[RPG] Do magic items replenish at dawn even if, in your current place, there is no such thing as dawn

The Detect Magic spell states:

If the aura emanates from a magic item, you can attempt to identify its properties (see Spellcraft).

Spellcraft states:

Identify the properties of a magic item using detect magic: DC 15 + Item's CL

So what, you might ask, is a "property?" Well, they don't define in a legalese way exactly what is included in a magic item's properties, except to note that it definitely gets you command words ("The spells detect magic, identify, and analyze dweomer all reveal command words if the properties of the item are successfully identified..."). One simply has to assume from general English definition and logic that it gives you anything beyond that, including what the item even does.

I think it's best to interpret "properties" as "All of what it does, including charges, command words, and whatnot. Its full rules stat block." (Excepting, of course, other defined exceptions like artifacts and spells on a scroll.) Analyze dweomer specifically says it gets charges, but relying on a 6th level spell to get the charge level of a plain old wand is pretty lame IMO.

In earlier editions of D&D I was fine with not telling people charges and letting them find out when they ran out - it added a nice randomization factor - but in Pathfinder where the Christmas tree syndrome tends to dictate that it's players' God Given Right to liquidate all treasure for a union-decreed cost to buy other gear, not knowing charges and thus value would be an impediment.

I'm currently running a West Marches style game. I realised before I even began that, if I were to use the standard resting times, I would either have to run an excessive number of random encounters, or have each and every one steam-rolled by a fully-rested party.

My solution was quite simple. I changed short rests to 8 hours (and renamed them to simply 'rests'), and completely removed long rests, instead saying that, at the start of every new session, the party is fully rested. Because, in the West Marches format, every session is a new one-shot (of sorts), and every party starts and ends in town, it seems natural that the party should start each session rested (having just been staying in town).

As a result, each session contains a reasonable number of encounters (including traps, environmental hazards, etc.), such that the 'adventuring day' is in fact split over a week (or so) of in-game time. This keeps the number of random encounters each (in-game) day feeling natural (one or two), while still taxing the party's resources towards the end of the session.

It seems to be working well, although I foresee that resources could be stretched rather too thin if the session were allowed to run on longer (than about 6 hours), or an adventuring day were allowed to run across multiple sessions.

In theory, it would be possible to do this in any campaign, as long as the players were willing to accept the slight implausibility of being fully-rested at the start of every session, regardless of circumstances. The key is recognising that it is the long rest, not the short rest, which has the greatest potential to imbalance the game. Because recovering hit points in short rests is tied to hit dice, allowing your party as many short rests as they like is unlikely to radically affect balance.

To summarise: The 'adventuring day' need not be an actual in-game day. It can instead be recast as the time elapsing in one session.