Optima 2000 use indoors

[BostonBullit]

I recently picked up my first Open gun (used) which came with a melted-in Optima 2000. Everything is in good shape and I'm working to get used to the drastic difference in setup after spending the past year shooting Production; but I have one minor issue - the auto intensity feature of the sight. it's cold up here in the Northeast so practices/matches are indoors for the next few months and I'm finding that on dimly lit indoor ranges the sight is dimming itself down to sleep mode. It gets dim enough that the dot doesn't even stand out well on white steel. As a dot newbie it adds a little to the learning curve because if I lose it for a second it's harder to find.

So I have two questions:

1. is there any way to trick this older sight into staying brighter indoors?
   
2. what similar sights have a more reasonable auto-dim logic and/or manual override feature and will mount up to the Optima pattern?
   

Thanks!

[Flexmoney]

The sensor might be dirty?

That takes a ...16 battery?

You can use two ...32 batteries instead. Should give a bit shorter battery life, but give a brighter dot.

Search some old threads around here. There should be info on the Optima.

[ChuckS]

Hi there,

Flex has it sort of right . If your dot uses one 2032 battery, you can replace it with a double stack of 2016 batteries. We used to do that with Docter sights until Beven Grams came up with a mod to the package to increase the sensor sensitivity. If you do this, be sure to watch that you do not short out the outer can of the upper battery on any metal. If the sight connects to the side of the battery, insulate the top can with tape or something so it does not short to both batteries.

Later,

Chuck

[Flexmoney]

Ah...so 2 of the 16's add up to 32. Whodathunkit??

[BostonBullit]

sounds like I should pick up a couple 2016s on the way home and see how that works....I'll also double check that the sensor is clean. thanks guys.

[Ross Carter]

Be very careful how you put those two 2016's in to make sure they contact correctly and will maintain contact. This is a potential weak point with all the self dimming optics even used outside, if you are in a very shady area but shooting out into a bright area the dot can dim down enough to make it hard to see against white plates.

Before anyone else says it, yeh stay out of shady areas.

[BostonBullit]

Be very careful how you put those two 2016's in to make sure they contact correctly and will maintain contact. This is a potential weak point with all the self dimming optics even used outside, if you are in a very shady area but shooting out into a bright area the dot can dim down enough to make it hard to see against white plates.

Before anyone else says it, yeh stay out of shady areas.

I picked up the batteries but haven't put them in yet because I had concerns about having them shake loose as the slide cycles. I'd feel a bit better about it if it was on a mount and not directly on the slide but it is what it is. I'm thinking about soldering the two batties together, just need to make a quick jig to hold them in perfect alignment while I do it. (ie drill the right size hole partially through a board).

in the long run I'll replace the sight with one that has a manual adjustment, just looking for something to hold me over until those funds become available.

[hdgun]

Had an Optima melted in on 1911 38 super steel gun and used 2 2016s never had a problem with the batts shacking loose.

[ChuckS]

I am not sure that soldering the batteries would be a good thing. I could see some goop boiling inside. I used a 2016 stack on a slide mount with no issues. I would put the smallest rubber furniture protection pad I could find on the slide and then squish the sight and battery stack on top of it.

Merry Christmas,

Chuck

[George]

Been running 2x 2016 batteries in a slide mounted optima on an open gun for years now with no tape, no soldering, no electrical worries whatsoever. As Nike says, "just do it".

The only thing I have had to do is put a small amount of blue loctite on the screws every time I change batteries or slide slamming loosens them up.

[BostonBullit]

there ya have it, I'll stop over-thinking it and pop the two 2016s in there an see how it looks on the dim indoor range during practice. thanks!

[George]

there ya have it, I'll stop over-thinking it and pop the two 2016s in there an see how it looks on the dim indoor range during practice. thanks!

The biggest reason I went this way was not to brighten the dot in low light, but to make the dot work really well while facing the sun. Almost as good as a C-more on mid-range setting with 2x 2016's

BTW, dot size is important too. I have one on each of my open competition guns (rifle, pistol & shotgun) and found out through trial and error testing that the 8 MOA dot was needed for pistol and shotgun. The 4 MOA dot only works well on rifle for me. On shotgun and pistol the 4 MOA dot was always too small for me and harder to pick up quickly on the draw or mount.