Detection of Arcing and High Impedance with Electrical Weapons

Introduction: Conducted electrical weapons are primarily designed to stop subjects from endangering themselves or others by deploying 2, or more, probes to conduct current via the body to induce motor-nerve mediated muscle contractions, but probe impedance can vary significantly including open circuits from probes failing to complete or maintain a circuit.Methods: We tested 10 units of the TASER® 7 model with a range of impedances and open circuit conditions. Pulse data (stored in the device’s memory) were used to predict the load resistances and detect arcing conditions. Acoustical data (recorded externally) was evaluated on an exploratory basis as a secondary goal.Results: The average error of predicted resistance, over the physiological load range of 400–1000 Ω, was 8%. Arcing conditions was predicted with an accuracy of 97%. An arcing condition increases the duration of the sound generation.Conclusions: The TASER 7 electronic control device stored pulse-log data for charge and arc voltage yielded forensic analysis of the load resistance with reliable accuracy.