I’m new to night vision and just put my first ever night vision (pvs14) in a box back to manufacturer for evaluation and fix.  Waiting 24 weeks for it and using it less than a month is large pile of disappointment.    

I was getting flickering (slight light then dark rapid flickering) occasionally.  This started suddenly and it’s been indicated the issue may be power supply.  I tried three energizer lithium AA with same results.  Turning the eye piece seemed to make the flickering occur sometimes.  Other times it just happened out of the blue.  But then it would stop for a short while before more flickering.  Is this something heard of before ?  Faulty part ?  What in the world would cause this after less than 15 hours of easy observation backyard and flat range use?  

I’m really hoping something in the guts isn’t defective and requires replacement and months to back in service.  

Any experience and thoughts are appreciated.  

Try cleaning out the actual battery compartment with a solution of vinegar and water, then rinse out with regular water and thoroughly dry it out.

If turning the eyepiece causes it to flicker, it could be that the tube retaining ring is loose causing loose contact. Unscrew the eyepiece assembly tighten down the tube retaining ring see if it solves the issue.

Another cause could be the tube power contacts in the battery housing could be compressed. Remove the battery housing. Carefully open it up and gently pry up the contacts to give them more secure contact with the tube when the battery housing is reinstalled.

Everything stated above, plus the the simplest thing could be the battery cap, on a new unit it can take a little force to completely tighten the cap, if the cap isn't completely tight this can happen.

I second @wjoutlaw.  Not to say that it’s never or doesn’t happen but it’s pretty rare to see a power supply go out on a new tube.  I’d bet there a lose connection in there.  I had a PVS14 that someone said had the same issue.  I couldn’t replicate the issue myself but I put the tube in a m14 housing and checked the connection points.  It’s been going strong for over a year with no issues

Oh one thing I forgot to mention, if you do remove the battery housing, be careful and open it slowly. The auto-shutoff circuit wires are attached to the upper housing by  two pins. Check those connections if they're working loose, take a pair of tweezers or small needle nose pliers and pus them back down. Also, look for any loose wires.

FWIW my 14 has always had some kind of behavior like this ever since i got it, mostly when adjusting the gain especially if I just did turn it on.


I usually turn it on and let it run for a couple minutes then adjust my gain.

If I twist the gain knob in one motion I dont really see anything and the adjustment seems to smoothly increase brightness, but if I try to make small adjustments to it sometimes it will flicker or go dark then bright like you describe.



After I have had it on for a few minutes everything kinda gets "warmed up" so to speak. the whole system is pretty analog IMO.

They say to power up nods at least once a month (dont remember where I read that).
There was about a 6 month span where I didnt get to use mine and it did all kinds of wonky stuff when I first turned it on - after about 15 minutes everything was acting normal.

Thanks for the information.  I sent this TNVC unit back to them since I had it less than a month and it’s giving me problems.  I’m suprised there was any issue with their QC reputation.

I wouldn’t assume it’s the retailers fault.  Battery packs and power supply’s fail.  It’s not super common but it does happen.