When I mentioned Kapton tape in my January DCC Impulses column (http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/mrh-2012-01-jan/dcc_impulses) I forgot to mention that DCC suppliers sell it in small amounts. My former company, Litchfield Station, has 1 yard sections for a dollar and a half or so. A yard will keep you for a VERY long time!

I worked in the aerospace industry for 20 years...we used kapton tape all the time for spacecraft blankets and other things like that. But back in the 90's they discovered (or rediscovered !)static electricity. From then on we could not use kapton tape because of static build up. SO....the guys that make kapton tape made a new ESD compliant tape...doesn't stick as well, and it is not transparent (kind of a milky yellow color) but it supposedly won't kill your circuits with ESD...So for what it's worth...be careful with old kapton tape...it may zap your decoder...

So for what it's worth...be careful with old kapton tape...it may zap your decoder...

Jim -

I understand your concerns.

I live in Arizona - humidity here was high today - we hit 15%.

I've been using "old Kapton" for 12 years. Never zapped a decoder.

I was taught that plain scotch has an electro static charge of 5,000 volts DC and you can fry a microprocessor if you get it to discharge on or near most any IC.