Starting in 2009, I noticed that many electronics caused both stinging and numb pains in my hands, arms, and face. I initially thought these were problems with plastics or paints, but later narrowed it down to the circuit boards inside the products. PCBs manufactured 2008 and earlier were fine, then something changed in 2008-2010; my best guess is that newer PCBs produce a large number of fiberglass particles ("The glass fibers had diameters of 11–16 μm"). This is just my guess; there may be other factors like changes in solder and the PCB washing process.
The stinging is sometimes painful, as if the particles interact directly with the nerves. Washing my hands helps after exposure, but random stinging can persist for about two days. The particles seem small enough to migrate a small distance into the hand and start causing numb pains instead of sharp stinging pains.
This is not RSI, switching to devices with older PCBs makes the problem go away.
Please email me (ivan@ludios.org) if you have any information or are also affected.
Known-bad products
- Computers
- Apple Mac mini MB463LL/A (2009)
- Samsung NC10-14GBK 10.2-Inch Netbook (2009)
- ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10-Inch Netbook (2009)
- Acer C720 Chromebook (11.6-Inch, 2GB) (2014)
- ASUS Zenbook UX305FA-ASM1 (Feb 2015)
- HP EliteBook 840 G4 (2017)
- Monitors
- Dell Gaming Monitor S2417DG (when touched)
- Viewsonic VX2475Smhl-4K (when control buttons touched)
- Keyboards
- Realforce 87U Tenkeyless 55g (Black) (2010?)
- IOGear Multimedia Keyboard with Laser Trackball and Scroll Wheel, 2.4GHz Wireless GKM561R (Black) (2010)
- Kinesis Advantage Keyboard (Oct 2013)
- Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 with Built-In Multi-Touch Touchpad (Oct 2013)
- CM Storm QuickFire Stealth (Oct 2013)
- Anker Ultra Compact Slim Profile Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard (White) (Feb 2015)
- Plugable Full-Size Bluetooth Folding Keyboard (2019)
- Mice
- Logitech G9, Rev006 board with flatter dark capacitor
- Logitech G9 (2010), Rev007 board with matte light-blue blue capacitor with no label [only slight problems with this one]
- Logitech G9x
- Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball (Sept 2015)
- Logitech G303 (Dec 2016)
- Controllers
- PlayStation 3 DualShock 3 wireless controller - Metallic Gold (2016)
- Smartphones and tablets
- Accessories
- Apple Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter
- Sennheiser HZR-62 Stereo Volume Control
- Headphones and IEMs
Known-good products
- Computers
- HP EliteBook 8460p XU060UT 14" LED Notebook - Core i7 i7-2620M 2.7GHz (2011)
- Dell PowerEdge T20 tower Server System /Intel Xeon E3-1225 v3 3.2GHz Quad Core CPU / 4GB Memory / 1TB Hard Drive / DVDRW Drive / No Operating System (2016)
- PC components
- ASUS Z97-A ATX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards Z97-A (2014)
- Gigabyte Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 Mini ITX Overclocked 4GB GDDR5 PCiE Video Card Graphics Cards GV-N970IXOC-4GD
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti DirectX 12 11G-P4-6390-KR 11GB 352-Bit GDDR5X PCI Express 3.0 FOUNDERS EDITION (Mar 2017)
- Consoles
- Sony PlayStation 3 PS3 Slim Move Bundle 320GB (CECH-2501B) (2010)
- Keyboards
- IBM SpaceSaver II (2003?)
- Mice
- Logitech G9 (March 2008), Rev007 board with matte light-blue capacitor labeled 240M6
- Logitech M510 (2011)
- Controllers
- PlayStation 3 DualShock 3 wireless controller - bundled with PlayStation Move Bundle (2010)
- Phones and tablets
- Motorola Moto E (2nd Generation) 4G LTE - Unlocked - (White)
- Motorola Moto G LTE
- Nexus 4
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 8 Plus
- iPad
- iPad 3
- iPad 9.7" (2017)
- iPad mini 4
- iPod touch 32 GB (4th Generation)
- Panasonic KX-TG7645M
- Voice recorders/players
- Olympus WS-700M (2011)
- Olympus WS-710M (2011)
- Olympus WS-822 (2015)
- Headphones and IEMs
- Koss KSC75 (2006)
- beyerdynamic DT 880 (2008)
- Audio-Technica ATH-IM50 (2015)
- Audio-Technica ATH-IM70 (2014, 2015)
- SONY XBA-N3AP (2019)
- Clocks
- Accessories and USB sticks
- Anker PowerCore 15000 Redux
- Samsung MUF-256AB/AM FIT Plus 256GB - 300MB/s USB 3.1 Flash Drive