Electronic – safely enclose battery-powered electronics in an antistatic bag to protect it from static electricity

antistaticshieldingstatic

I am building an enclosure for a Beaglebone and external circuit that I want to be able to wear, and therefore want to be lightweight and somewhat comfortable. I power the Beaglebone using a battery pack that's about 5 volts.

Right now, I enclosed the Beaglebone and the external circuit within an antistatic bag. This is the first layer of protection. I enclosed the antistatic bag with a jersey fabric material. The jersey fabric material has Velcro attached to it and is attached to a Velcro belt.

Is the powered Beaglebone circuit safe within the antistatic bag? Antistatic bags are slightly conductive according to the Wikipedia article, so I am unsure if this a safe solution. If not, what is a good insulating material? Rubber?

Best Answer

Keep in mind that what is generally considered "anti-static" doesn't mean ESD safe. What is typically considered "anti-static" are those pink/lightly colored bags which prevent buildup of charge. These aren't really conductive at all, maybe the ever so slightest bit of conductivity and I doubt your board will run into any issues with shorts and such (keep in mind Joe's comments). However, these bags do not prevent an external ESD source (say, your charged finger tips) from zapping a chip on the board.

ESD bags or static-shielded bags (silvery colored) are designed to be fully ESD safe, though as you've noted they do have the caveat of being slightly conductive. I took my multimeter (datasheet claims max range of 40 Meg Ohms) and tried to measure the resistivity and couldn't get any readings on a spare ESD bag I had until the probes physically touched each other. Your mileage may vary, but it will most likely be ok from a conductivity/electrical point of view. Again, keep Joe's comments in mind about other factors which may matter.

As an aside, you might be able to get away without using ESD shielding bags/anti-static bags at all depending on what other packaging you have.