Have you ever wanted to explore your backyard or your home with night vision goggles without having to pay thousands of dollars? Are you a hands-on creator that finds satisfaction in making something that actually works and saves you money? With this project or something similar, you can! Here is a look at how I made improvised night vision goggles for cheap and with things I had laying around the house, along with an example of it working...

An explanation of how this works:

Human eyeballs cannot see infrared light, it is invisible to us. Cameras, however, can. Most cameras like DSLR or the ones on your phone most likely have what is called an IR mirror or filter. This is usually a piece of glass located between the lens and the sensor of the camera. Its purpose is to reflect only infrared light so that it isn't read by the sensor. If you use an ordinary camera for this project, chances are you will have to remove this filter in order to see the light. I am using dashcams for my version of this project which are already made to see IR light. So, these goggles are outfitted with an infrared flashlight which can be seen by the cameras and ultimately only your eyes. To anyone else, it seems like the light isn't even on while you can see clear as day (well ... almost).

Supplies

- A virtual reality headset for a smartphone

- A 10,000 mAh portable phone charger with two USB ports

- An infrared flashlight and Picatinny rail mount made for hunting

- Two dash cameras

- Two charging cords

- Hot glue gun

- Electrical tape

- Velcro (optional)

- Black marker (optional)

That's it!

Step 1: Remove the VR Headset Lid

By pulling on the black hinge pin, I was able to remove the lid of the headset so that I could attach the other components...

Step 2: Adding the Cameras

As shown in the picture, both dashcams were attached to the front of the headset with black electrical tape such that the screens of the cameras lined up with the virtual reality lenses. The cameras were added without their windshield mounts and the two micro USB charging cables were plugged into both of them before taping.

Step 3: Attach and Connect the Battery

I managed the cables that are plugged into the cameras by twisting them into a single cord and looping them because they were much longer than necessary. These dashcams have internal batteries, but only have a few minutes of battery life. So, the 10,000 mAh battery is perfect because it has two USB charging ports and will last a VERY long time on a single full charge. The portable phone charger was plugged in and placed on the top of the headset with velcro (this could be tape, glue, or almost anything adhesive).

Step 4: Adding the Infrared Flashlight

The IR flashlight that I used in this project came with a Picatinny rail mount. I did not, however, have a Picatinny rail to spare, so I just used hot glue to attach the mount to the side of the headset. I then colored the hot glue with a black marker just so that it matches the blacked-out aesthetic of the project. Don't worry, the hot glue holds the flashlight on surprisingly well, there is no play at all. This flashlight can be adjusted to focus its beam on something close up or far away just by extending it which can be seen in the pictures above.

Step 5: Enjoy Your Superpower-like Ability to See in the Dark!

All you have to do now is put the headset on, turn on the battery which will activate the two cameras (because they're dashcams, they turn on as soon as power is connected), click the button on the flashlight and have fun! Now, everyone's eyes are spaced differently, which is why the VR headset comes with adjustable lenses so that we can all try it out. Isn't that convenient? Below are a couple of videos of myself testing these working night vision goggles.

All in all, I spent $65 on this project. About half of the objects were already owned and not being put to any use. Considering that genuine night vision goggles can cost you thousands of dollars, I think that's a pretty dang good price. Plus, I had fun. I think if you give this a shot, you will too.