Any body has the ability to emit or reflect IR (infrared) rays. This principle is the basis for the "PNV" (night vision device) developed in 1984 by the German company "Elektrisch Manufactur". This device is based on an internal photoelectric effect. When projecting an IR image, the electrical conductivity of the irradiated sections of the photoconductor (2) (see Figure 1) changes and a potential distribution corresponding to the distribution of the image brightness on the photoconductor (2) is created on the adjacent electroluminescent layer (4). To implement this process, it is necessary to apply an alternating voltage of 250-500 Volts with a frequency of 400-3000 Hz and a current strength of no more than 10 mA to the extreme transparent electrodes.

So, let's start making NVG. The chemical elements necessary for the manufacture of the device can be obtained in any chemical office of a school or a chemical laboratory of any enterprise. To begin with, take two glass plates, tin chloride SnClz, silver, zinc sulfide ZnS (crystalline), and copper. Hold the glasses for 4 hours in a mixture of H2SO4 and K2Cr2O7 (potassium dichromate). Dry. Then take a porcelain cup, put SnCl2 in it and put it in a muffle (or electric) oven. Fasten the glass over it at a distance of 7-10 cm. Cover the bowl with a metal plate and turn on the oven. As soon as it warms up to 400-480 degrees, remove the metal plate. As soon as the thinnest conductive coating forms, turn off the oven and leave the glass in it until it cools completely. Check the coating with a tester.

Then apply a photosemiconductor to one of these plates. To do this, prepare equal amounts of a 3% solution of thio-carbomide Na4 C (S) NH2 and a 6% solution of lead acetate. Pour both solutions into a glass jar. Use tweezers to place a glass plate into the solution and hold it upright. But before that, apply varnish on the side free of the conductive coating. Wearing rubber gloves, pour a concentrated alkali solution to the top into a vessel with plates / carefully !! / and stir very gently with a glass rod, without touching the plates. After 10 minutes, remove the plate (carefully) and wash it under running distilled water. Dry it.

Turn on the oven and place the silver in a clean china cup. Repeat the above process at 900 deg. The coating is applied to the photosemiconductor plate. Get a mirror-like film. To prepare a phosphor, prepare pure ZnS crystals. If there are any impurities, then the brightness of the glow drops sharply or disappears. Prepare the oven. Place pure copper in a china cup. Crystals of copper and ZnS should be as small as possible. Observe the proportion of ZnS - 100%, Cu (copper) - 10%. In the oven, circulate copper vapor and pass it through the gaps between the crystals. Do not grind the resulting crystals. You should get a colorless powder. Mix zapon varnish with crystals. Take the minimum amount of varnish possible. Pour the mixture onto a silver-coated plate and wait until it spreads completely and forms an even surface. Place a second sheet of conductive coating on top of the varnish and press lightly. After drying, seal the resulting NVB. Before all these operations, after applying a conductive coating, the wires should be soldered as leads along the edges of the plates.

Now you just have to assemble the high voltage generator circuit and assemble it all into a single case. It can be of any shape. But it is still recommended by the developer (see Figure 2). The lens can be from any camera, preferably a short-focus one, for example from "FED", "Smena-M". Any biconvex lens can serve as an eyepiece. After final assembly, check all connections for correct fit and tightness. After turning on the NVD, the transformer should be quietly energized. If the image does not appear, do not despair. Change generator frequency or voltage level. Set the sensitivity to maximum.

Resistor R2 changes the frequency of the generator.
The transformer is wound on any core and contains:
Winding I contains 2000 - 2500 turns, wires - 0.05 - 0.1 mm;
Winding II contains 60 turns;
Winding III - 26 turns, wires - 0.3 mm.

The modern world favorably treats those survivalists who want to craft with their own hands. Unless in ancient times, someone could have thought about making a crossbow with their own hands? No! This was done by specially trained people who, in addition, kept the secrets of manufacturing from outsiders.

Until recently, a night vision device belonged to special equipment and was inaccessible to an ordinary citizen, and today even a teenager can assemble it from almost ready-made blocks.

So, let's start making a night vision device with our own hands.

The first thing you need is an observation screen. It is easiest to take it ready-made from an old video camera.

Today it is not a problem to buy an old video camera for little money, which does not have a mechanism or a problem with a video recording camera, but the viewfinder works.

Any viewfinder will do, color or black-and-white does not make a difference, since any cameras work only in b / w mode when there is a lack of illumination.

Of course, a homemade night vision device is very remote from the art of survival. In the taiga, of course, he can help in night hunting, but I do not think that during survival you will be active hunting, the main weapon of the survivalist for hunting is homemade traps and traps, they do not take much time, they catch the prey themselves.

But, for urban survivalists who constantly carry NAZ with them, flashlights and survival knives - a homemade night vision device will be in the subject.

Here, for example, is the explanation: we got stuck in the subway - they took out a night vision device and calmly went out with it without stumbling in the dark. With it, you can walk along dark streets without attracting attention to yourself with a bright beam of light that an ordinary flashlight gives. Well, just for fun - isn't it cool to have a homemade night vision device in the kit?

However, let's get back to making a night vision device with our own hands.

In addition to the viewfinder, you need a camera. The supplied video camera is not suitable, it is needed with night vision capabilities, operating at an illumination of 0.01LUX or less. The camera can be purchased from a surveillance system store or.

In fact, you need to connect two wires - the video output and the common from the camera with the video input and the common on the viewfinder.

Additional features can be IR illumination, for this it is enough to connect 4-6 infrared emitters, for example SFH4550. Emitters can be purchased at a radio store or Chip and Deep. In Moscow, it makes sense to go to the Mitinsky radio market, where prices are 10 times less than in Chip and Deep.

The general wiring diagram for the camera, viewfinder and IR illumination is as follows:

As you can see - nothing complicated and a minimum of soldering! Just pay attention to the fact that the camera and the viewfinder work at the same voltage. Usually 5 or 12 volts are used.

It remains only to insert a homemade night vision device into the case and connect the power.

Just as interesting.

Today we will skip the medieval alchemical method, which allows you to make a night vision device with your own hands. You can easily manage if sulfuric acid, tin chloride are stored at home, but the authors think that such an approach is dangerous and unreasonable. Work plan today: we briefly discuss the principle of operation of a night vision device. We will help you collect, if you don't sit still, maybe we will make a short excursion regarding the stores: we will discuss the stale from the field of hunting devices.

The principle of operation of the night vision device

The eye is a passive radar that receives radiation emitted by objects. The visible spectrum is a small range of oscillations of the body of the Universe that surrounds humanity. The predator from the film of the same name switched ranges, a representative of an advanced civilization is unable to cover the total spectrum! In the dark, the eye is powerless to see, it is inaccessible for Homo Sapiens to observe infrared radiation. Bodies will emit waves at low ambient temperatures, the power density drops. The first night vision device looms. Nothing to do with the military. The device is used by builders.

Meet a thermal imager that picks up infrared radiation from objects. The device is not intended for viewing a dark landscape, but the frontal view can be discerned. The gizmo has a number of settings, the following symptoms are typical:

• a temperature of 10 degrees Celsius heat looks like an orange glow;
• the walls of the houses look reddish;
• the surrounding inanimate nature of different shades up to black.

Forget to assemble a thermal imager with your own hands, you can buy it for 50 thousand. After spending seven thousand, you will get a night vision device (NVG) in the store. It makes no sense to take a special thermal imager for the purpose of vigil in the dark, it helps builders evaluate the quality of thermal insulation measures. If you find a familiar foreman, you can admire nature in the dark for free by borrowing a machine.

The scheme of the night vision device is implemented with 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 an internal photoelectric effect, it allows you to "see" the infrared radiation of objects.

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

Under the influence of invisible "photons" the electrons of the plate receive energy. Information can be read by changing the transparency of the material, the electrical conductivity of the substance. Microchannel technology for manufacturing sensing elements helps to avoid illumination of neighboring pixels. The Nazis were the first to approach the solution of the problem. Germany used the labor of talented scientists. Some voluntarily, others were forced. Created a rifle scope weighing 2.25 kg with a suitcase of batteries (13.5) kg. It would probably allow many feats (or crimes) to be accomplished if Soviet troops had not taken Berlin in May 1945.

Sometimes the radiation is additionally amplified by photomultipliers. Helps to obtain a bright contrast picture 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 the store for radio amateurs. By the way, the coherence of LED radiation is high. This means that the noise will not affect the quality of the picture.

For reference. Coherence goes back by interpretation to the inphase of the wave. Such light is concentrated by a narrow segment of the spectrum (vertical line of the graph), easily folds, giving a greater brightness than other sources of radiation. As a result, with low power, you get high-quality backlighting.

Night vision devices are classified as follows:

1. The nature of the impact on the environment:
   1. Active with LED backlight.
   2. Passive, accepting only radiation from other objects.
2. Received signal processing method:
   1. With amplification.
   2. Deprived of amplifications.
3. An indication 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 a night vision device with your own hands

The device of the night vision device includes:

1. Infrared-to-video converter.
2. The kind of eyepiece that could display the signal in real time.
3. Backlight.

There are many devices in the store to help you take pictures at night. The night vision device is obviously based on one technology. A black and white micro camera will do. It is not cheap, it is available to adapt the gadget for other purposes, if the night vision device gets tired. 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. Take comfort, our device will be able to register, the option costs extra money on the counter.

Find an old viewfinder. Visit a salon that repairs household appliances if there is no suitable good at home. The viewfinder is equipped with one video input using the protocol used by the camera.

The question can be clarified by asking local pros, checking the functioning by connecting the devices with a cable. It works - it remains to buy the backlight. Order LEDs online, shake the nearest market. How to check? There is a video camera for shooting at night. Go into the dark, turn on the power, see if the radio element is on: aim the lens at the video camera.

A foreign amateur to make a dozen LEDs with his own hands recommends combining with garlands of 6 pieces on a branch. Supply the bunch with a 10-ohm shunt, supply power to the battery. It is difficult to mix up the polarity, just in case, use a special LED guide. The backlight unit is ready. LEDs are mounted on a homemade case: an ordinary children's pencil case, packaging.

Actually, it's ready. We connect the camera, viewfinder with a video cable, placing the lens in the same plane with the LEDs. Given the size of the devices, they will fit in one pencil case. The viewfinder is mounted on the side. For the registration device, you will need to mount a corresponding connector in the housing. Night vision devices from China cannot be compared to ours! Consider the operation:

1. A night camera captures the surroundings.
2. LEDs illuminate items for better visibility.
3. The viewfinder projects the image as seen by the eye.
4. If necessary, registration is carried out through a special connector.

Don't be surprised if you fail to see distant objects, the LED beams are missing. The night vision device has drawbacks: there are no glasses, the cost of new components is high, you need to buy, place batteries in the case. Explained in simple language the principle of operation of the device. Purpose: to show how to make a night vision device from improvised means. However, there must have been a couple of reagents lying around in the chemistry room. Try to stir up the teacher!

Shop Night Vision Goggles

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

1. Resolution in arc minutes. The smallest part of a field of view that can be distinguished from an adjacent area of ​​similar size.
2. Gain.
3. Line of sight.

For the devices to work, a faint reflection of the stars is enough, if the sky is illuminated by the Moon, the picture will become clear. Celestial bodies will illuminate the landscape no worse than the LEDs mentioned above. Of course, if you look at the sky, you can study the Big and Little Bears, but the picture will be flooded with a whitish glow.

Monocular night vision device Zenith has a built-in illumination, piezoelectric energy converter for power supply. The brand supplies hunters with sights, do not confuse. Especially for people with blurry vision, the lens can be adjusted to the missing diopters. The result is night vision goggles for reading in the dark!

NPF Dipol produces night vision devices, the products are not different at an affordable price. However, you need to look at the purpose of the device. There is an opportunity to pay 190 thousand rubles for glasses, for this money the Belarusians will sell a cool unit for night sightseeing of the surroundings. Catch the hijackers, watch the shameless returning from the party, punish the desecrators of the area!

A device that allows effective observation in conditions when there is no light at all or there is not enough light to build an image with the naked eye. Similar conditions can be observed both in open areas (moonless cloudy night) and indoors (basement without windows and electric lighting, attic, etc.)

Modern night vision devices mainly use two principles of operation:

• Passive... They catch a few quanta of visible light, amplify them many times with an electron-optical converter (EOC) and create a visible image. Such devices do not illuminate the target with any radiation, therefore the fact of observation cannot be detected. The main drawback of this design is its complete uselessness in the dark.
• Active... The target is illuminated with radiation that belongs to the part of the spectrum that the human eye cannot see. Most often, infrared radiation plays this role. The illumination device can be an infrared illuminator, LED or laser. The device with infrared illumination can work even in the absence of natural light. However, the flow of infrared radiation (although it is not visible to the naked human eye) can be detected using another NVD, and the fact of observation will be detected.

Many devices combine both principles, acting in the presence of at least some natural radiation as passive devices, and in the complete absence of light, switching to infrared illumination.

It is easier to bring a homemade design to life on an active principle, so further we will talk about just such devices.

How to illuminate a target with an infrared beam?

There are also two main schemes here. The first assumes that a laser or light-emitting diode is used for illumination, which emits infrared light with a wavelength invisible to the ordinary eye. The laser generates a very narrow beam, in addition, this one works in the mode of short pulses, which makes the backlight noticeably less detectable.

Such schemes are quite compact, but they illuminate the terrain only within a rather narrow cone. The view of such a scheme is not great, so it will be more difficult to detect targets against the background of the landscape. Such devices are better suited for tracking those targets that have already been detected.

A much wider field of view can be achieved by using an infrared illuminator to illuminate targets. In this device, the lamp is placed in a reflector cone, and the aperture of the cone is covered by a lens made of a material that cuts off all waves except infrared radiation. Such a spotlight illuminates the surroundings with a wide cone, so a sufficient field of view is created. The range at which you can see the target and distinguish it against the background of the landscape depends on the lamp power and can go up to half a kilometer for the best factory samples.

How to convert an infrared beam to visible light or see invisible light?

After we have created a region of infrared illumination, the question arises: how to detect infrared rays reflected from the target if we cannot see them with our eyes? To do this, you need a device called an image intensifier (image intensifier). The image intensifier performs the following actions with infrared light:

• Captures infrared radiation emitted by the illuminator and reflected from the target.
• Converts captured light into a stream of electrons.
• Enhances the flow of electrons using an amplifier (not all image intensifier tubes have this opportunity).
• Converts a stream of electrons into light visible to the eye of an observer or recorded by a video camera.

To date, several generations of IIT designs have already changed. Each next generation gives an increasingly high-quality picture, but the price also rises significantly, which is associated with the use of more and more complex and expensive components in the design. At the same time, even the first generation converters create an image that is quite acceptable in terms of quality, suitable for solving many problems.

What do you need to make your own hands?

We need several components to make glasses:

• IR light catching device... This role can be played by any camera that has a night mode. It is clear that the camera should not be too expensive, otherwise its use in the design will be unprofitable. For a night vision device that is missing stars from the sky, a webcam is suitable, but it will have to be slightly modified. From it you need to pull out an infrared lens - an infrared filter. The camera can now be used in night mode using infrared illumination.
• Infrared source... To do this, you can use a ready-made infrared flashlight (the simplest but expensive option). If you do not have a budget, you can take a regular LED from a TV remote control as an IR illumination. Its power is not enough for building an image at long distances, but for lighting, say, a staircase or other similar space, light will be enough.
• Power supply... It is desirable that it is not scarce enough and provides a decent autonomy of the device. AA, AAA batteries or rechargeable batteries look good in this role. For more complex stationary devices, you can also take care of a device that provides power from a household electrical network.
• Auxiliary elements- the last group of things needed to create homemade night vision goggles. They are not directly involved in creating the image, but they protect the circuit from dust and dirt or increase the comfort of use. It is worth taking care of some kind of pencil case as a case and a bracket for attaching to glasses or a helmet-mask from a headlamp. The bracket can be made, for example, from parts of a children's metal construction set.

Details have been prepared. What's next?

A black and white micro camera, for example, JK 007B or JK-926A, can be taken as a device that will catch IR light. We are looking for a simple video finder for the camera. If you don't have anything suitable in your inventory, you can find an inexpensive part at a consumer electronics repair service. It is important that the video finder receives video using the same protocols in which a microcamera creates it.

We buy IR LEDs in a store or on the Internet. The purchased diode must be checked by looking at its light in a dark room with the naked eye and using a night camera. In the first case, the light should not be visible, and in the second, it should be seen well. Now we mount the proven LEDs in any box that will serve as a body (for example, a children's plastic pencil case).

Foreign amateur designers recommend a circuit of two garlands of six diodes each. As a shunt - a resistor with a resistance of 10 ohms for all diodes. Now you can supply power from a regular battery. When using another LED, we check the shunt value according to the reference books.

The camera lens must be placed in the same plane as the LEDs (in the same housing). We attach the video finder to the side, connect the power supply and place the assembled device on a frame or helmet-mask. Now our device is ready, and you can try it during night observation.

As you can see, with a little skill and knowledge of how to get down to business, you can assemble a fully functional night vision device with your own hands. Of course, before assembling, it's also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the prices of commercially available devices, so as not to reinvent the wheel, but to use a factory solution if the cost benefit is not too large.

This article focuses on 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 an active backlight. These devices operate in the near infrared range. It should be noted that remotes from TVs and household appliances work in the same range.

Let's finish the introductory part on this and start assembling the device, but before that we suggest watching the video

What we need:
- old webcam;
- 4 infrared LEDs;
- 4 resistors of 50 ohm each;
- a piece of plastic;

At the very beginning, you should clarify the features of some materials. Infrared LEDs can be removed from old remotes. The author advises against using more than four LEDs. And the plastic that we will use in the assembly should be translucent with infrared rays, but not translucent with ordinary light. The best option would be overexposed film. If not, you can simply plug in the camera and look through different pieces of plastic. According to the author, Erich Krauser's soft black folders are perfect. Let's get started.

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

Next, we look at exactly where the filter is located in the cameras. 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 the 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 upper retaining ring and pulls out the light filter itself. This filter allows only visible part of the light to pass through and blocks infrared rays, which is not acceptable if we want to use just infrared radiation.

Now, instead of the old light filter, we need to put our new one and put the web camera back together.

Each LED has two outputs. We need to connect their cons.

Now we need to connect a resistor to each plus.

We connect the free ends of the resistors to each other.