DIY Thermal or night vision googles?

[benjamin pattison]

Originally Posted by Steve

http://www.angelfire.com/80s/sixmhz/infrared.html

Thats if you have a pretty good ability and knowledge in electronics and can get an image intensifer tube

Thats correct, But check out www.atomiczombie.com
(builders galley and look for electronic gadgets) or search for the book 101 spy gadgets for the evil genius on amazon and buy it, they tell you how to make a set of night vision goggles from and old video camera viewfinder, some Infra red LED's and a low lux camera, They work really well but make sure you get the wiring correct, you can mount the device on a head set like you would get with a welding mask, unfortunately you only get 1 eyepiece but if you have a good head on you with electronics you could link up two viewfinders, and the only way youll get that cool green image with these is if you put some green gels on the viewfinder as the camera will have to be black and white unfortunaely, however they are still great fun, please let me know how yours come out, and ignor that fool above the first night vision goggles were probably made from some old lenses or somthing, Idont know anyway hope this is useful.
Oh and you really should get the 101 spy gadgets for the evil genus book it is really cool, it tells you how to make alaser tripwire system and with the night vision goggles you can see all the lasers clearly. It is a fantastic book and will save you so much money in the long run.

[nme]

Well Thinking more simplistic, you could look into sonar etc. You'd get perhaps a 2d plan view of your surroundings however it wouldn't exactly be an image, but hey! you could walk through a complex maze without touching a wall. And then the same could be said with thermal, using those little laser pointers that you point at an object and it gives you a temperature reading. Again imaging wouldn't really be possible... But perhaps mass collective reading from your surroundings would give a good idea.....
Mmm I've heard of some photographic films etc converting light. But as you said you'd have to create your own illumination, albeit outside of the visible spectrum... I wouldn't think thermal would be nearly as easy

[TheFallen]

A simple camera can pick up low wavelength IR light, that's why I always have a camera phone, I can search for hidden camera's in the dark. (helpful for movie theaters and other nighttime activities).

You can get a relatively cheap HUD and low-rez camera from this:
http://www.shopwildplanet.com/prod/WPT70133.html
Combine with an IR light from here:
http://www.cctvstuff.co.uk/infra_red...luminators.htm

And bingo.

of course that won't be cheap, but you could try the car on eBay, I have to admit, I want one, but for another project (iGargoyle) And the IR array can be made of cheap IR LEDs also from ebay.

The technical name for these kinda vision aids would be active night vision, seeing as you are illuminating the target with light, albit of an IR verity.

The problem is anything you make will be generation 1, maybe generation 2 tops.

By that I mean they will be a generation behind on quality, I have seen the difference in quality and generation 1 has some serious drawbacks. I remember watching on the gadget show comparing military goggles with civilian models. Only the most expensive came close and these were from security companies.

[TheFallen]

Oh yes, tbh, it'd be far easier to simply just let the eye acclimatise. You can see quite well in the dark without aides, but turn that torch off!

And here's an eBay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LATEST-TOY-RC-...QQcmdZViewItem
This is not the goggles set, you get a 3.5" screen in the controller, you could simply hack that out.

Alternatively there's the camcorders on eBay, about £30 for a 3.1Mp camera with what seems a 1.5 lcd screen.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-5-3-1MP-Mini...QQcmdZViewItem

An old military trick is if you know you are going to somewhere dark soon to keep one eye closed. This way one of your eyes adjusts and you have better vision (at least in one eye). When you do get to the dark its a little weird having one eye see pitch black and the other see outlines but you get used to it.