Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!sco!gorn!deeptht!spcecdt
From: spcecdt@deeptht.UUCP (John DuBois)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: lazer tag (update)
Message-ID: <26@deeptht.UUCP>
Date: 15 Aug 90 07:37:47 GMT
References: <28227@unix.cis.pitt.edu>
Reply-To: spcecdt@deeptht.UUCP (John DuBois)
Distribution: usa
Organization: The Armory
Lines: 33

In article <28227@unix.cis.pitt.edu> fmgst@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Filip Gieszczykiewicz) writes:
+
+	Greetings. Thank's to all that replied to my post about
+	LazerTag gun's output. I just went to a "trift" store
+	and got a bag of guns... 
+
+	Inside the gun are 3 chips (1 custom), 2 power transistors,
+	caps, and resistors and diodes.

     The custom chip is mainly a sound effects generator.
+
+	In the handle is a 2200 uF 10V capacitor. Does anyone know,
+	if I increase it to 3300 uF 10V, will it increase the
+	range of the gun? May it blow the IR diode?

     The cap in the handle is just a power supply (in this case, batteries)
decoupling cap.  I observed fairly little firing pulse ripple across it,
even after I upped the driver circuit on my pistol from 1A to 3A.  Increase
it as much as you want; it won't help too much but won't hurt.

+	How much range could I get if I hooked up a IR laser
+	diode to the standard IR diode's output (through a FET)
+	with it's own power supply? (say, 12 V @ 5A...)

     To get the kind of duty cycle the gun produces, you'd need a CW diode.
They're expensive and don't produce much power.  It would probably be
better collimated, but that's one thing you *don't* want in a LT pistol -
it makes it harder to hit the target!  (on the other hand, if you cooled
your diode with liquid nitrogen, you could get some serious power/range :-)
Good collimation might be nice if you refitted one of the LT rifles with a
laser diode.  They had a fair sight for a toy.

	John DuBois