Solar panel optics
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 7:10 pm
Many years ago, I remember seeing a guy on arfcom who modified his Eotech hood with a small solar panel to help keep his batteries charged.
That was the first time that I had thought about that feature directly on the optic themselves.
As time went on, several other manufacturers have started using small panels on several of their models.
Holosun, Utg, Tasco, Trijicon, and a few others.
While the small panels on them don't keep your batteries charged, it does allow the dot to function during the day without the need for batteries. I don't believe the little panels are strong enough to recharge batteries, but rather strong enough to operate the little dot laser.
In wanting to satisfy my curiousity about how they work, I chose to purchase the least expensive model that I could find. This being the tasco unit. I have a couple of reasons for choosing it over the others, but the short answer is because it looked smaller, it had a dovetail mount that fit my shotgun that I wanted to mount it on that let me not have to drill and tap the receiver to install a picatinny rail, and it was cheaper than the others that I have seen.
This should get my feet wet how they function and help me decide if I wanted to move up to the UTG model later on. I admit, I like the fact that the utg runs off an AA battery rather than the standard 2032 coin style batteries that most dots use. I have purposely bought a lot of rechargeable AA's, rigged up small solar powered recharging stations for them, and they're readily available.
Long story short, I'll be doing a short review later and see if the cheap tasco will hold up to the 12 gauge and how it works.
Lots of pics and range report coming up later this week if anyone is interested and wants to follow along.
Here is the stock photo of the tasco. This is the dovetail version, though they also have a weaver/picatinny version too.
1x30mm
5 MOA Red Dot
Mfg Part# BKR3022SL
Price $35+ shipping
That was the first time that I had thought about that feature directly on the optic themselves.
As time went on, several other manufacturers have started using small panels on several of their models.
Holosun, Utg, Tasco, Trijicon, and a few others.
While the small panels on them don't keep your batteries charged, it does allow the dot to function during the day without the need for batteries. I don't believe the little panels are strong enough to recharge batteries, but rather strong enough to operate the little dot laser.
In wanting to satisfy my curiousity about how they work, I chose to purchase the least expensive model that I could find. This being the tasco unit. I have a couple of reasons for choosing it over the others, but the short answer is because it looked smaller, it had a dovetail mount that fit my shotgun that I wanted to mount it on that let me not have to drill and tap the receiver to install a picatinny rail, and it was cheaper than the others that I have seen.
This should get my feet wet how they function and help me decide if I wanted to move up to the UTG model later on. I admit, I like the fact that the utg runs off an AA battery rather than the standard 2032 coin style batteries that most dots use. I have purposely bought a lot of rechargeable AA's, rigged up small solar powered recharging stations for them, and they're readily available.
Long story short, I'll be doing a short review later and see if the cheap tasco will hold up to the 12 gauge and how it works.
Lots of pics and range report coming up later this week if anyone is interested and wants to follow along.
Here is the stock photo of the tasco. This is the dovetail version, though they also have a weaver/picatinny version too.
1x30mm
5 MOA Red Dot
Mfg Part# BKR3022SL
Price $35+ shipping