Electronic Sight Systems & EMP

[Rastus]

A good question came up the other day that totally blindsided me....shouldn't have, but it did.  A friend asked if the EOTech's were hardened for EMP.  I have no idea.

If we have an EMP event and the electronic sight systems we have are not hardened against or otherwise protected from EMP then there will be no functioning electronic sight systems after an EMP event.

Does anyone have any real information on EMP vulnerability on specific sight systems, like EOTech or others?

For me, EMP vulnerability would make holographic laser sights less attractive when compared to other options.

[Pathfinder]

Good question, and they are rather on the pricey side to have stuck in a Faraday cage "just in case".

Although there is info on EMP on the web, there is actually dearth compared to other research and technologies, especially in the hard information area. Data, yeah, lots of that, but real info is not readily available.

Almost like someone is suppressing it . . . . . . . .      

[fightingquaker13]

I could be very, very wrong here, but I didn't think that battery powered stuff would get hit if it wasn't on. If there is no curent to disrupt what does EMP effect? Please explain in small simple words Rastus or TW or others as I know you heve expertise in electronics  here, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who would benefit.
Thanks
FQ13

[tombogan03884]

I could be very, very wrong here, but I didn't think that battery powered stuff would get hit if it wasn't on. If there is no curent to disrupt what does EMP effect? Please explain in small simple words Rastus or TW or others as I know you heve expertise in electronics  here, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who would benefit.
Thanks
FQ13

It builds a static charge in the components that overloads them. Their own power source doesn't need to be on for the components themselves to build up a charge. The Faraday cage works by diverting the energy into to surrounding cage work .

2 thoughts, first, would your gunsafe act as a Faraday cage to protect electronic sights ?
2nd, Maybe some one should reintroduce an updated version of the old Weaver Quick Point, reshaped for compactness and replacing the red wire with an optic fiber, or TFO, to improve low light performance.

[Timothy]

Circuit boards today aren't like they were when I took electricity/electronics classes in HS and college.  They're made up with microscopic strands of wire that see currents in the micro amps.  It's why they can make micro chips the size of a pinhead these days.  It doesn't take a great deal of pulse to fry these circuits which is why they're so vulnerable.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Circuit boards today aren't like they were when I took electricity/electronics classes in HS and college.  They're made up with microscopic strands of wire that see currents in the micro amps.  It's why they can make micro chips the size of a pinhead these days.  It doesn't take a great deal of pulse to fry these circuits which is why they're so vulnerable.

They are so sensitive that the workers assembling them have to be grounded so the static charge they generate through simply moving will not fry the boards.
The pink plastic bags they are stored in are specially made to be "anti static" as well.

[Pathfinder]

Basic tenet of electricity - you pass a wire through a magnetic (energy) field, you generate electricity. That's how gennies work - you turn the shaft wound with wires in the presence of magnets and voila - current.

Conversely, the wire can be motionless and it can be the energy that is moving (think EMP) - same effect, current.

Then on to what Timothy said re' micro-amp currents, anything larger and the circuit fries.

As for gun safes, doubtful. They aren't typically grounded, and there are gaps around the door. These are fire safes, intended to protect the contents from high heat, not energy waves.

[Timothy]

Just for the sake of this discussion, 1 microamp = 0.000001 amp!

[Solus]

Basic tenet of electricity - you pass a wire through a magnetic (energy) field, you generate electricity. That's how gennies work - you turn the shaft wound with wires in the presence of magnets and voila - current.

Conversely, the wire can be motionless and it can be the energy that is moving (think EMP) - same effect, current.

Then on to what Timothy said re' micro-amp currents, anything larger and the circuit fries.

As for gun safes, doubtful. They aren't typically grounded, and there are gaps around the door. These are fire safes, intended to protect the contents from high heat, not energy waves.

Hmmm...Am I correct when I think that the wire passing through the magnetic field has to be ferric for the current to be generated?

Would an aluminum wire also be affected?

Are there other conductors that might not be affected?

[TAB]

wouldn't a a grounded safe work as a Faraday cage?


seems like it meets all the reqs.