bookmark this thread just in case.. haha).


I'm still undecided on what I'm going to do... again I hope it's just a bad batch or just my machine... because the machine is perfect for me in all other aspects.

[BlackG35]

Both of my sz160s had this tingle and so did several sz140 store displays I tried.

I always just thought it was friction between my finger and the surface.