Pvs-14 tips

[ace4059]

I recently purchased a pvs14 and its a nice piece of equipment. I read the manual and it leaves a lot to be desired. What are some tips that you can give me on care and use of it. I understand the tube is sensitive and can be easily damaged. But how sensitive is it? Can street lights damage it or a passing car? Any tips on use or what not to do would be great since I am new to Night vision.

[Seagunner]

Did u ask the guys at www.usnightvision.com?

[GTF425]

I'm gonna use my simple minded grunt mindset and give my experience;

I was issued a PVS-14 in '09 that had been used for 15 months in Iraq and a full trainup cycle before it was mine. I took it through 12 months in Afghanistan with nightly use being either patrols, air assaults, or guard duty. I then used that same PVS-14 for 18 months of pre-deployment training where I beat the hell out of it on jumps, rappelling, falling down hills and rolling because I'm clumsy...all kinds of abusive shit. Also didn't understand what white light did to the tubes and know I ran them on every time we did a shoot house.

They then survived another 10 month deployment to Afghanistan.

The only thing I ever broke was the battery housing cover. I went through maybe 5 of those.

The PVS-14 is "Joe proof", as my dumbass didn't manage to break it over years of what could be called negligent abuse to a private PVS consumer.

Bro, they'll be fine. Get out there and learn how to use them. Practice judging distance, walking through/around vegetation, up stairwells, entering doorways, etc. If it's an auto-gain PVS, then don't worry about the ambient light and stuff like that. Your NODs will survive.

[High Tower]

They are pretty durable. You might start seeing little black or white spots, but they will still work through them.

I would refrain from turning it on with the cap off while in daylight or in a bright room, but street lights or headlights at night shouldn't damage them too much. They will be uncomfortable to look at, but you can always adjust the settings too. I remember going down Tampa at night and there was a lot of cars as well as other lights. It just takes some getting used to.

[JSantoro]

It's sharpshooting terminology a bit, but it's "auto-gated," not auto-gain. ;)

Auto-gain a whole other function, more common to thermals than I-square (image-intensification) devices. The "gain" in an I-square device is more of a brightness function, the effects of which one can see on the screen, and is not automatic.

Put simply, GenIII tubes are auto-gated, meaning they'll shut off if hit with too much light all at once to prevent damage to the tube. They'll also shut off when flipped up on a helmet mount or skull-crusher, partially to help prevent similar damage, with the added benefit of not having a glowing ocular hovering right over your head for somebody else to see and take advantage of...

Most car lights and similar light sources are unlikely to do any damage, but you'll likely see a strong halo effect around specific point light sources that can show as larger than the light source itself. You'll most likely be unable to to see through such halos, and if those sources are bright enough, they get intensified and can flare your vision, but not damage the device.

Biggest single thing that users may do is slap the objective lens cover on, but leave the thing on in some lit area, which can "burn" an image into the tube and deadline the thing. Saw a lot of the things that got left outside in this state (meaning, secured in a vic with other ancillary equipment, radios, weapons without having been turned off...) and had either a no-kidding ghost image of whatever scene was in front of the pinhole show up when turned back on, often to include the streak of the sun as it traversed the sky.

If that happens, it's possible to dark-wash them back into usability, but not always; IF the cap was on, more likely, because the pinhole obviously lets in way less light than if the capo was left off. Install fresh batteries, turn it on, and put it away inside something completely lightless until the batteries die. Not a sovereign cure, by any means, but we taught it as a method of making absolutely sure one actually broke something before one has to cop to it and probably get themselves ripped a new bunghole. :p

Focusing:
Work your way from your eye, outward, or from back to front. Focus the diopter on the ocular lens first, then the focus ring on the objective lens, because if you can't see the "screen" clearly, first, the image will never be in focus for you. If you have a unit with the IR laser illumination, there's an indicator LED in the ocular that you can use for this. If you can see that in sharp focus, you're fundamentally where you need to be on the close end; from there, focus the objective as required. Check your manual for some charts/pattern that can assist in this; if they're there at all, they're usually in the back, where the Appendixes are.

Tip:
If you need to occasionally do close work....most commonly in the military, this is for navigation purposes (maps, GPS screens, compasses), medical, or use of pistol sights (not nearly as frequent)...used to be that the only option was to work the objective focus. Awkward. There's a add-on flip-lens that was an SL-3 item with the PVS-21 LPNVG that is available as an individual piece.

Called a re-focus ring. Flip the lens into place over the objective of the device, it puts the focus point to about 18" in front of the device objective.

http://tnvc.com/shop/universal-re-focus-ring/

[GTF425]

It's sharpshooting terminology a bit, but it's "auto-gated," not auto-gain. ;)


I knew there was a reason I'm Infantry.

[pyrotechnic]

Tip:
If you need to occasionally do close work....most commonly in the military, this is for navigation purposes (maps, GPS screens, compasses), medical, or use of pistol sights (not nearly as frequent)...used to be that the only option was to work the objective focus. Awkward. There's a add-on flip-lens that was an SL-3 item with the PVS-21 LPNVG that is available as an individual piece.

Called a re-focus ring. Flip the lens into place over the objective of the device, it puts the focus point to about 18" in front of the device objective.

http://tnvc.com/shop/universal-re-focus-ring/

One thing that works similarly with non reflective surfaces and if IR light discipline is not an issue is to place the daylight objective cover on the device and turn on the IR illuminator. This will allow you to read your notes or whatnot without having to refocus the pvs 14.