How Important is the Voltage in a Stun Gun?

Our customers ask more questions about the voltage than anything else when they are thinking about purchasing a stun gun.  In this article, we will try to give you a bit of insight into this debate.

Voltage is an often-used statistic when marketing stun guns, but in reality, the voltage is over-hyped.  While you will see stun guns advertised with voltages ranging from 75,000 to 750,000 volts, you need to understand that the voltage is just a small part of the story.

It is entirely possible to receive a shock of 1,000,000 volts and never even feel it, if it is for a short enough duration, and there is no amperage driving it.

Without going into a very technical discussion of electricity and how electricity relates to stun guns, it is important to avoid the easy trap of thinking that the way to get the best stun gun is to buy the one with the most voltage.

Here is an example that will help non-technical people understand this principle better.  Imagine an ocean full of water.  The water is the voltage.  Without any forces working on the water, it is perfectly smooth.  If a wind starts blowing, waves start forming.  The wind is the amperage.  If the amperage is strong enough, the waves become stronger and get closer together.  In other words the frequency increases.  If you are wading in the water, eventually, the combination of the strength of the waves and the frequency of the waves will knock you down.

This is not to imply that voltage should not be part of your buying decision.  In the example above, you could not have waves without the water (voltage), no matter how strong the wind blew.  Also, the waves have the potential to be larger and more powerful if the pool of water is bigger.  The same is true in stun guns.  If everything else is equal, a high voltage stun gun will be more powerful than one with a lower voltage.  However, that is certainly not always the case.

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