homemade or low cost circuit board/ battery box shield?

Isn't paper traditionally used for that? For covering a small area, you could probably cut a square out of a latex glove for something more insulating (although also likely to rot faster).

Elijah

------ also consider stickers, old credit cards, scraps of tyvek envelopes, etc

is the traditional material.

From "around the house", you might use any otherwise inert neutral paper or something like an index card.

The point of fish paper is that it is long-term, inert, resistant to puncture, non-flammable and all sorts of other virtues along those lines.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Thanks, well that's not that expensive. The tape they also recommend buying there, kapton, is what I have here at present. However, I didn't realize it came in static and non-static versions. Do you know any way i could tell if the kapton I have is anti-static?

Do you know any way

Try rubbing some on a bit of wool in a dry (not humid) room and see if it sticks to anything.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Well, that certainly was a good test. The only wool I own this time of year is a pair of Minus 33 wool thermals that I am wearing as I write. I folded over the tape so the sticky side wouldn't interfere and rubbed it on the pants. Took a few tries, but the tape finally did stick to the wall. So that definitely answers the question and I won't be using it. Thanks for this tip!

As long as it does not actually get charged before or during the time that it is near the sensitive circuitry, it should not cause damage. Perhaps you could apply the tape before wiping it down with a damp cloth to discharge it, then install the sensitive circuitry whilst there is no charge present.

There is a very long stretch between "should not" and "will not". When the proper means-and-methods are readily available, one *should not* take the lesser path.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

Ordinary insulating tapes can be used in the proximity of ordinary electronics, and it would be misleading to claim otherwise. If the circuit includes small-signal mosfets with unprotected gates, then I would consider taking more precautions, but those have been uncommon for many decades.