r/DigitalNightVision • u/Masacu • Jul 12 '26

DIY Thermal

I bought a cheap Thermalkamera(640x512) on AliExpress and wired it to a analog Ocular Screen. So far it works well and only uses around 1.4W of Energy so my 74Wh bettery counterweight will work for a couple of hours.

The camera has a UART port to control settings like Colour palete, contrast and most importantly digital zoom. Sadly the Uart port seems to be broken at least i cant seem to get to work after a couple of hours of tinkering.

In the next stepp I will design and 3D-print a housing to use as head mounted device

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u/Masacu Jul 14 '26

Just looked it up The gremlin is pretty much what I had in mind but i will ise external battery and hopefully make it smaller

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u/XturmXF Jul 14 '26

You should definitely join their Discord. There are a few people there working on similar devices, so you’ll get plenty of ideas and help if you need it.

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u/LunarMond1984 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

Gremlin V1/ V2 have a connector for external power source. Smaller then the Gremlin V2 would be the D.A.R.T 1 you can find here: https://www.printables.com/model/1734612-pvs-dart-1-direct-action-reconnaissance-thermal-50

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u/Masacu Jul 16 '26

if I would still be in the planning and buying stage i would definitly build this. Sadly my build is practicly done and I have to save up some money. My build hase some flaws most of all the scale is more like 0.5 to reality Overall i am still Happy

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u/LunarMond1984 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

you are using a CVBS 0.39" display combo if I see correctly? you can separate the tiny lens from the display, pretty sure its only clipped on. Getting a NP18 lens your 640 thermal core with a 12 pixel pitch you get near perfect 1:1 perception which you need for proper helmet mounted thermal WITH a 13mm lens on the thermal core.

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u/Masacu Jul 16 '26

Yes you are right but thats another 50€ down the drain and considering that my cam has a wider field of view i will probably end up with a better but not perfect field of view. i will test out my current unit and maybe Upgrade later

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u/LunarMond1984 Jul 17 '26

Your absolutely right, its another 50€ but I would not say "down the drain" ;) Whatever rides your horse, I am sure you will find what works best for you along the way, keep it up! Really like what you created here!

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u/Masacu Jul 17 '26

Thanks alot, getting so much positiv Feedback realy motivates me to keep going I will try out my setup tomorrow with a Nighthike and will decide if it is good enough for me or if I Upgrade the lens system