PN-1 Post Soviet Night Vision Equipment

So lets start big :)

Today I want to present you insides of Post Soviet device - PN-1 Night Vision monocular device.

This one is class 1 device with a lamp type photo enhancer. It is simple construction used in Soviet era by military and post it by civilians. It gives acceptable amplification of light - especially in full moon and with external IR light sources.

This photo was taken during the day not night - I used a pin hole attachment that allows this night vision device to be used in normal light conditions (if I would took it off the device turns off automatically to not allow destruction of enhancer).

To take this photo I had to remove viewing lens and take it directly on enhancer output which is by most chance a simple fluorescent screen.

Device is powered by single 9V battery visible in photos bellow. It has a single power port that probably served as loading port for accumulator units. To operate you simply press button and energize enhancer - then you can stop pressing and it stays operational for few moments. Depending on light - if its high then it depletes charge fast if not then it can stay up even 10-20 seconds after power was cut off.

But this blog is not about reviewing devices - its about what really matters - internals and principles of how stuff works and what can we take out of it for reuse on other projects. So bellow few shots taken from this operation. Take note on enhancer tube made of glass and powered by high voltage converter (that box beneath tube). I didn't want to make too much invasion as I still want to use this device :) Its casing was covered by some sort of Plasticine material - probably to suppress any external light coming directly to the unit.

What can we take from this unit if we want to reuse it? We can get:
- enhancer tube - pure analog device that enhances small portions of light into bigger portions
- high voltage generator - probably DC voltage - didn't have equipment to test how high it goes
- power switch
- casing from cast iron
- lenses, both viewing and "catching" lens. The one that "catches" light is made of special type of glass that passes IR light (quartz glass)

But enough of talking - let the photos say their story for themselves!

I hope you enjoyed my first article and will subscribe for more!

In case of language mistakes please excuse me - my native language is polish :) Till the next post!