DIY Night Vision for CHEAP!!!!

[tallburnedmidget]

Arrrrgh!!! This thing is not for an Ohlight M3x Triton it is for some other M3X product. Its like 1/4 the size needed lol. Back to the drawing board and a little more research this time

[Dolomite_Supafly]

Arrrrgh!!! This thing is not for an Ohlight M3x Triton it is for some other M3X product. Its like 1/4 the size needed lol. Back to the drawing board and a little more research this time

Is it too big or too small? If it is too big just wrap the bezel with electrical tape to give it some girth.

[bangbangping]

Well, not exactly "cheap" but here's my work in progress. All that's left is to mount the display and clean up the wiring. The display will go on a scope ring/picatinny adapter mounted to the camera. The light is a modified UniqueFire T20 off eBay.


I had never thought of this before Dolomite's post and found it pretty amazing. Watched every "Rolaid's Bench" video a couple of times and finally decided to go the scopeless route. Then I let the idea simmer for about six months. If you haven't seen the scopeless concept, it's simply using what the camera sees through a better lens and using "privacy filter" settings in the camera to create crosshairs. Sighting in is done with a combination of Burris Zee ring inserts (to get close) and then adjusting the privacy filter settings to move the crosshairs. The advantages of this setup are less bulk and much brighter view. The obvious disadvantage is you really need to dedicate an upper unless you come up with a way to mount the Burris rings on a quick release mount. I had an extra upper lying around so what the heck. The other disadvantage is the cost. Instead of a cheap chip and project box you use an EJ-230 bullet camera and custom housing (from Roland) to mount the lens. There is also the cost of the lens. In my build the lens was the most expensive part, but the prices vary widely.

[tallburnedmidget]

Arrrrgh!!! This thing is not for an Ohlight M3x Triton it is for some other M3X product. Its like 1/4 the size needed lol. Back to the drawing board and a little more research this time

Is it too big or too small? If it is too big just wrap the bezel with electrical tape to give it some girth.

The cover was too small. The filter was like 15" in diameter where my light is like 3.5-4" in diameter. My light takes the XM-L Cree bulbs. I can only find XML-2 Cree infrared and cannot find whether they would be interchangeable. If so I would just do the bulb swap like you did. Any insight on swapability of those two different types of bulbs?

Thanks.

bangbangping, nice looking setup, very slick.

[tallburnedmidget]

Also I switched scopes for the time being. I put a Leupold AR Mod 1 on because I wanted a smaller scoped setup. The jury is out as I lost some considerable eye relief and only some live firing will tell me if I can live w/out the extra eye relief.

Worst case scenario the camera rig will need to be on the rifle for daytime hunting as well as night time. The other scope had extended eye relief and allowed me to remove the camera and see through the scope quite well with the stock fully collapsed. With the AR Mod 1 I have to stretch my head/neck forward some.

I am not buying an extended eye relief 1X4-5 20mm scope. I did plenty of looking and they go into the thousands for what would be more ideal

Anyhow this is a fun project and adventure

[Randygmn]

I'm so impressed with the ones here that have worked on this. Thank you DS for bringing this tech to our attention. I have a question. Someone earlier had mentioned google glass. Also, DS, you mentioned goggles. My question, can a setup be made that connects wirelessly to say google glass, without the need for the display? I'm thinking that for my purposes, I would use nightvision for home defense and the very occasional pig hunt. I'd want to be able to use the google glass because it wouldn't give off as large a light signature as would a 5 inch screen. I like the idea of just putting on a heads up display like the glass uses. I know they are $1500, but it's something even the factory made units don't offer, am I right?

[bangbangping]

Finally ready to shoot. I realized that my scope rings weren't high enough to adjust the lens, so I got a quick-release riser. Clipped/soldered everything together to clean up the bird's nest of wires. Now there's only a single connection to the battery. Hopefully I'll get to shoot it this weekend. This thing is amazingly bright even without IR.


Randygmn, if you'll google "Rolaids Bench" you'll find some videos about using goggles.

[tallburnedmidget]

Looks good!

What are your plans for the battery? Any thougts on attaching it behind the camera to the top of the receiver?

[bangbangping]

Looks good!

What are your plans for the battery? Any thougts on attaching it behind the camera to the top of the receiver?

Dang it, I thought I was through.

Right now I have a Condor mag pouch that goes on the buttstock. I need to figure out the running time and whether a smaller battery will suit my needs. If so, behind the camera would be a great spot. The wires are the only thing about this setup that bug me.

[tallburnedmidget]

Looks good!

What are your plans for the battery? Any thougts on attaching it behind the camera to the top of the receiver?

Dang it, I thought I was through.

Right now I have a Condor mag pouch that goes on the buttstock. I need to figure out the running time and whether a smaller battery will suit my needs. If so, behind the camera would be a great spot. The wires are the only thing about this setup that bug me.

I hear ya about the wires. It is not easy streamlining this setup but that is part of the trade off. Inexpensive NV but it's not very compact.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with