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This is a question of safety for children using the device while they are still being shipped without a case.

The USB power source is expected to provide 5V and at least 700mA. Is this enough to give a shock?

Do any components on the board step the voltage up, giving a higher voltage?

Capacitors certainly would have the capability of giving a sudden release of current that is briefly higher than the input current (I remember reading a few accounts of people being shocked by a standard PC after unplugging it, thanks to the capacitors in the PSU). Would this be a possibility too?

I guess what it comes down to is how safe a Raspberry Pi is for a child to be using, if it doesn't have a case.

Maria Zverina
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Highly Irregular
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8 Answers8

19

Since everything on the board is 5V and below you would need to have a very low skin resistance to even transfer enough energy to cause any interference on the board let alone shock you in any way.

You might not want to try to licking it, but touching shouldn't be a problem. You generally don't get a shock even from 9V and 12V batteries (unless licking is involved).

Mark Booth
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bardiir
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5

I'm going to be bold and just say no!

While it's true some big capacitors can retain their charge and shock you, there's none nearly big enough on the Pi for this to happen, and I don't believe there's anything on the Pi that runs much above 5V anyway. Definitely not at a voltage that could shock you!

berry120
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4

There's only low voltages on the Raspberry Pi as others have said.

You do need to be careful not to give your Raspberry Pi a shock though - static discharge that you don't feel can be enough to kill it.

Martin Thompson
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For those who said it's not possible to receive a shock off the Raspberry Pi - you are wrong. I got quite a nasty jolt from the capacitor next to the micro-USB power input. The device was unplugged at the time. This was a concern as I have a pacemaker fitted, but fortunately the charge is nowhere near enough to cause any problems there.

The Pi still functioned after with no noticeable issues. Perhaps different individual boards are more susceptible to delivering shocks than others.

Mequa
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Is it possible? Probably. It is an electronic device and problems can happen, especially if you are mucking around with the GPIO. However it should never happen and I would be shocked to hear of it. The purpose of the raspberry pi is to be child friendly!

Shane Hudson
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1

An improperly isolated power adapter driving Raspberry Pi can cause electrical shock.

Usually most power adapter usually used to drive Pi are SMPS. Below is a picture of proper SMPS isolation:

enter image description here

You can see a large slot on the PCB (below text L-4765) that provides electrical and physical isolation between the primary and secondary sides of the power supply. No tracks or electrical connections are routed across the slot.

New cheap manufacturers can cut corners and don't adhere to standards and hence may not isolate the primary and secondary sides properly. The primary side is connected to Live AC voltages.

Here is an article that has more details.

Wikipedia article on SMPS - Search for "shock"

Power supply isolation article by Sunpower

Chetan Bhargava
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0

My daughter got a tingle from the audio output on her Pi. I tested it with a meter and it was only 5V so I'm surprised she could feel it, but she did.

Tim de F
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It's probably more dangerous to prick or cut a finger somewhere on the Pi than to get a hazardous electrical shock. But you might get a jolt anyway, if you are statically charged, for example by a carpet, this energy might flow over the grounded shielding of the USB- or network socket, if you touch it, sparkling, but doing no harm to you or the device. This might be mistaken as getting a jolt by the Pi's electrical system.

Balin
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