Homemade Infrared Goggles! For Under $10

See the world in a whole new light with these home-made Infrared Goggles! Amazing images! See the Test Results in the video at the end of this Instructable. Thanks to Bill Beaty for the idea.

Step 1 What you need:

First pick up a pair of welding Goggles. I got these online for $7.

Comments

[ihaveguitarskills!]

dude...fail
1-not real infared
2-just...

[wjbeaty]

> not real infared

Human eyes actually see way out into the NIR, here's the graph from a 1947 research paper (via the original project page: http://amasci.com/graphics/IRcurve_HVS.jpg The human visual sensitivity curve slopes smoothly off, with no real vis/IR boundary. So, is 800nM not infrared?! How bout 1000nM?

The challenge is to provide an IR illuminator 10^5 times brighter than a dim visible source, or if using sunlight, to filter out the 400-700nM visible spectrum and pass the 700-1000nM infrared. A big bank of 750nM LEDs would work. A stack of Congo Blue filters is cheaper.

[jmart90]

would it be possible to use the same approach on a flashlight (say a bulbed maglight?) and use these goggles to view "near ir" from the filtered maglight??

[jmart90]

i mean i saw something about a year ago saying that this would work, but not for led lights.... can anyone confirm??

[zen of zappa]

I am definitely planning to make these, maybe even combining them with some steampunk models...I was just wondering where you got the gels. I looked at various stores and they were 7-14 dollars. And I would like to keep the whole project under 10. If you could just reply to this as soon as you can, that would be great! Thanks!

[wjbeaty]

For detailed info, see the original project article on Science Hobbyist.

Yeah, you have to buy a big sheet of congo blue, but that's enough for around a hundred goggles. Perhaps get a smaller piece by contacting other goggles-builders on comments, or on the steampunk forum (Brassgoggles co uk)

[thelastonekills]

THIS IS COOL AS!
few questions,
so how can you do this so that it would let you see at night using IR leds, or would this work with it? oh and where would you get the sutff for it

[B00GYman]

You can get the colour gels on ebay they are disco light filters and instead of using welding goggles use CLEAR uv protection sun glasses then you are less likely to burn you eyes out because the filters make it very dark only letting not visabule light in such as I-R and UV light, because the filters make it dark your pupils get bigger to try to let in more light there for letting in more uv light which will burn your eyes out so use clear sun glasses to be on the safe side.

[behme]

Where do you get the gels ?

[Codynater]

Where did you get the goggles that you used to make them? I would really like to know as of I could not find any good goggles,
Please Reply,
Cody

[jagdterrier]

whether it will be able to see clearly at night using IR LEDs if I make. Best regards from Serbia

[wjbeaty]

No, the goggles only block the visible part of sunlight. At night, there is no sunlight. Just try IR LEDs, and don't use any goggles. Also see the original project FAQ at http://amasci.com/amateur/irgoggl.html

Besides "Congo Blue", also experiment with "Deep Blue" and other blues.

[milsorgen]

 its tough getting enough wattage from IR LEDs for all but the darkest lighting conditions

[pgg120495]

can you see in the night whit that goggles????? or only in the day

[wjbeaty]

See the Frequently Asked Questions in the original IR Goggles article: amasci.com/amateur/irgoggl.html


These goggles only work in bright sunlight. All they do is block out the visible light. If you want real IR vision, hook a $30 security camera to a cheap video display. But for night vision you'll also need an IR security floodlight.

[akinich]

hey this is to anybody( cuz from what i have seen kipkay does not reply ) please help me cuz i cannot find any filter paper anywhere so can i use cellophane paper instead "to kipkay i would be honoured for u to answer this because u do not reply to anybody" from akinich

[wjbeaty]

@akinich, see the original science project from 2002 that this instructable was made from: http://amasci.com/amateur/irgoggl.html Congo Blue filter gel is sold by Amazon.com and stagelightingusa.com

[jolshefsky]

These are really neat!  I was surprised that you can see right away, and immediately grass and some leaves are "white" (although everything looks red, at least at first).  I also made a second pair and it's funny that without the goggles, the lenses look almost black, but with them on, the lenses look nearly transparent.

I agree with the 4xblue/1xred combination. More of either does not seem to improve anything (even 5xblue made it just darker).

Second, and I guess this is just theory more than anything, put the red filter farther out than the blue ones.  It attenuates UV wavelengths so if the gels are affected by UV, they will last longer.

Third, try not to wrinkle the gels or get dust, smears, or scratches on them.  Any of these things will make for blurriness, and any average defects are multiplied by 5 layers.

My goggles had writing on the protective plastic lens.  If it's positioned near the center (your nose), it can make the view a little blurry; move it to the top or side just before you tighten down the lens holder.

Thanks again, these are fun!

[akinich]

thanks a lot i live in india and it is very hard for me to get filter paper here so can i go ahead and use cellophane paper?????

[jolshefsky]

These are really neat!  I was surprised that you can see right away, and immediately grass and some leaves are "white" (although everything looks red, at least at first).  I also made a second pair and it's funny that without the goggles, the lenses look almost black, but with them on, the lenses look nearly transparent.

I agree with the 4xblue/1xred combination. More of either does not seem to improve anything (even 5xblue made it just darker).

Second, and I guess this is just theory more than anything, put the red filter farther out than the blue ones.  It attenuates UV wavelengths so if the gels are affected by UV, they will last longer.

Third, try not to wrinkle the gels or get dust, smears, or scratches on them.  Any of these things will make for blurriness, and any average defects are multiplied by 5 layers.

My goggles had writing on the protective plastic lens.  If it's positioned near the center (your nose), it can make the view a little blurry; move it to the top or side just before you tighten down the lens holder.

Thanks again, these are fun!

[idy26]

Will these allow you to see an infrared diode when its on. Normally infrared is invisible, but i'm wondering if this lens will make it visible to the human eye?

[Goodhart]

It is much easier to see the NEAR IR light of an IR diode by using a digital camera, turn on the camera and then the LED and look at it through the view screen (not the view finder if it has one). It will appear quite brightly.

[wjbeaty]

These goggles don't change the light's wavelength, they only block the visible band.  Same as turning off the room lights.    You don't need goggles to see IR LEDs, just view them in a darkened room.

[mattman2]

not true

[Landon Sullivan]

Yes true. I can use a TV remote as a flashlight in the dark.

[me835]

sorry man, but the title here is misleading. humans can't see infrared, unless the theory discussed elsewhere on this page is true, but even then...

[Notbob]

for what you say to work idy26, the diode would have to be emitting light in the near-infrared spectrum.

[idy26]

I am pretty sure that there are Infrared-Emitting Diodes that you can buy that give off infrared light.

[Notbob]

the light has to be in the NEAR-infrared spectrum, As LEDs that emit infrared light would have no visible effect, because the human eye cannot see truly infrared light.

[Kev93]

 Wrong. The eye CAN see IR. Just not near as well as other colors.

[Notbob]

Before outright telling me I am wrong, would please provide me with some scientific backing to support your side of the argument.

[wjbeaty]

See the links in the original article amasci.com/amateur/irgoggl.html    In the D. Griffin paper they plot the human visual sensitivity (HVS) curve out to 1050nM.  As usual, they find no sharp division between "visible" and "infrared" wavelengths, just a peak at 505nM green, and a low frequency logarithmic rolloff of about 3 log units for every 100nM.   Most graphs of the HVS curve will tell you the same, although usually they go only out to 800nM.

Human eyes are like bandpass filters, and the farther you are from the peak, the worse their response.  To see light that's 100nM deeper into the IR, simply make it ~1000 times brighter.  Of course at some point the light must be dangerously bright in order to be visible.  (But the eye could still see it!)

[mattman2]

I'm with Notbob on this

[wjbeaty]

I'll make it easier:

http://amasci.com/graphics/IRcurve_HVS.jpg

http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=josa-37-7-546

As the paper shows, humans see NIR just fine. But it has to be bright, and it can't be swamped out by normal visible light.

[mdurham]

OK, would something like these give me something akin to heat vision?  I'm wanting to use something to detect the less insulated spots in my house where I am losing the most heat in the winter (or cold in the summer).

[baglieg]

No, something would have to be incredibly hot to give off enough IR for you to see it.  You can see the IR from the sun very clearly, and I'm not sure but you might be able to see some IR from a flame or a hot oven element, maybe, but you definitely won't see won't be able to see any heat at room temperature.

[NinjaGuy000]

Cool. But can't you make them into night vision goggles if you put on infrared L.E.D lights?

[Kev93]

No, not really. you would need VERY VERY VERY(etc.) bright led to do that. A floodlight can work in the right conditions.
Being that the point of the goggles is to filter out visible light, using a source of IR bright enough without having visible light emitted also makes the goggles not neccesary.

[Pumpkin$]

So kipkay, by chance, were you using these as "X-Ray Specs?"

lol.

--PUMPKIN$

[karthikkamath93]

These aren't real IR goggles. because you can't see IR radiation through these. you might want to rename them to colourfull vision goggles.