Its Dark-but you can see! A 'night vision' device

@lal-R60Xjx • Oct 23, 2024

Oct 23, 2024

1.2K

First of all I'm a newby to CE!And am a crazy electrical and electronics engineer!

It was accidental.I had the tv remote in my hand and my mobile in the other.The mobile camera was on and was pointing it to the TV.Then accidentally i pointed it to the LED of remote and i pressed some switch on the remote - I could see a whitish rose glow!

Though we cant see that light with naked eyes, its possible to be viewed on a camera. I tried the same with digital cameras and i could see the glow.

I think we can make a complete night vision set with some of those LEDs and a camera-a simple cell phone camera which is now very common.I tried to make a torch with those LEDs, but my main problem is i couldn't get sufficiant intensity. 😕

I thoght i would get some help from CEans and also some of you could be successful with this.

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Differential

@differential-0aMwAJ • Feb 11, 2009

Hi and welcome to the forum ! This is a wonderful idea!
So you have to make an equipment which will throw such waves which are not visible to naked eyes but to camera! One will see that reflected waves thru camera and SEE an object.

I remember watching such thing on Discovery channel, wherein they used to shoot with such camera powered by special torch.

Let me know what you think!
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Feb 12, 2009

Ah yes, this technique uses Infrared light, used a lot in dark conditions. Many cameras are sensitive to infrared light, especially when they have an infrared filter.

What you can try using instead of IR LEDs, you can use a standard filament light bulb. This will produce really intensive IR light. This time, place a IR filter at the front so that it will only pass IR through. Make sure you shield the rest of the light bulb, perhaps in a large coffee can so the light can only go through the IR filter. Plus.. the IR filter must be heat resistant 😉
lal

@lal-R60Xjx • Feb 13, 2009

ash
Ah yes, this technique uses Infrared light, used a lot in dark conditions. Many cameras are sensitive to infrared light, especially when they have an infrared filter.

What you can try using instead of IR LEDs, you can use a standard filament light bulb. This will produce really intensive IR light. This time, place a IR filter at the front so that it will only pass IR through. Make sure you shield the rest of the light bulb, perhaps in a large coffee can so the light can only go through the IR filter. Plus.. the IR filter must be heat resistant 😉
Thats a good idea! as a filament bulb can produce a lot of IR...
But if the IR source is portable it would be really cool 😎
Thats where LED wins; i think... 😁
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Feb 15, 2009
Well, it depends on how portable and what range you want the device to be 😀 You'll need to have a balance between both.

Some IR LED's sacrifice beam area with intensity, and vice versa, so it again, it depends.

So, the performance parameters you'll need set when you design this:
- Size
- Radial Range
- Beam area coverage
- Intensity
- Power
- Cost
gohm

@gohm-F3UUpP • Feb 15, 2009

great helpful tips Ash!
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Mar 5, 2009

😀

Lal, what is your progress with this? Would you like to have this project to be an official CE project?
lal

@lal-R60Xjx • May 14, 2009

i think that i have to give up...i am not getting sufficient intensity and range!
any way thanks for all your support ash, gohm and differential.
and i wold like to have this project to be an official CE project
Rifaa

@rifaa-NaWZZ4 • May 14, 2009

Too bad. guys. Giving up.
U should experiment, and I thought you were going to make this a CE project.
let me high light you in this IR emitters. you must be using infra red LED's I presume.
It will be small and cheap. U have to use 3 or 4 of them and use PWM to drive them, this way u can get more range and higher IR output
xero

@xero-28ehVN • May 14, 2009

Hey people, the idea of a basic nightvision with IR doesn't work well in long range. The Sony high zoom cameras (DSC H9 and above) come with night shot mode follow the same fundamental.
The camera throws the IR rays and lens tries to capture it. The picture quality is really bad due to noise. However we can atleast come up with an abstract for the kind of sensor which can work with IR rays !

PS: Sensor is something in a digital camera which converts incoming light through lens to electrical signals. Usually these are either CCD or CMOS sensors. I guess electrical guys can shed more light on this.
Rifaa

@rifaa-NaWZZ4 • May 14, 2009

The camera you said is not that of great quality to get excellent night vision.
What lal wants is the same principle every thing uses. Just that he wanted to do it himself.
I have a camera with perfect night vision over a long distance, it's just that expensive ones are good. the lower the price the poor the features are.
Getting IR lighting over long range is possible, what I want is Lal to continue his project and make it himself with proper guidance so he can learn something through CEan.
Besides it's a nice project to those eng. students out there.
xero

@xero-28ehVN • May 14, 2009

Oh, thanks for pointing it out. I have edited it 😀
Seems like you have a powerful IR based night vision cam ! So as i had mentioned that its actually the work sensors which makes you see good images, so its good to start with it, if not a practical implementation. May be once you get into know-how of this it'll give a good idea about the implementation !
Rifaa

@rifaa-NaWZZ4 • May 14, 2009

that's the whole idea, to learn something your self.
Rifaa

@rifaa-NaWZZ4 • May 14, 2009

Besides I have already modified one camera and I use it as a magnifying glass to service mobile phones. I can see the components really big via monitor, and it also has night vision. no noise what so ever. one can see the IR LED's too, Zero lux image is perfect.
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • May 16, 2009

Hm.. CE project? Why not.. if only we can get some people interested in doing it.

Sensor chips are very specialized. Only a few manufacturers in the world have the tech to do it economically. Omnivision sensors would be a great source since they are easily accessible, and that they would not mind giving a free sample if the project promotes them well 😉 To save the effort of fabricating the sensor circuit.. one can just purchase a CMOS or CCD board camera. CCD traditionally had better quality than CMOS.. but CMOS tech is catching up rapidly. Good thing, since its cheaper.

For really long range stuff, you will need to use a IR laser (or very low beam width) pen and a camera attached to a rifle scope (or half of a binocular piece). I've seen this project done before. The IR will reflect off the object where the scope lens focuses on. The main issue will be aligning it properly. You can easily get a 1km range of image 😀
Rifaa

@rifaa-NaWZZ4 • May 16, 2009

Hey ash (bump). you are tempting me with rifle scope thingy.
lal

@lal-R60Xjx • Sep 2, 2009

I tried my hand again on it...
The conclusion is that: It is almost impossible with ordinary IR-LEDs. As ash pointed out we have to use incandescent lamps with IR filters, I think. Now going to have a try on that.

Wait now,
I read some where that IR emitted by objects are captured by cameras rather than having a different IR source to illuminate them. Any comments...
Ashraf HZ

@Ash • Sep 15, 2009

Yeah, thats called Thermography. However, keep in mind that relying solely on the IR emissivity of an object won't give help in terms of navigating around the environment.