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Message no. 1
From: Robert Watkins robert.watkins@******.com
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 13:50:07 +1000
Anyone have any idea how long the battery would last on a laser sight?

(Experience with modern laser sights would be fine... I'll extrapolate from
that for more efficient batteries in 2060)

Also, do they take standard batteries (eg, AA), or do they take custom
batteries?

(Nasty GM ploy in mind... the power cell on a player's laser sight fails in
the middle of a fire-fight. Or worse, the smartgun adaptor (after all, they
wouldn't pull power by induction through the pad link))


--
Duct tape is like the Force: There's a Light side, a Dark side, and it
binds the Universe together.
Robert Watkins -- robert.watkins@******.com
Message no. 2
From: Schizi@***.com Schizi@***.com
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 23:55:42 EDT
In a message dated 5/9/99 11:51:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
robert.watkins@******.com writes:

> Anyone have any idea how long the battery would last on a laser sight?
>
> (Experience with modern laser sights would be fine... I'll extrapolate from
> that for more efficient batteries in 2060)
>
> Also, do they take standard batteries (eg, AA), or do they take custom
> batteries?
>

Most use watch batteries, and last 200 hours or there abouts.
Message no. 3
From: gray_ghost007@*****.net gray_ghost007@*****.net
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 23:47:41 -0500 (CDT)
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Most laser sights average about 1 to 2 hours of use. An aftermarket
company called Arotek (install very nice & expensive Glock add ons)
installs the LAW 2010 whose batery life is 1-1/4 hours. Battery types
vary but most use several watch or calculator type batteries. The LAW
uses 386, 675 and 1/3N (voltage 3-6V DC)

On the subject of them just cutting out, a laser sight made by TacStar
called the LaserLyte Universal has a built in indicator light that
changes from green to red to let you know when it's time to replace your
batteries. I'm sure that when it changes that it allows a margine of
usage well afterward.


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From: "Robert Watkins" <robert.watkins@******.com>
To: "Shadowrun Discussion" <shadowrn@*********.org>
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 13:50:07 +1000
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Anyone have any idea how long the battery would last on a laser sight?

(Experience with modern laser sights would be fine... I'll extrapolate from
that for more efficient batteries in 2060)

Also, do they take standard batteries (eg, AA), or do they take custom
batteries?

(Nasty GM ploy in mind... the power cell on a player's laser sight fails in
the middle of a fire-fight. Or worse, the smartgun adaptor (after all, they
wouldn't pull power by induction through the pad link))


--
Duct tape is like the Force: There's a Light side, a Dark side, and it
binds the Universe together.
Robert Watkins -- robert.watkins@******.com




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Message no. 4
From: gray_ghost007@*****.net gray_ghost007@*****.net
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 23:53:28 -0500 (CDT)
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Clarification: the 1 to 2 hours is constant use (being left on). In
regular use you probably have several hundred hours or so.


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From: "Robert Watkins" <robert.watkins@******.com>
To: "Shadowrun Discussion" <shadowrn@*********.org>
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 13:50:07 +1000
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Anyone have any idea how long the battery would last on a laser sight?

(Experience with modern laser sights would be fine... I'll extrapolate from
that for more efficient batteries in 2060)

Also, do they take standard batteries (eg, AA), or do they take custom
batteries?

(Nasty GM ploy in mind... the power cell on a player's laser sight fails in
the middle of a fire-fight. Or worse, the smartgun adaptor (after all, they
wouldn't pull power by induction through the pad link))


--
Duct tape is like the Force: There's a Light side, a Dark side, and it
binds the Universe together.
Robert Watkins -- robert.watkins@******.com




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Message no. 5
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 10:37:48 +0200
According to Robert Watkins, at 13:50 on 10 May 99, the word on
the street was...

> Anyone have any idea how long the battery would last on a laser sight?

Depends on the sight and the battery :) Anything from 5 to 50 hours is
possible.

> (Experience with modern laser sights would be fine... I'll extrapolate from
> that for more efficient batteries in 2060)
>
> Also, do they take standard batteries (eg, AA), or do they take custom
> batteries?

Some use specialized military batteries, others normal civilian ones
(usually AA-types). I would imagine the laser sights used by shadowrunners
to take normal batteries.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Another year and then you'll be happy.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
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Message no. 6
From: Kevin Dole kdole@***.vsc.edu
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 12:52:50 EST5EDT
"Robert Watkins" <robert.watkins@******.com>
> Anyone have any idea how long the battery would last on a laser sight?

Depends on the model. Anywhere from an hour to maybe Aa
couple hours (these are special) of continous ues, I would think. I
know that with most modern ones, you have enough juice there for a
several thousand shots if you use them sparingly. However, the
brighter and/or bigger the dot, the more power you suck.

If you are a pro/paranoid, you pur fresh batteries in prior to a
run.

> Also, do they take standard batteries (eg, AA), or do they take custom
> batteries?

Define standerd. 6V lithium cells are a camera standard, and
there some large items that use those. Others use button batteries.

> the middle of a fire-fight. Or worse, the smartgun adaptor (after all, they
> wouldn't pull power by induction through the pad link))

If I was designing a firearm that had a great deal of electronic
built into it, I would look at a way of possibly using the bolt
mechanism to power a generator, and of slowing the bolt (like what's
being tested in some electric cars). It would do much, but 5%,
10%, even a 1% edge, counts.



Kevin Dole \:|
kdole@***.vsc.edu
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/4151/welcome.html
"Once again, we have spat in the face of Death, and his second cousin,
Dismemberment."
Message no. 7
From: Paul J. Adam Paul@********.demon.co.uk
Subject: Power of laser sights
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 00:28:19 +0100
In article <000d01be9a98$31d7df10$375211ac@******.oz.au>, Robert
Watkins <robert.watkins@******.com> writes
>Anyone have any idea how long the battery would last on a laser sight?
>
>(Experience with modern laser sights would be fine... I'll extrapolate from
>that for more efficient batteries in 2060)

Not much experience with laser sights ("many firefights" would be the best
I can do) but red-dot sights (Aimpoint, C-More et al) were good for 30+
hours of continuous operation on one battery back when I was shooting.

>Also, do they take standard batteries (eg, AA), or do they take custom
>batteries?

Varies. Some use the little "button" watch batteries, others use AA or AAA
batteries (usually with the battery being the biggest part of the
assembly...)

>(Nasty GM ploy in mind... the power cell on a player's laser sight fails in
>the middle of a fire-fight. Or worse, the smartgun adaptor (after all, they
>wouldn't pull power by induction through the pad link))

Possible, but rare. The IPSC shooters I used to know never had battery
failures in their sights when they were shooting for score: changing a
=Y=1 battery halfway through its life would come under 'routine task done
in the background' for a character with Firearms 6. I know a fair bit about
guns, but when GMing I tried not to beat up players who were firearm-
clueless but whose characters had high skill.

Now, a character with low skill, that's another matter altogether :) (evil
grin). But bear in mind that many systems have "low power" warnings: my
pager chirps at me for _days_ to tell me to change its battery, having a
sizeable margin built in (doubtless designed for people like me who can
never find an AAA battery when we need one)
--
Paul J. Adam

Further Reading

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