Stun Guns And The Voltage Myth - SABRE

Learn more about How to Measure a Stun Gun's Strength Read More

Understanding Resistance (Voltage advertised should take resistance into account): When testing stun guns, it's important to consider the effect of resistance on their performance. In our testing, we used 600 ohms of resistance as a standard measure. However, it's worth noting that a person's electrical resistance can vary depending on factors such as gender. Men generally have lower resistance than women, and the internal resistance of the human body can range from 300 to 1,000 ohms, according to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mike W. Kroll, who sits on the board of TASER® International, Inc., also notes that human flesh “in worst conditions offers around 400 ohms of resistance.” So, if a stun gun is effective (or, emits significant charge) against 600 ohms of resistance, that’s a good indicator it would induce pain on a human.

Rassettica Testing Limited: Here at SABRE, we worked with Rassettica, an independent conducted energy weapon testing company, to test our stun guns and their levels. Learn about Rassettica stun gun strength testing purpose and procedures below.

Stun Gun Strength Testing Purpose and Procedures

The Rassettica test procedure in this section describes the methods, equipment and personnel used to develop a relative characterization of the electrical charge characteristics of stun guns, with particular emphasis on charge (µC) delivered by the stun gun.

1. During the signal acquisition, the stun gun is fired for up to 7 seconds into a resistive load (600 ohms) which approximates the resistance of a major body muscle.
2. The stun gun is usually energized by two switches.
3. The first switch, usually a slider switch, arms the circuitry and the second switch, usually a push button switch just above the arming switch, triggers the electrical discharge.
4. The stun gun is held on the non-conductive pad so that the contacts touch the metal contacts which transmit the electricity to the resistive load.
5. The measuring instrument (oscilloscope) is triggered to open a 7-second window of signal acquisition.
6. The push button trigger is depressed so that approximately 5 seconds of discharge are captured by the measuring instrument.
7. It will be noted that good contact with the contacts on the contact pad will not produce any or very little arcing sound. An absence of audible sound and no visible arc means that all the discharged energy is flowing to the resistive load for measurement and recording. This is the desired result. Poor contact with the contact pad or discharge in open air will produce a loud snapping sound and visible arc; this is not a desirable result.
8. The measuring instrument ceases capturing signal (either automatically or manually).
9. After the measuring instrument has recorded an interval of signal capture, the raw data file is saved with date/time stamp, make and model and serial number of the stun gun.
10. A second and third discharge from the stun gun is taken following the above steps.

Read the entire 'A Simple Field Test Procedure for Stun Guns' document from Rassettica Testing Limited (May 2016).