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Unusual question and potentially not the right forum for it. Apologies in advance.

In short, I have cracked the shell off a Bluetooth keyboard and modified it (read: Jerry rigged it) to be as light as humanly possible while still functional to type on

Naturally as this has a battery attached and power running through it to function there is an electrical hazard here

But as I'm not an electrical engineer I simply don't have the experience to quantify the following:

  1. Risk of potentially dangerous voltage being exposed to me through contact either via typing on it or picking up the exposed back / touching board etc

  2. Risk of shock being transferred if I were to place this on a conductive surface such as a metal table that could be dangerous to my health and safety

Modification where everything is clearly exposed

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Pythonista
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2 Answers2

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The risk is not electrical shock, the voltages are not hazardous, but the real risk is that it is a fire hazard.

The problem is the battery and battery wiring. Lithium batteries are not safe to be used like that. However they seemed to be taped on cardboard anyway, which was not safe to begin with due to fire hazard. Unless that's your jerry-rigging.

They are now exposed to mechanical damage.

Wear and tear may damage the wire insulation or battery pack. The wires may get short circuited and depending on the quality and safety of the battery, it may or may not have short circuit protection, so the wires may heat up red hot, melt the insulation and start fires.

The battery pack may also get punctured and liquid electrolyte may leak out, and sometimes when the battery internals are exposed to air (oxygen) they may again heat up and burst into fire.

Do not bed or deform the battery pack. If you did, I suggest to disconnect it and put it into a place where it can't do any harm if it is damaged and starts to burn.

Justme
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  • the cardboard wasn't me. that was the manufacturer which I thought was odd as well but wasn't sure if it was really a risk. thank you for the in depth answer and explaining. the battery doesn't concern me that much as I can seal it and tape wires per your comments. I was mainly concerned if I was going to accidentally electrocute myself from trying to make my backpack a little lighter (travel) which everyone seems to be saying no - that's not a real risk. – Pythonista Mar 28 '23 at 06:36
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I see that attached to that keyboard is a li-po battery. Well the risk of being electrified is not the case here since its low DC voltage but the real problem is that those batteries could explode if damaged creating fire since all the energy is stored in that compact size battery.

med amine
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