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Comment by goobatrooba | Hacker News Reader

While I like to improvise I'd never want to use a cut-off cable anywhere near a toddler. Whatever the savings or practical benefits, they just can't outweigh the risk of the toddler doing something that causes a shock, fire, ... Maybe for the best that you removed that light strip.

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If you are worried about 5 Volt electric shocks (!), I presume 'electromagnetic hypersensitivity' is also something you worry about?

Fire is more worrying. You can also make small sparks with 5 volts under certain conditions, which may frighten someone about as much as a small shock.

There were no loose energized cable ends in this story, fyi. The light strip was your standard white LED tape cut in the middle of the copper pads [0]. I soldered the USB cable's power leads to the copper pads [1] and then covered the solder joint with heat shrink tubing filled with liquid electrical tape [2]. Then on the strip I connected to, it was the same procedure but with a female USB-A connector. There were no conductors with exposed ends to move apart and make a spark.

[0] e.g. https://www.homedepot.com/p/32-8-ft-LED-Tape-Light-120-LEDs-...

[1] https://www.homedepot.com/p/Star-brite-4-oz-Liquid-Electrica...

[2] hero image from https://us.govee.com/blogs/led-strip-lights/how-to-solder-le...

Yeah my plan was to anchor the loose cable ends under wood once we lowered the bed, but as I said, we pulled off the light strip very soon after. It now sits in, you guessed it, the big box of cables, in case I need a motion activated 5V DC power supply.

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