A true King’s legacy
As already mentioned in our previous blog entry (for those of you that missed it link), the PVS-14 is without a doubt the king of night vision, so much so, that the vast majority of night vision systems are based on it, and share most of its main components such as optics, retention rings, and tube formats.
Today’s objective is to breakdown the components most commonly found in such systems, going front to back, in order to understand how they work and what’s needed to build one in your very own basement and scare the neighbors at night.
Objective Lens
The objective works by gathering light from the object being observed (hence the name), and focusing light rays in order to produce an image.
By turning it one way or another, it’s possible to adjust our focus, allowing the user to precisely make out details and distinguish shapes at each specific distance.
Night vision systems, including PVS-14 based ones all use manual focus instead of autofocus, commonly found on cameras, as it would be both impractical and dangerous if your device were to suddenly focus on your weapon instead of what you are supposed to be aiming at in a fight.
Noctis (Carson) and Qioptic objectives are available on our website
Objective Retention Ring
This little ring serves the very important purpose of keeping your device in one piece by preventing you from accidentally unscrewing your front lens completely while normally operating your device, or most likely, while bored and alone in your room at night.
Infinity Focus Stop ring
Infinity focus stops are a very helpful addition to every NV device, as they allow the user to rapidly set their infinity focus by simply rotating the objective all the way to the rear, saving precious time and a lot of headaches, especially when managing binocular systems.
MX-11769 and MX-10160 pattern IIT’s
PVS-14 based platforms all use either MX-11769 or MX-10160 pattern image intensifiers, which both share a 37mm overall diameter and generally an 18mm window size, with some exceptions like in the case of Photonis 16mm and 14mm lines of tubes.
These tubes allow for high versatility and two types of gain control; whereas MX-10160 style tubes only offer automatic gain control, MX-11769 tubes will allow you to manually adjust gain thanks to their EGAC cordalso known as pigtail, which plugs directly in the housing’s motherboard.
It’s important to keep in mind that MX-11769 tubes won’t always fit in every devices because of the added space required for the EGAC, but don’t despair, as they can easily be converted to MX-10160 style (autogain) or MX-10160 3 plate (manual gain).
Our staff at NTD offers a tube conversion service at (link) or by shooting us an email at (email). We also have some standalone image intensifier tubes for sale in our parts section.
Tube Retainer and Light Pipe
Similarly to the focus retainer ring, this piece works by securing your image intensifier in place to avoid missing electrical connection to the tube, misalignment and damage due to unwanted movement inside the device when used.
The light pipe acts as an onboard IR light indicator, and will show as bright red dial in the periphery of your FOV, when activated, letting you know that your position is being broadcasted to everyone in your vicinity.
Eyepiece Locking Ring
The eyepiece locking ring’s purpose is to secure the eyepiece assembly by tightening it down to make sure it can’t unscrew itself and become loose, or mess up collimation, as this is achieved by screwing in the eyepiece in to a certain degree, and thus without a lock-ring it would be very easy to misalign this with normal operation
Ocular Lens Assembly
The eyepiece or ocular lens assembly is one of the main device components.
It acts by magnifying the virtual image created by the intensifier tube and bringing it to focus to produce a more realistic image. It also allows users to select their eyesight prescription thanks to the built in adjustable diopter.
Noctis (Carson) and Salvo Engineering eyepieces are available on our website link