[SheridanB]

Ok I always hear about these awesome ten million volt stun guns and whatnot but does anyone know what the real difference in voltage between them is? I had a friend let a crowd of people shock him barechested over and over with a stun gun once to prove how harmless they are, could it have just been a crummy stun gun?

 

[robocop10mm]

Voltages

I am a TASER instructor. I have a great deal of experience with electrical discharge weapons. It is not the volts, it is the amps. The combination of the two yields watts.

A Vandegraf generator is a device that produces extremely high voltage but almost no amps. You may have seen these in a science museum, the glass ball that you can touch and it will make your hair stand up. You cannot feel the electricity, low amps. These typically generate 1 million volts

A shock from the carpeting in the winter will generate as much as 100,000 volts and can hurt (if you touch someone behind the ear). More amps than the above.

A million volts in a stun gun does not impress me. I have shocked myself several times with touch stun guns and it can hurt a bit but is not incapacitating.

A Taser will give a series of directed pulses of 50,000 volts and 26 watts. It will give you a new outlook on life. I have taken 4 "rides' on the Taser "Lightning". I do not look forward to #5. It sucks. Imagine your head is removed from you body and someone else now controls your body. There is no way to "fight" through it.

 

[DWARREN123]

Like said, it's not the volts it's the amps. Be advised that someone in poor health can be killed with 1/10th of an amp if it is directed thru the heart or head. Amps do the work and volts push the amps.

 

[tnfan]

curious

I agree with all thats been said about the taser.

Is part of the greater effectiveness of the taser due to the probes being seperated on your body to effect more tissue than the touch guns?
If the Taser was used on you without the probes, in touch mode, does it have the same effect as getting shot with the probes?.

 

[robocop10mm]

Stun gun

Yes, the separation of the probes allows it to effect more muscles. In drive stun mode it acts more like a traditional stun gun. The Taser delivers the electricity in a different, more focused, way. The Taser pulse gets under the skin to disrupt the normal electrical messages sent to the muscles. Most stun guns work on the principle of pain compliance. The Taser overrides the messages sent to the muscles to cause every muscle to cramp up in a violent way.