Question about glowrings and tritium...

M

mgeoffriau

Joined
Apr 20, 2001
Messages
922
Hey everybody,

Just got my first Traser Glowring the other day (got 2 actually - thanks Piet!), and I was wondering something.

I assumed that the tritium that's in the keychain is the same tritium that's in watch face paint (for the hands and numbers). However, on watches, the luminescense (sp?) seems to be directly affected by exposing it to a bright source of light. For example, hold your watch next to a light bulb, and when you turn out the lights, it'll be much brighter than if you hadn't held it to near the light bulb.

However, as best as I can tell, these glowrings are unaffected by this. They seem to be just as bright whether I expose them to a bright light source or not.

Can anyone explain this discrepancy?
 
The tritium in the glow rings and watches is prepared by the same Traser company. The tritium for the watches is encapsulated in vials with luminescent material inside. The tritium makes this material glow, adding to the effect of so otherwise little tritium. Of course exposure to sunlight or lamplight will make the luminescent material glow even more than the tritium alone does.
 
The paint on most watch faces is not tritium, it is a phosphorescent compound that does not luminesce on its own, and that must be "charged" by exposure to light. Watches w/ tritium do not require this "charging", and so are unaffected by exposure to light. Basically, different compounds, different actions. Someone else will more than likely have a more complete explanation, but this is the basic difference.

Sam
 
Where's the best place to buy a Glow Ring in the US?

I thought that the company that made them couldn't import them anymore into the states?
 
Sidewinder, I don't think there is a co. in the states selling the glowrings. Several individuals are selling them at fairly high prices and they are on Ebay now and then and they go pretty high there. Your best bet/price is to get them from Bagheera(Piet), a forumite. I've ordered the glowrings from him twice.
 
mgeoffriau,
Just so there's no confusion, where non-electric watch illumination is concerned, you'll generally run into one of four scenarios:

--Phosphorescent paint: This is what you'll find on a majority of watches. These coatings are applied directly to the hands and indices, and are "charged" by exposure to light. They usually shine very brightly at first, but tend to fade with time, some quicker than others. "Luminova" is one of the newest and best of these compounds, and can still be visible many hours after exposure to light.

--Tritium paint: Originally found on many higher end watches, and it is also applied directly to the hands and indices. The presence of tritium is usually indicated by the marking of a "T" (sometimes in a circle), an "H3", or on rare occasions the three triangle nuclear hazard symbol, somewhere on the face of the watch. Tritium paint is good in that it requires no exposure to light to function, and it shines continuously (it will lose half its intensity in approximately 12 years). The downside (for most non-military folks) is that it doesn't ever glow nearly as brightly as freshly charged luminous paint. Ergo, tritium hands can sometimes be hard to read in near, but not total, darkness where ambient light exists, or in situations where your eyes haven't yet acclimated to the dark.

--Combination phoshorescent/tritium paint: This is a good system that essentially combines a mixture of the best of both elements described above. It's a nice combination because you have the luminous paint to shine brightly at first while your eyes are adjusting to the dark, from which point the tritium can then take over to provide lower levels of light for an indefinite period of time once your night vision is established.

--Tritium vials: This is the latest and greatest technology as used by makers such as Traser/Luminox and Hesco/Meprolight in their watches (and also the technology used in the Traser Glowrings). In this case we have hollow, sealed glass tubes which contain tritium gas and are coated on the inside by a luminous paint type substance. Essentially, the low level radiation continuously given off by the tritium gas has the effect of perpetually "charging" the luminous paint substance coating the inside of the vial. Hence, the hands and indices glow extremely brightly at all times and will continue to do so for many years.

------------------
Semper Fi

-Bill
 
Thanks Bronco for that explanation. You figured out what was confusing me. My Chase-Durer is listed as having "Tritium system" illumination or something like that. I just assumed it was only tritium. That's why the fact that it could be "charged" was weird to me.

It probably has the combination tritium and phospherescent that you were talking about - which is why Chase-Durer says it's some "Tritium system" rather than just saying it's tritium.

Thanks everybody for your answers.
 
Attention US consumers:
Traser GlowRings can be sold in the US. They are for sale online by many UK sporting goods stores and I have successfully purchased them in the past month from:
http://www.sebertool.co.uk/acatalog/AdventureKIT_Glowrings_127.html
They seem to have the best deal I could find, 5 glowrings cost £17.01 + £1.50 S+H to NJ for a total of £18.51 or $25.95 USD (today's exchange rate). If you want a comprehensive list of UK dealers in which I have purchased these before, drop me a line. That works out to be $5.19 each and at that price, I can continue to give these out as gifts. With camping season upon us, I'm sure these will get noticed, especially when it's time to tell ghost stories or collect fireflies.

Best Regards,
Ed
 
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