Does Luke's hand need recharging?

In "Heir to the Empire", it states that Luke's artificial hand has an independant power source. Does it need recharging, or is it charged by Luke's own bio-energy?

 

He could charge it like my cell, just plug it in every night when he goes to sleep.

 

I don't know about you, but I typically roll over several times as I sleep. Which would make attaching anything to a hand rather foolish as it could get torn off the hand, torn from wherever the socket may be, or tangled around me during the middle of the night and become a threat. If Luke's anything like that, pluging his hand in to recharge when he goes to sleep at night would probably not be the best of ideas. More likely there is either a system to recharge the battery through maybe blood flow or the battery needs to be replaced every so often. After using the battery to aid in escape, it certainly appeared as if his hand hadn't lost any function at all and I seem to recall it, the battery, was destroyed in the process. So maybe he had replacement batteries on hand. Though it has been several years since I last read HttE. Around ten in fact.

 

His Myrkr escape cost him one of two micro power cells. His hand was left slightly numb and tingling, but otherwise usable.

(answering the post below, rather than make an extra post: no, there is no info available on that. Unless it's be in the Essential Guide to Technology?)

 

micro power cells

How are they charged?

Do they need to be re-charged?

Do they run off Luke's own bio-energy?

Are the cells perpetual energy?

 

I would imagine that something like an advanced hydrogen power cell could last long past Luke's natural life span, or even as long as the life span of someone strong enough in the force to extend their life.

 

So if it is hydrogen power, what if there was a malfunction? Would it cause a nuclear explosion? Would Luke disintigrate himself and his loved ones in a microsecond, due to a faulty false hand?

 

I think you misunderstand. Not hydrogen power as in a hydrogen bomb, but hydrogen fuel cells which use electrolysis to generate energy, IIRC. They are being investigated for use in cars.

 

Yes, but still if it is nuclear energy, it doesn't have to be just a bomb for it to explode. A power plant can go into overload for example. It doesn't matter the size of the energy source either. Sure, if it is just in his hand, perhaps the explosion would be enough to destroy a city block, not the entire city as with a 'bomb'.

Think for example, as an analogy... the scene in Terminator 3, where Arnie has to thow out his faulty power cell out the car window... it caused a small nuclear explosion when it finaly reached melt-down stage.

 

True, but it wouldn't really be any more dangerous than carrying a thermal Detonator around, also recall in SOTE when Luke was buiding his Lightsaber at Obi's it said that when he turned it on if the crystal wasn't set right it would cause a big explosion, so it wouldn't really be any more dangerous than a few of the other things the characters carry.
Also his hand gets hit it ROTJ and it still functions ok, so it must be pretty durable whatever it's made with.

 

There is no nuclear force involved. No fusion, no fission, no nothing. So there can be no nuclear explosions.

http://www.eere.energy.gov/RE/hydrogen_fuel_cells.html

 

What about feshion?

 

What I'd like to know about Luke's hand is how come it hurt him when it was shot in ROTJ?

 

i would imagine that part of making a good artificial hand would be one that will trigger your pain-sensor nerves that still exist, to let you know that 'hey, something painful just happened over here'

he feels pain because his hand was built to transmit pain messages, along with the other triggers that the nervous system uses to transmit informatin.