Tritium is radioactive. It makes its own light.

It's not reflective and doesn't absorb other light as the mechanism of illumination.

 

The Tritium is a gas inside a tube. I have had 2 front sights go bad. Truglo replaced the one for my G26, the G17 lasted less than 200 rounds. The darned things loosened up even though I use ample thread locker.
I'm done with them and am switching to Williams #70961 fiber on the G17.

 

Before you switch to Williams take a look at Truglo's latest with Wave tech.
I have them on my MP FS9 I use for IDPA.
Terrific for old failing eyes.
Optional colors come with in case you want to experiment.
Good Luck

 

Tritium is radioactive, and it glows constantly. There is no way to "charge" Tritium, nor is it needed.

If those sights need to be "charged," they are not Tritium.

 

Tritium sights work similar to flourecent lights. A coating, usually phosphor in origin coats the inside surface of the bulb (dot). Energy causes it to glow. In night sights, the energy source is radioactive decay instead of electricity.

 

CAP sights have a tritium core and luminescent paint. If you pull the gun outta a dark safe, your tritium dot will still glow, but youd need to charge the paint (1 or 2 seconds with a tac light will get em good and glowing) to see the rear line and the rest of the front sight.

I prefer the CAP sights (the square, green fron sight really pops for my colorblind eyes) and dont bother with charging my sights in low light. I keep a bright flashlight near the gun, ir a TLR on the gun.

 

The operating part of tritium night sights consist of small glass tubes, known as "lamps", which are internally coated with phosphur; tritium is then introduced, which is a radioactive isotope of the element hydrogen, then the tube is sealed forming a capsule. It's the electrons that are being emitted during the decaying of the radioactive tritium within each capsule that excites the phosphur it's mingling with, causing it to glow.

The "half life" of tritium is 12.5 years, meaning that after that period of time has elapsed, the glow or visible light emitted from them will be one half of what it was when the lamp was manufactured.

I own an HK USP45 that according to it's date code was manufactured in 2003, and the Trijicon night sights installed on it are dated "04", so the tritium in these night sights are more than half past their expected life, and they still glow, albeit somewhat dim.

Since there is no "recharging" of tritium, I will eventually send those naturally failing sights back to Trijicon to have the lamps replaced. I believe the current price for this service to be in the $60 range, which is close to if not a bit less (depending upon the style chosen) than half the cost of simply replacing the old sights with new.

 

I've been using tritium night sights (Meprolight, Trijicon, or Glock OEM) long enough that on one Glock I'm on my third set.

I find a fresh set will typically retain adequate illumination as the tritium decays for about 13 years.

Radioactive decay is not the only thing that makes the lamp dim. The capsule can develope a leak of the tritium gas that will permanently extinguish the lamp.

I have converted all my Glocks to Glock OEM night sights. They are about half the cost of closest competitors ($57 plus shipping from Glock), very high quality, and ... OEM!

One valuable trait of night sights is the ease they lend to finding the weapon in the dark.

 

thanks for the replies. I was originally thinking about the Truglo TFX tritium/fiber combos, but after reading some reviews about durability and brightness of Truglo, I am going to go with either the Trijicon or Ameriglo Tritium/phosphor paint combo with the blacked out rears. Leaning towards the HD night sights. Thanks again.

 

I have had good luck with my Truglo's, and like them in daylight when the lightpipes shine nicely. Tritium will behave the same in all the vendors product's, and will decay over time. The difference in the robustness, shape on your gun, and how the sights look to you while shooting (whether they meet your visual preferences, shape, size dots, sight picture, etc.) will be the deciding factors.

While paints like SuperLuminova do glow after being exposed to light, having permenantly "lit" lamps due to radiation is preferable for me. They just work, no charging needed, no fading occuring, etc. Just don't eat tritium... other than that, quite safe!

 

thanks for the replies. I was originally thinking about the Truglo TFX tritium/fiber combos, but after reading some reviews about durability and brightness of Truglo, I am going to go with either the Trijicon or Ameriglo Tritium/phosphor paint combo with the blacked out rears. Leaning towards the HD night sights. Thanks again.

The TFX are more durable then the original TFO. The original TFO's were easily damaged by cleaning chemicals, I ruined 2 set using Power Blast. The TFX are supposed to be chemical resistant. I have several sets of the TFX and I am well pleased with them.