Homemade Night vision goggles

[Killjoy]

Well these aren't technically nightvision goggles, but they work just as good and sometimes better then the actual thing.
I started working on these when my friends and I started going up to this abandon school which was supposidly haunted, and we could never get our flashlights to work (creepy huh?), so i went home and pulled out a digital camera i had and started modding it. I originally intended to keep the IR lense which was built into the camera after removing it so i could pop it back in and use the camera as normal, but i broke it and decided i had other cameras that would work just fine so it was no big deal. I then ordered a kit from bgmicro.com which had 72 930nm(I think) IR LEDs that ran off of 12vdc and I power it with a 12v 7.2hour lead acid battery mounted to a belt I wear. I then mounted this in a project box from Radioshack with a switch and red LED so i would know if it was on (cause humans can't see IR light). I made the head strap out of an old bag strap which I riveted together and the metal swing hinge out of some aluminum which also I riveted together. I also made it so i could unscrew the camera to tinker with it or use it with out the headset.
The entire set up works great and can illumintae extremely well to about 30 feet, more then enough to be able to see in an abandon building.
The goggles down, ain't stylish but its practical.

The goggles up, you can see the goggle peice from a old video camera which was my first attemp at modding for night vision, but i accedently broke it. I can remove and attach the goggle peice by velcro.

The bolt that i screw the camera on to

[LGM]

Cool, how did you get the IR lens out of the camera? I want to make something like this but doubt I will get around to it soon.

[Killjoy]

I had to pulled the front cover off to get to the lens which was mounted to the circuit board, and I was able to just unscrew it and pop the lense out (it had a reddish tinge to it)with a razor blade and then screw the protective lense and shutter assembly back on. It was pretty easy, and im pretty sure most sheap didgital cameras have the same lens setup.

[LGM]

Great, I have an old digi that is just screaming for me to do something to it.

[Killjoy]

the protective lens and shutter assembly might have some thread goop to keep it from unthreading so you might want to use some pliers, but don't clamp down to hard or you'll crush it. And watch out when prying the lens, cause if it breaks when you try and remove it, you'll have to make sure to get all the glass shards out or it'll look all f*cked up on the screen when you turn it on.

[crazyfreak0075]

So you have to remove the ir lens because it blocks out ir light. Am i correct???

[Insomniac]

Yeah. Most digital cameras will pick up infra red even when the filter is still in place (the filter isn't perfect) but modding it will make it much more sensitive.

[Oscarmiar]

Nice, But i think i'd buy my own.

[Killjoy]

Hmm, Option A: 40 bucks ghetto homemade night vision or Option B: 100 bucks for a cheap little monocular night vision that doesn't compare to the homemade.....man thats a hard choice. But whatever the point was that i made my own, and its that pride in making something ghetto and practical for illegal activities. However if you have 5000 dollars, you can get a genIV millitary grade night vision rifle scope.

[iknowmy3tables]

no way its way more the 100 for real night vison, like several times more
but for the military one you right its one of the most expensive foot solider equipments.
it look pretty funny, but it works and thats what matters,
yeah i got my 6"pvc from an abanadon school

[Killjoy]

no, i can get a little hand held monoculer for 100 bucks from this military surplus magazine i got, and my friend has one and apperently it works alright, but not as good as mine (hes tried mine).

[weirdwun]

'military surplus magazine'
do you mean cheaper than dirt? they have really cool stuff for cheap. (night vision is still expensive tho)

[joannaardway]

I was using this awesome night vision equipment on an Army Cadet camp. It was prohibitively expensive, but it was exceptionally powerful.

But even that didn't match up in coolness to the thermal imaging camera I used on another occasion.

And neither of them were as ghetto as this!

But for some reason I like this even more... It would benefit from being neatened up, but it's great - except for left-eyed people (like me!)