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How to make night vision goggles from Chivo. DIY night vision device. How it works and resources for homemade NVGs

Today we will skip the medieval alchemical method that allows you to make a night vision device with your own hands. You can easily manage it if you have sulfuric acid and tin chloride stored at home, but the authors consider such an approach dangerous and unreasonable. Today's work plan: we briefly discuss the principle of operation of a night vision device. We’ll help you assemble it, if you can’t sit still, maybe we’ll do it short excursion Regarding stores: let’s discuss stale items from the field of hunting equipment.

Operating principle of a night vision device

The eye is a passive radar and receives radiation emitted by objects. The visible spectrum is a small range of vibrations of the body of the Universe surrounding humanity. The predator from the film of the same name switched bands, a representative of an advanced civilization is unable to cover the total spectrum! In the dark, the eye is powerless to see; Homo Sapiens cannot observe infrared radiation. Bodies will emit waves at low ambient temperatures, the power density drops. The first night vision device appears. Nothing to do with the military. The device is used by builders.

Meet the thermal imager, which receives infrared radiation from objects. The device is not intended for viewing a dark landscape, but the frontal view can be seen. The gizmo has a number of settings, the following characteristics are typical:

temperature 10 degrees Celsius heat appears orange glow;
the walls of the houses look reddish;
the surrounding inanimate nature of different shades, even black.

Forget about assembling a thermal imager with your own hands, you can buy it for 50 thousand. After spending seven thousand, you can buy a night vision device (NVD) in a store. There is no point in taking a thermal imager specifically for vigil in the dark; it helps builders evaluate the quality of thermal insulation measures. If you find a foreman you know, you can admire nature in the dark for free by borrowing a unit.

The circuit of the night vision device is implemented by the indicated processes, so as not to irritate the eye with a radiant rainbow; inside the factory product there is a transparent plate covered with semiconductor material, using the internal photoelectric effect, it allows you to “see” the infrared radiation of objects.

For reference. The photoelectric effect is the phenomenon of the transition of electrons in a material to new energy levels under the influence of photons of light. It is incorrect to use the term for invisible radiation, this is how the concept is played up in literature, so we avoid contradicting other (authoritative) sources.

Under the influence of invisible “photons”, the electrons of the plate receive energy. Information can be read by changes in the transparency of the material and the electrical conductivity of the substance. Microchannel technology for manufacturing sensitive elements helps to avoid illumination of neighboring pixels. The Nazis were the first to approach the solution of the problem. Germany benefited from the work of talented scientists. Some voluntarily, others were forced. A rifle scope weighing 2.25 kg with a suitcase of batteries (13.5) kg was created. It would probably have made it possible to accomplish many feats (or crimes) if Soviet troops had not taken Berlin in May 1945.

Sometimes the radiation is further amplified by photomultipliers. Helps to obtain a bright, contrasting image for a night vision device. Often external radiation is not enough; infrared illumination is used. Lamps are used, more often semiconductor diodes of a special type are used. You can find it in a radio amateur store. By the way, the coherence of LED radiation is high. This means that interference will not affect the quality of the picture.

For reference. Coherence is interpreted as being in phase with the wave. Such light is concentrated in a narrow segment of the spectrum (vertical line of the graph), easily folds, giving greater brightness than other radiation sources. As a result, you will get high-quality illumination with low power.

Night vision devices are divided as follows:

The nature of the impact on the environment:
1. Active with LED backlight.
2. Passive, receiving only radiation from other objects.
Method of processing the received signal:
1. With amplification.
2. Deprived of reinforcement.
Sign of the presence of a storage device:
1. Registrants.
2. Not registering.

Now you can assemble a night vision device with your own hands.

Make your own night vision device

The night vision device includes:

Converter of infrared radiation to video signal.
A kind of eyepiece that could display the signal in real time.
Backlight.

There are many devices in the store that help with night photography. The night vision device is obviously based on the same technology. A black and white micro camera will do. It’s not cheap, but it’s easy to adapt the gadget for other purposes if you get tired of the night vision device. Examples of devices are JK 007B, JK-926A. The main thing is that the device has a video output; any camera has a built-in port, otherwise why is it needed at all? The purchase price should not greatly exceed the store price of the night vision device (see above), otherwise greed will stifle it. Take comfort, our device will be able to record, the option costs extra money on the counter.

Find an old viewfinder. Visit a salon that repairs household appliances if you don’t have any suitable equipment at home. The viewfinder is equipped with one input for video according to the protocol used by the camera.

The question can be clarified by interviewing local professionals, and the operation can be checked by connecting the devices with a cable. It works - all that's left is to buy a backlight. Order LEDs online and shake up your nearest market. How to check? There is a video camera for recording at night. Go into the dark, turn on the power, see if the radio element glows: point the lens at the video camera.

A foreign do-it-yourself amateur recommends combining a dozen LEDs in garlands of 6 pieces per branch. Provide the bunch with a 10-ohm shunt and supply power to the battery. It is difficult to reverse the polarity; just in case, use a special reference book for LEDs. The backlight unit is ready. The LEDs are mounted on a homemade housing: an ordinary children's pencil case, packaging.

Actually, it's ready. We connect the camera and viewfinder with a video cable, placing the lens in the same plane with the LEDs. Considering the size of the devices, they will fit in one pencil case. The viewfinder is mounted on the side. For the recording device, you will need to install the appropriate connector into the housing. Night vision devices from China cannot compare with ours! Let's look at the operation:

The night camera captures your surroundings.
LEDs illuminate objects for better visibility.
The viewfinder projects the image visible to the eye.
If necessary, registration is carried out through a special connector.

Don’t be surprised if you fail to see distant objects; the LED rays don’t reach you. The night vision device has disadvantages: there are no glasses, the cost of new components is high, you need to buy batteries and place them in the case. Explained in simple language operating principle of the device. Purpose: to show how to make a night vision device from improvised materials. However, there are probably a couple of reagents lying around in the chemistry lab. Try to slow down the teacher!

Shop night vision devices

The Cyclops night vision device is so named because it received a monocular instead of glasses. Would be useful for a one-eyed giant. Like others, a night vision device is characterized by three parameters:

Resolution in arc minutes. The smallest part of the field of view that can be distinguished from an adjacent one of similar size.
Gain.
Line of sight.

The faint reflection of the stars is enough for the devices to work; if the moon illuminates the sky, the picture will become clear. Celestial bodies will illuminate the landscape no worse than the LEDs discussed above. Of course, if you look at the sky, you can study the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but the picture will be filled with a whitish glow.

The Zenith monocular night vision device has a built-in backlight and a piezoelectric energy converter for power supply. The brand supplies hunters with scopes, do not confuse them. Especially for people with blurry vision, lens adjustments to the missing diopters are available. Makes night vision goggles for reading in the dark!

NPF Dipol produces night vision devices, the products are no different at an affordable price. However, you need to look at the intended purpose of the device. There is an opportunity to pay 190 thousand rubles for glasses, for this money Belarusians will sell a cool device for night viewing of the surrounding area. Catch the car thieves, watch the shameless people returning from the party, punish the desecrators of the area!

Human vision is an amazing thing. The eyes are called the mirror of the soul and a powerful weapon that nature has endowed us with. What we really are not given is to see in the dark, unlike technical devices, called NVGs or night vision devices.
Until recently, we heard about them as special equipment for the military, who use them for covert surveillance and combat operations in the dark. The capabilities of such devices are also used in modern conventional cameras. Moreover, some of them are able to distinguish objects in the infrared spectrum, while others are not. Today we will show you how to make a night vision device from a regular digital camera. So let's get started!

How it works and resources for homemade NVGs

Our NVD is based on a digital camera, popularly nicknamed a “point-and-shoot.” The electronic content is preserved, since it is capable of transmitting images in real time through the LCD screen. By changing the lens filtration and increasing the camera's sensitivity to the infrared range, as well as equipping the camera body with infrared illumination, we open up new possibilities digital camera, capable of detecting objects in the near-infrared range. Also, such a device can be used as a thermal imager, distinguishing heated objects, for example, an unattended iron, electric stove or kettle.
Materials:

Digital camera;
Button – switch;
AA AA battery 1.5 V – 2 pcs;
Wiring, electrical tape.

Tools:

Soldering iron;
Screwdriver with replaceable bits;
Painting knife;
Hot glue gun;
Tweezers.

We manufacture a night vision device (NVD)

For this experiment, the author purchased a working digital camera Samsung S1030. This is a regular point-and-shoot camera with a sensitivity of 50 - 1600 ISO, a maximum resolution of 3648 x 2736, equipped with a 2.70-inch LCD screen on the rear panel.

Removing the infrared filter

Unscrew all visible screws from the back cover of the camera. This is easy to do with a screwdriver, making sure that nothing interferes with its dismantling. This must be done as carefully as possible, without damaging the plastic closures and clips, and without pulling out the cables of the electronic filling.

We unlock the LCD screen by carefully removing it from the holder frame, which we then also dismantle. We release the cables from the LCD screen and camera control from the connectors. The output control board should release the front cover, which can now be unfastened from the device.

The wiring leading to the microphone must be removed, or this element must be disconnected completely. Having gained access to the high-voltage capacitor for the flash, it must be de-energized with a resistor, voltmeter, tester or light bulb by short-circuiting its contacts.

Having unsoldered the power contacts, remove the camera control board, leaving only the lens and matrix. It is to her that we need to get close.

We unscrew the matrix board with the light-sensitive sensor that captures the image. In this model, the infrared filter is a small removable glass covered with a polymer frame. Remove it carefully with tweezers, without damaging the surface of the sensor.

To maintain the camera's ability to autofocus, it is necessary to compensate for the lack of a filter with a transparent material of similar size. The author adapted it from protective film for your smartphone.

We mount the control board, front cover and LCD screen with a frame for it in the reverse order. Don't forget to connect the disconnected cables to the connectors. By connecting the control panel to back cover, check the functionality of the camera.

Installing LED lighting

We place LEDs and output contacts on the cooling radiator boards. We connect the voltage reduction module to the batteries and configure it to the required parameters.

We coat the LEDs with thermal conductive paste to transfer heat to the radiator panel, and then solder them to the contacts.

Our homemade NVD can be considered ready. The range of such a device will directly depend on the photosensitivity of the camera sensor, as well as the power of the IR LEDs. Of course, it will be far from what real NVGs offer, but for short distances exactly what is needed.
The quality of ordinary photographs after removing the IR filter will not be correct, and the colors in the photo will be mixed and do not correspond to the actual ones. However, for true IR photography this option is the most suitable!

The ability of each physical body to reflect IR lies. This action is possible due to the internal photoelectric effect, which appears under certain conditions.

Knowing this feature, you can make a night vision device with your own hands. To do this, you should stock up on certain chemical elements.

How to make a night vision device at home?

You need to take two small glass plates, as well as the compound SnCl2, silver, ZnS and copper. It is necessary to heat the glass in a solution of sulfuric acid and dichromate for about four hours. After this they should be dried thoroughly.

Then you need to put tin chloride in a porcelain cup and place it above it at a distance of 10 centimeters, you need to attach pieces of glass, cover the container with a metal plate and turn on the heating device.

As soon as the oven warms up to 450 degrees, you need to take the plate and make sure that a conductive thin coating has formed on it. The glasses should be placed on the table to cool.

We continue to create a night vision device with our own hands. Next, you need to apply a photosemiconductor to one of the plates. To do this you will need a certain solution. You can make it as follows: take three percent thiocarbamide and six percent lead acetate. These solutions should be placed in a glass vessel. Using tweezers, dip a glass plate into the mixture, holding it vertically. But, before doing this, you need to apply varnish to the side not covered with a conductive coating. Next, after putting it on, pour the alkali solution into the container with the plates to the very top and carefully stir the contents of the container with a glass rod. In this case, it is advisable not to touch the glass. After 10 minutes, the plate must be removed and washed in distilled water.

To further create a night vision device with your own hands, you need to thoroughly dry the pieces of glass. To do this, turn on the oven, place Ag (silver) in a clean porcelain cup and repeat the above process, but at a temperature of 900 degrees. After this, the wafer with the semiconductor should be coated so that a mirror film is formed.

We prepare the phosphor. Again you need to turn on the oven and place copper and zinc acetate in a proportion of 10 * 100 into a porcelain bowl. It is very important that the crystals of the elements are as small as possible.

Under the influence of heat, copper vapor will circulate, which will then be able to penetrate into the spaces between the zinc crystals. The resulting substance should not be broken under any circumstances. The result should be a white powder. Next, you need to mix the varnish with the crystals, pour the solution onto the plate (on the silver layer) and wait until the mixture spreads evenly, forming a smooth surface. Then a second plate with a conductive coating should be placed on the varnish. When everything is dry, the practical ready-made night vision device with your own hands needs to be sealed. After this, it is necessary to apply a conductive coating and solder along the edges of the wiring plates for the leads.

How to make a night vision device? Assembly

All that remains is to purchase a generator and place all the components in one housing. Its shape can be arbitrary.

The lens for the device can be borrowed from any camera, but it is better to use a short-focus lens (they can be found in Smena-8M and FED cameras). Any lens is suitable for the eyepiece, but it must be biconvex.

Having put everything together, you need to check all connections for strength. When the device is turned on, a thin squeak should be heard. It is also necessary to adjust the voltage level, generator frequency and sensitivity.

Do you dream of seeing in the dark like a cat and remaining invisible to others? Night vision goggles will help you fulfill this desire. This device is used in various fields, for example:

for all kinds of search operations;
for the professional activities of security guards, police officers, military personnel and drivers, who often have to repair equipment on the roads in complete darkness;
for those who like to photograph or videotape wildlife at night.

Night vision goggles are required for hunting, fishing and tourism. By wearing them, you can quickly collect firewood in the dark to light a fire, walk freely through the thicket of the forest without getting lost in it, without tripping over a tree root or falling into a hole. And these are only the main useful qualities of this device. This can include a huge number of other nuances.
Night vision goggles can be bought at the store, however, they are very expensive. An alternative solution is to make them yourself at home. Try to recall your knowledge of chemistry and physics, and then it will be easier for you to understand how to make night vision goggles yourself. Find literature, read information, prepare.

Step-by-step instruction
Take 2 glass plates and immerse them in a solution of sulfuric acid (for about 4 hours). Then dry the glasses and fix them above a porcelain cup at a height of at least 10 cm (you should put tin chloride in the container). Now place all this in the cup. First place a metal plate on the cup.
Preheat oven to at least 470 degrees Celsius. Remove the plate quickly. Now carefully monitor the changes occurring in the glass. They will gradually begin to become covered with a thin film that conducts current.
Turn off the stove and let the glass cool. Apply varnish to the side of the glass where there is no conductive film and dip the glass in a solution of thiacarbamide and lead acetate. Then pour the alkali concentrate here, gently stirring the resulting liquid. After 15 minutes, carefully remove the glasses from the cup.
Place the same cup in the oven, but now pour the silver solution into it. Place glass above it.

Preheat the oven to 900 degrees. A mirror film should gradually appear on the plate.
To obtain a colorless crystalline powder, mix copper and ZnS (10:100) in a cup and heat the mixture in an oven.
Take Tsapon varnish (for the binder) and mix with the powder. Now drop this mixture onto the plate and let the drop spread. Make sure the coating is even. Connect the two plates by slightly squeezing them, dry them, and at the end of the process, check the sealing of the resulting device. Night vision goggles are ready.
Don't forget to assemble the high voltage generator circuit!
Now all that remains is to connect everything. Take the lens for the device from the camera, and for the eyepiece - a biconvex lens.
After checking all connections, you can start connecting. You will understand that everything is working normally by the characteristic squeak of the transformer.
For a clearer image, it is necessary to change both the generator frequency and voltage levels several times.
If you succeed, then you won’t have to spend a lot of money on night vision goggles buying them in a store.

In this material we'll talk about zero generation night vision devices. What exactly are these devices? Zero-generation night vision devices are the simplest types of the family of these devices that have active illumination. These devices operate in the near-infrared range. It should be noted that remote controls for TVs and household appliances operate in the same range.

Let’s finish the introductory part here and start assembling the device, but before that we suggest watching the video

What we need:
- old web camera;
- 4 infrared LEDs;
- 4 resistors of 50 ohms;
- a piece of plastic;

At the very beginning, you should clarify the features of some materials. Infrared LEDs can be removed from old remote controls. The author does not recommend using more than four LEDs. And the plastic that we will use during assembly should be visible through infrared rays, but not visible through ordinary light. The best option would be exposed film. If you don't have one, you can simply connect the camera and look through different pieces of plastic. According to the author, soft black folders from Erich Krauser are excellent. Let's get started.

First of all, we disassemble our webcam and unscrew the lens from it.

Next, we look at where exactly the filter is located in the camera. Sometimes the filter we need is in the lens holder and is installed inside. That is, in order to remove it you need to unscrew two screws on back side, remove the holder or simply break the filter and screw the holder back. The author has a filter installed in the lens.

To do this, he simply lifts the top locking ring and pulls out the light filter itself. This filter transmits only the visible part of light and blocks infrared rays, which is not acceptable if we want to use infrared radiation specifically.