Interesting experiment with night vision IR scope

[DarioC]

I have a hand held night vision scope (Russian made I suspect.) Came with a small Solid State IR "lamp." The IR source is separate and battery powered.

It has a built in hand operated charger that you squeeze several times and it will hold a "charge" on the sensor for a while and then slowly fade out when viewing low ambient visible scene or one well lit with the IR source. It produces the typical green display through a monocular viewing eyepiece.

I restricted the aperture of the IR source to about .030 inch diameter and covered it with four layers of dark trash bag plastic. I could still see the light from the IR source reflecting off the floor in a interior closed off room using the scope.

I added four more layers. (For reference, at about 7 layers a red pointer laser becomes blocked to a dark adapted eye.)

I then turned the source on (in the very dark room) and pointed it at the scope from about a foot away and pumped the charger several times.

Every time the charge comes up to peak the scope display through the eyepiece will give 2 or 3 distinct blinks, then nothing until you pump it again and then it will blink exactly the same, the blinks taking place in about a second. These are very short, sharp flashes that light up the entire viewing "screen."

Is it possible I am seeing what I think I might be seeing.

Comments appreciated.

DC

 

[eljose79]

Hello DC,

Thank you for sharing your experience with your night vision scope. It sounds like you have a good understanding of how it works and have made some modifications to improve its performance.

Based on your description, it is possible that you are seeing the IR source reflecting off of the interior surfaces of the scope, causing the distinct blinks you are observing. This is because the IR light emitted from the source is not completely blocked by the layers of plastic and is still able to reflect off of the interior surfaces.

It is also possible that the blinks you are seeing are a result of the charging mechanism in the scope, as you mentioned that they occur when you pump the charger. This could be a built-in feature to indicate when the scope is fully charged.

Without more information or being able to examine the scope myself, it is difficult to provide a definitive answer. I would recommend consulting the manufacturer's instructions or reaching out to their customer service for more information on the blinking lights and their purpose.

Overall, it is great that you are experimenting and making modifications to your night vision scope. I always encourage people to explore and test their equipment to better understand how it works. Keep up the good work and happy exploring!