Night Vision in Car

**quantum** · 02-18-2006, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Just a thought, did you have the IRs on? It's like holding a flashlight up to the windsheild. If you dim it and dont' have the problem. Move the IRs somewhere else.

This wasn't from the IRs, it was from the 5" monitor screen that sits vertical on top of the dashboard. Because of the angle of the windshield, I see a reflection of the screen on the windshield like a ghost image.

If I cover the top with my hand, the reflection goes away, so I'll probably encase the monitor in a shroud with a bill on top like a baseball cap.

I am really interested in what you have to say about using that little monitor as a HUD or even just using it in general. Seems like such a shame not to do something with it. I thought mabe a B/U cam rigged up to it and installed in the visor...

For this night vision application, if I clip the 2 ribbon cables that feed the 2.5" LCD will I still have video out on the RCA jack?

TY

**shotgunefx** · 02-18-2006, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by NiteMax Mark

Look at the f-number of the lens. For night vision, you'd like to see the lowest f-number you can get. An f/2.0 lens is marginally good for night-vision and an f/1.6 is acceptable. The original NiteMax lenses were CS-Mount 12mm f/1.2!

If you compare two lenses of the same size (like 12mm, CS-Mount) you'll see the one with the larger glass lens area will have a lower (better) f-number. (And it will be more expensive as a result!) A lower f-number and more glass means more light is collected by the lens -- this is important when night-time light is already at a minimum!

That makes sense. The lenses I pulled off those IR medical cameras are 8.5mm and adjustable down to F 1.5 and the expensive zoom one is 1:1.2

The ones I nabbed off the old ultrak cameras I have are 1:1.6, too bad they are so damn narrow.

Well certianly learning a lot about cameras this week.

Most of the ones I see around are 2.0, though it might not be as bad in this app as you have your headlights to help.

**NiteMax Mark** · 02-18-2006, 07:54 PM

For this night vision application, if I clip the 2 ribbon cables that feed the 2.5" LCD will I still have video out on the RCA jack?

How to shut off the pesky LCD without completely trashing it...

On the large square LCD board, there's a long white connector with the label "JP1" next to it in white. In smaller white letters you will see the number "1" and "15" to help you know which way the pins are counted. (Not all pins have wires installed so you need to count each position where a wire could have been!) If you cut the white wire going to Pin-11, you will remove all of the power from the LCD and the pesky white back-light too. You will still be able to use the RCA video output of the camera to display the image on another NiteMax with the previously described color video monitor modification or any other NTSC video display.

For extra credit, you could put a switch on the wire to Pin-11 so you can switch the LCD on and off at will!

**quantum** · 02-18-2006, 08:15 PM

Hey Mark,

Very cool stuff indeed!

What I was talking about was disconnecting the whole thing (less PC boards and such floating around.

So, what I see is the pink and white wires, a long white ribbon cable and a very short amber ribbon cable (is there a techie name for that one?)

So, if I snip the white ribbon cable that goes to the other board, does that just prevent the signal from going to the 2.5" LCD and will the RCA out still work? Will it kill the thing? I could always give it a snip and see...

Got any more ideas / suggestions for the little monitor once it's isolated or removed guys?

Also, I am not very good with a soldering iron. Was wondering if someone could wire up a 10-12 of the LED boards on a panel (I have a bunch) so I can run off the 12v power lead. I understad I'll need a voltage reducer too, yes? 2 leads for wach board, maybe 4" wire on each? PM me on that for more info...

**NiteMax Mark** · 02-18-2006, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by quantum

What I was talking about was disconnecting the whole thing (less PC boards and such floating around.

So, what I see is the pink and white wires, a long white ribbon cable and a very short amber ribbon cable (is there a techie name for that one?)

So, if I snip the white ribbon cable that goes to the other board, does that just prevent the signal from going to the 2.5" LCD and will the RCA out still work? Will it kill the thing? I could always give it a snip and see...

The Pink and White wires send HIGH VOLTAGE to the white back-light on the LCD. Bad things will happen to you or the NiteMax if you run it with these wires cut!

The ribbon cables send the signal to the LCD. Cutting these will kill the LCD image but they can be unplugged from the connector and re-inserted later if you know how. It's a little bit mysterious unless you've seen it done once, but the connectors are in two parts. There's a brown part that wedges the ribbon into the white body of the connector. With your finger nails you can grip the little brown "wedge thingy" on both sides of the ribbon and unlock the connection. (It is a tight pull so it's hard to feel if you're doing this right.)

Imagine the direction you would pull to pull the ribbon out of the connector. With your finger nails, pull equally on the little tabs on each side of ribbon on the brown thingy. The brown deal will snap out a bit more than a millimeter and the ribbon can be easily pulled from the connector.

This will make the LCD go black but you will still see white from the back-light. It would be better to do the pin-11 trick above.

Another idea would be this:
Unplug the 15-Pin Connector from the large square LCD Controller Board. There's three wires soldered directly to the LCD Controller Board near the 15-Pin Connector that can be clipped off without killing the RCA video jack output. You can tape the wires you clipped to be sure they don't touch anything or clip them off again near the source to eliminate them completely. You will then be able to remove the LCD Controller Board and the LCD together as a unit without clipping the ribbon cables or the high voltage wires.

**Genesisfactor** · 02-18-2006, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Maybe I can make it a little hud screen

Thats my plan. I have the spot picked out and everything...

The review is now 5 pages long, no pics...and i'm not done yet...have a couple pics and vids though.

As per the fish eye, if you have to going through yoru computer initally, thre's an algorithm you can apply that gets rid of most of the fish eye...but its a waste of computing power.

dopehead, i'll drop you $10 for the 2.8 and the 6mm lenses shipped. to answer your question, i would try out the 4mm and 8mm lenses (which is why i didn't pick those, thought you might want them)

Mark, do you have any rear housings that i can cut and sand down for our flip up HUDs?

The range is pretty nice on these things. I don't have a street dark enough of a hallway long enough without going into the woods...and i'm a carribean child in 13 degree weather...maybe i'll do it from the car...

Mark, how much for an LCD? if you have a DVD case, you can get inventive and mail them through that and shipping will be like $3, price of case included. Alsom what gauge wires do you think those strips are? I'm going to see what's the longest they can be run cause, well, i'm going texas chainsaw massacrare on this thing and its going to be buried in ideal points throughout the car

These zoom units are pretty handy for drivng though. It allows you to focus in on things, but its VERY distracting...

I'm enjoying these posts...i want to catch up so bad...,ust resist urge to tear units apart...

A NOTE OF WARNING. You do not need the IRs on full blast when driving normally through the streets, and i suggest you keep them on low until you need them. Actually, on regular night driving, you dont' even need them at all, the streetlights give you more than enough IR. However, you WILL be ticketed because in pitch black dark, head on, they will be seen by cops and that's NOT good for you, even if you do explain to them why you have a red light on in your car. Insta-ticket.

If you mount them in a position in your car where you can't really see the light, head on, great! If you can get housing with the opage dark red tint, USE IT. Otherwise, use it at your own risk.

**shotgunefx** · 02-18-2006, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by Genesisfactor

Thats my plan. I have the spot picked out and everything...

The review is now 5 pages long, no pics...and i'm not done yet...have a couple pics and vids though.

As per the fish eye, if you have to going through yoru computer initally, thre's an algorithm you can apply that gets rid of most of the fish eye...but its a waste of computing power.
...

A few problems I think that will come up.

Probably will need a brighter back light. No biggie

LCDs don't have black. Fooling around with the idea, I noticed way to much gray (black) with the lcd turned up. Maybe you could make the hud text red or blue and use a red/blue filter to hopefully block the background.

**Genesisfactor** · 02-18-2006, 10:57 PM

wait...i'm quoted but i don't see too much applying to me...

LCDs arent' capable of displaying black as, well, its not a color.

what background? why are we blocking it? Why red or blue?

**shotgunefx** · 02-18-2006, 11:08 PM

Originally Posted by Genesisfactor

wait...i'm quoted but i don't see too much applying to me...

LCDs arent' capable of displaying black as, well, its not a color.

what background? why are we blocking it? Why red or blue?

The first sentence was "Thats my plan. I have the spot picked out and everything.." which was in response to me talking about a HUD.

So I was pointing out what I thought would be issues.

**quantum** · 02-19-2006, 02:17 AM

Originally Posted by NiteMax Mark

The ribbon cables send the signal to the LCD. Cutting these will kill the LCD image but they can be unplugged from the connector and re-inserted later if you know how. It's a little bit mysterious unless you've seen it done once, but the connectors are in two parts. There's a brown part that wedges the ribbon into the white body of the connector. With your finger nails you can grip the little brown "wedge thingy" on both sides of the ribbon and unlock the connection. (It is a tight pull so it's hard to feel if you're doing this right.)

This is down to the bare bones me thinks. I did the exact procedure described, and still had video signal out of the RCA. LCD board and backlight still in tact, although one of the high voltage wires popped out of the little rubber boot.

I thought about mounting the camera board and lens behind the windshield, maybe mounting it to the back of the mirror. Would make life easier in the install. My concern was the window tint on the top 15% of the windshield, factory tint, nothing more. i was curious if that reduces image quality, especially at night. Any noticable difference?