Care and Feeding of GITD and Luminescent Items

[Bolster]

So I have only recently gotten interested in luminescents, with:
- a Luminova-faced watch (at least I think that's what it is...a St Moritz Momentum Ti Pathfinder)
- a couple dozen of GreenLED's GITD cheerios
- a couple Tritium capsules

And I am wondering, what can I do to keep things glowing as long as possible? Is there any effect to "undercharging" or "overcharging" GITD items? Any maintenance required?

 

[greenLED]

Nope.

GITD materials are pretty stable. They do degrade with time (think 10 years or so), but even then they'll continue to glow, especially if what you have are good quality GID products (I'm thinking the stuff we get from Glowinc.com, not your store-bought stuff). There are certain GID powders that are negatively affected by water, but the cheerios or anything encapsulated in epoxy should last you a long time.


Tritium is a bit different. It has a half-life of 10 years (some colors may be less). The major risk with it is breaking the glass container. Other than that, no maintenance needed.

 

[Skylighter]

A quality Strontium Aluminate encased in epoxy or other protective medium should loose 5-10% glow over 10 years.

Zinc Sulfide has similar properties if it is kept indoors and away from UV light.

It doesnt need any special treatment outside of the the needs of the medium.