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Ground fault or something else

Posted: 12 Jun 2025, 07:37
by Rallaz
It's been a long time since I posted about my issue regarding input lag here, I know there is a lot of unfamiliar faces here nowadays and they like to come to their own conclusions pretty fast. ANYWAY.

Regarding the problem I've got.
It is not proven ofc that this makes a difference by any stats or facts rather than my own.

When I strap a normal USB cable to my PC-case or even monitor stand(Zowie BenQ XL2546K).
Then "connect" it to my waterborne element with both ends touching the magnetic/metal parts.
My inputs in-game and in any game, even in Windows 11 it feels much and I'm not gonna be delusional here, I mean way more precise and faster by miles.
In competetive games many things under 1 second matters alot.
I can easily say for myself it goes down from 0.250 seconds delay to something around 0.050 seconds which is a lot in many games and especially in my personal most loved gamed called Rocket League.
Inputs in this game matter so much that you cannot execute specific mechanics because of the game functions and lets you steer or control your car.

What I found interesting is that one guy mentioned about touching metal parts makes his inputs better for a few seconds.
This goes for me as well like an on and off button as well.


Same as another person also mentioned about our body makes us have a an effect on this.
Even tho this may be something far more far fetched thing is that if make a choice of having a "functioning" breathing t-shirts which in my case feels more static while you put it on it affects inputs in a positive way rather than having a regualar cotton t-shirt.

I'm wondering why this could be the case with my own theory with the USB cable "connected" between my PC-case or even monitor stand to begin with.
I write specifically in the Niche Issues forum because its not something related to Windows/Bios settings.
I've already explored anything you can come up with in terms of those.

Tested
- I have tested each and every single outlet in my place and firends places, some feels worse some feels better.
- I only have real ground pins my kitchen outlets and thats have been tested and makes it slower by far.
- I've checked with a multi-meter every single outlet and nothing stands out
- All different kinds of UPS

Not tested
- I've NOT opened up my outlets and checked for bad wiring and such

I'm a believer of this is something related to either Ground or something causing a strange signal causing my devices to
act very ab-normal.
If I for example turn off Wi-Fi on my phone while having it laying between keyboard and mouse it causes and minimal slighty "worsen" input feeling. I would have expected it to feel better but this is not the case.
(edit) This problem occurs wether I have an ethernet connection or not.
This meaning the cable being unplugged or not. No difference.


Any ideas of what I could try is welcoming


' Related topics '
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=14705
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=14720

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 12 Jun 2025, 11:30
by Hyote
Just like using magnets or ferrites, this creates a different input feel but solves nothing overall.

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 13 Jun 2025, 00:26
by Inputlagguy
Yep. I’ve noticed static/grounding directly affect my gameplay many many times.

Playing with socks and shoes on vs barefoot makes a difference. Touching the monitor sometimes puts it in god mode, absolutely no desync and buttery smooth gameplay.
Putting down the controller for 10-15 seconds and picking it back up seems like it simply resets the charge and gives u better gameplay until u start shooting/driving around in ur case.

Interesting I’ve noticed the same thing that cotton (which causes less static) makes the gameplay worse vs causing more static with stretchy elastic like clothes. Weird

I still cannot get around the fact that i can’t get good gameplay literally *anywhere* i go. Even where my friends play amazingly well effortlessly. I have about 2 minutes of good gameplay and i can feel the desync start to settle in.

Our body must react differently than other people to static charges or something. I’ve been shocking my cats sometimes when we touch. I have no idea i really barely play much anymore, it’s too stressful.

I either sit in the firing range for hours testing things or just jump into ranked with like a 5-10% rate of good gameplay out of the whole session.

There’s no use in playing anything competitive with this problem, especially games that are fast paced and where aim/micro movements matter the most. U are at a huge disadvantage(which seems like an understatement really). More like a handicap

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 15 Jun 2025, 17:19
by Slender
I once got electrocuted by a choke that wasn't connected to electricity. It was charged from the air.

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 16 Jun 2025, 04:29
by Rallaz
Inputlagguy wrote:
13 Jun 2025, 00:26
Yep. I’ve noticed static/grounding directly affect my gameplay many many times.

Playing with socks and shoes on vs barefoot makes a difference. Touching the monitor sometimes puts it in god mode, absolutely no desync and buttery smooth gameplay.
Putting down the controller for 10-15 seconds and picking it back up seems like it simply resets the charge and gives u better gameplay until u start shooting/driving around in ur case.

Interesting I’ve noticed the same thing that cotton (which causes less static) makes the gameplay worse vs causing more static with stretchy elastic like clothes. Weird

I still cannot get around the fact that i can’t get good gameplay literally *anywhere* i go. Even where my friends play amazingly well effortlessly. I have about 2 minutes of good gameplay and i can feel the desync start to settle in.

Our body must react differently than other people to static charges or something. I’ve been shocking my cats sometimes when we touch. I have no idea i really barely play much anymore, it’s too stressful.

I either sit in the firing range for hours testing things or just jump into ranked with like a 5-10% rate of good gameplay out of the whole session.

There’s no use in playing anything competitive with this problem, especially games that are fast paced and where aim/micro movements matter the most. U are at a huge disadvantage(which seems like an understatement really). More like a handicap
Yes, your describing many things I've also noticed myself.
While I tho use this "wiring" trick it causes overall much less delay by having cables wired from the monitor stand or pc-case to the waterborne-element.
Somehow it makes a lot of difference.
Which is why it leads me to some grounding issue.

But I cannot wrap my head around if its a device causing this issue itself since I've like many others tried multiple setups of mice, kb, monitors etc.
And at some locations the problem doesn't even occur with my regualar stuff.

But my conclusion is that some how it's bound to static eletricity and its something either "we" build up because of something.
I don't have any real idea.
It's very weird.

Something that's not for none-believers to read now:
I don't shower for like 2-3 days the problem becomes SOMEHOW less noticeable.
If I shower than the next day its like I'm resetting it back to square-one xD.
Just some odd patterns I've noticed, even tried showering every day and that gives me a consistent of worsen gameplay.
Its just extremely weird.

I've tried using USB-fans connected to my pc and aiming that fan to blow air on the wires for mouse and kb, and that seems to really affect something.
It's like a "clock" of like 2-minutes good, 2 minutes bad kinda pretty much. But the thing is that it's like stuck than between the "worse state and the best state".
Not super bad and not super good.

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 16 Jun 2025, 04:34
by Rallaz
Slender wrote:
15 Jun 2025, 17:19
I once got electrocuted by a choke that wasn't connected to electricity. It was charged from the air.
Well I don't know how much you understand of this problem. I've seen how you approach this problem for a long time.
Not gonna go in here and flame you by any means.
But nothing in my appartment has loose connections when it comes to devices or branch outlets.
Been trying with everything disconnected except PC.
Everything turned of in the fusebox and even frigde and stuff.
Nothing makes a real difference.
Never got chocked or anything like that you describe by anything here.

So like the thing for me that's left to do is probably inspecting all outlets inside them and see if there is any odd things like bad connections of the wires or stuff that's not tighten.

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 16 Jun 2025, 04:36
by Rallaz
Hyote wrote:
12 Jun 2025, 11:30
Just like using magnets or ferrites, this creates a different input feel but solves nothing overall.
Nope that's a different story.
Ferrites makes it all worse for me until I remove them.
It's even making it consistently worse.
Tho a magnet makes it super good for like 30 seconds than its becomes worse than the ferrite.

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 16 Jun 2025, 10:40
by Slender
Rallaz wrote:
16 Jun 2025, 04:34
Slender wrote:
15 Jun 2025, 17:19
I once got electrocuted by a choke that wasn't connected to electricity. It was charged from the air.
Well I don't know how much you understand of this problem. I've seen how you approach this problem for a long time.
Not gonna go in here and flame you by any means.
But nothing in my appartment has loose connections when it comes to devices or branch outlets.
Been trying with everything disconnected except PC.
Everything turned of in the fusebox and even frigde and stuff.
Nothing makes a real difference.
Never got chocked or anything like that you describe by anything here.

So like the thing for me that's left to do is probably inspecting all outlets inside them and see if there is any odd things like bad connections of the wires or stuff that's not tighten.
It's not loose connections, if it were, your pc and light bulb wouldn't turn on. It's also not the devices on your line. It's the line itself that for some reason (maybe the composition of the walls) is emit more than it should, that's all.
Physical disable wire in your room and connect pc from another socet.

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 16 Jun 2025, 21:14
by Inputlagguy
Rallaz wrote:
16 Jun 2025, 04:29
Inputlagguy wrote:
13 Jun 2025, 00:26
Yep. I’ve noticed static/grounding directly affect my gameplay many many times.

Playing with socks and shoes on vs barefoot makes a difference. Touching the monitor sometimes puts it in god mode, absolutely no desync and buttery smooth gameplay.
Putting down the controller for 10-15 seconds and picking it back up seems like it simply resets the charge and gives u better gameplay until u start shooting/driving around in ur case.

Interesting I’ve noticed the same thing that cotton (which causes less static) makes the gameplay worse vs causing more static with stretchy elastic like clothes. Weird

I still cannot get around the fact that i can’t get good gameplay literally *anywhere* i go. Even where my friends play amazingly well effortlessly. I have about 2 minutes of good gameplay and i can feel the desync start to settle in.

Our body must react differently than other people to static charges or something. I’ve been shocking my cats sometimes when we touch. I have no idea i really barely play much anymore, it’s too stressful.

I either sit in the firing range for hours testing things or just jump into ranked with like a 5-10% rate of good gameplay out of the whole session.

There’s no use in playing anything competitive with this problem, especially games that are fast paced and where aim/micro movements matter the most. U are at a huge disadvantage(which seems like an understatement really). More like a handicap
Yes, your describing many things I've also noticed myself.
While I tho use this "wiring" trick it causes overall much less delay by having cables wired from the monitor stand or pc-case to the waterborne-element.
Somehow it makes a lot of difference.
Which is why it leads me to some grounding issue.

But I cannot wrap my head around if its a device causing this issue itself since I've like many others tried multiple setups of mice, kb, monitors etc.
And at some locations the problem doesn't even occur with my regualar stuff.

But my conclusion is that some how it's bound to static eletricity and its something either "we" build up because of something.
I don't have any real idea.
It's very weird.

Something that's not for none-believers to read now:
I don't shower for like 2-3 days the problem becomes SOMEHOW less noticeable.
If I shower than the next day its like I'm resetting it back to square-one xD.
Just some odd patterns I've noticed, even tried showering every day and that gives me a consistent of worsen gameplay.
Its just extremely weird.

I've tried using USB-fans connected to my pc and aiming that fan to blow air on the wires for mouse and kb, and that seems to really affect something.
It's like a "clock" of like 2-minutes good, 2 minutes bad kinda pretty much. But the thing is that it's like stuck than between the "worse state and the best state".
Not super bad and not super good.
The shower thing; may because of ur skin becoming very dry after showers.

There was a post a while ago a guy saying he’s 100% sure it’s due to dry skin and static. I tried what he said (using lotion to avoid dry skin) and instantly felt a difference in gameplay.
Dry skin is more prone to holding a static charge so there’s that

Re: Ground fault or something else

Posted: 17 Jun 2025, 02:21
by Slender
Inputlagguy wrote:
16 Jun 2025, 21:14
Rallaz wrote:
16 Jun 2025, 04:29
Inputlagguy wrote:
13 Jun 2025, 00:26
Yep. I’ve noticed static/grounding directly affect my gameplay many many times.

Playing with socks and shoes on vs barefoot makes a difference. Touching the monitor sometimes puts it in god mode, absolutely no desync and buttery smooth gameplay.
Putting down the controller for 10-15 seconds and picking it back up seems like it simply resets the charge and gives u better gameplay until u start shooting/driving around in ur case.

Interesting I’ve noticed the same thing that cotton (which causes less static) makes the gameplay worse vs causing more static with stretchy elastic like clothes. Weird

I still cannot get around the fact that i can’t get good gameplay literally *anywhere* i go. Even where my friends play amazingly well effortlessly. I have about 2 minutes of good gameplay and i can feel the desync start to settle in.

Our body must react differently than other people to static charges or something. I’ve been shocking my cats sometimes when we touch. I have no idea i really barely play much anymore, it’s too stressful.

I either sit in the firing range for hours testing things or just jump into ranked with like a 5-10% rate of good gameplay out of the whole session.

There’s no use in playing anything competitive with this problem, especially games that are fast paced and where aim/micro movements matter the most. U are at a huge disadvantage(which seems like an understatement really). More like a handicap
Yes, your describing many things I've also noticed myself.
While I tho use this "wiring" trick it causes overall much less delay by having cables wired from the monitor stand or pc-case to the waterborne-element.
Somehow it makes a lot of difference.
Which is why it leads me to some grounding issue.

But I cannot wrap my head around if its a device causing this issue itself since I've like many others tried multiple setups of mice, kb, monitors etc.
And at some locations the problem doesn't even occur with my regualar stuff.

But my conclusion is that some how it's bound to static eletricity and its something either "we" build up because of something.
I don't have any real idea.
It's very weird.

Something that's not for none-believers to read now:
I don't shower for like 2-3 days the problem becomes SOMEHOW less noticeable.
If I shower than the next day its like I'm resetting it back to square-one xD.
Just some odd patterns I've noticed, even tried showering every day and that gives me a consistent of worsen gameplay.
Its just extremely weird.

I've tried using USB-fans connected to my pc and aiming that fan to blow air on the wires for mouse and kb, and that seems to really affect something.
It's like a "clock" of like 2-minutes good, 2 minutes bad kinda pretty much. But the thing is that it's like stuck than between the "worse state and the best state".
Not super bad and not super good.
The shower thing; may because of ur skin becoming very dry after showers.

There was a post a while ago a guy saying he’s 100% sure it’s due to dry skin and static. I tried what he said (using lotion to avoid dry skin) and instantly felt a difference in gameplay.
Dry skin is more prone to holding a static charge so there’s that
did he find out where the static charge on his body came from? Even if so, touching a grounded PC or grounding contact should remove the charge. In fact, connecting the body to ground should solve such problems, but it does not. The body does two things: conducts and absorbs current. if you consider the body the main source, isolate your feet from the floor and use all wireless devices.