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Posted: 1/8/2016 7:58:24 PM EDT
| I just purchased a new PVS-14 morovision, ITT pinnicle autogated. Testing it out in the basement, it appear to be something wrong with it. the intensifier tube will light up (green glow from eyepiece and sharp bright image in the dark) then it turns off, the unit is still on, but no green glow, the buzzing sound is still there. It sometime will come back on just waiting and holding it but goes off again. When I reset it, it sometime comes back on (the green glow) and sometimes doesn't, the buzzing is always there and gain and IR seem to work. Is this normal, why isn't there always a bright image in the dark? Is the unit defective? Thanks for the help. |
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What I can tell you is you're not going to get a bright image in a basement without any ambient light or I.R. illumination whatsoever. That's just not how the technology works. It amplifies ambient light or from an I.R. light source.
But if you're seeing a bright image, then the image goes away entirely without you even touching any source of I.R. illumination or the on/off knob, and no other outside influence, there may be an issue with your tube or wiring connection etc. But I'll save that for somebody more knowledgeable on the subject. |
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I figured as much, but wasn't sure why the intensifier tube seemed to be going on and off without me doing anything. I appreciate the response Are you rotating the knob when the bright image comes on? How the built in I.R. works is a twist is momentary. The knob is spring loaded so if you release it, the I.R. light source turns back off. For constant I.R. what you need to do is pull the knob out towards your face, then turn the knob. That is how you activate the constant on i.r. (meaning it stays on until you rotate the knob back the other way) Try the constant on and see if the image goes away on its own. If it doesn't, I have a feeling you're good. If it does turn off, there may be an issue. Remember for constant, turn the knob to the on position, pull out on the knob towards your face, rotate 1 more click. |
| Nope the IR seems to work okay, I am good with the functionality, I turn it clockwise for momentary on, pull and turn for constant on, seems good,the red light in the eyepiece comes on too. It's the intensifier tube that appears to be acting up, the slight green glow from the eyepiece that makes the image bright, this is what just turns off for no apparent reason holding it still and not messing with anything. |
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Sounds like a defective unit. If you mean it goes completely dark, as in black, you can see nothing, then for sure there is something wrong with it and should contact for a replacement.
There is a bright light protection that will cut off power, but in your dark basement that should not be an issue and the buzzing sound should also go away. All points to a defect in the electronics or tube. But first, try change the battery just in case 
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Nope the IR seems to work okay, I am good with the functionality, I turn it clockwise for momentary on, pull and turn for constant on, seems good,the red light in the eyepiece comes on too. It's the intensifier tube that appears to be acting up, the slight green glow from the eyepiece that makes the image bright, this is what just turns off for no apparent reason holding it still and not messing with anything. Interesting. I know autogated tubes dim a bit if it detects a very bright light source (think of it like the tube saving it's own life) but I didn't understand the gating feature to be as drastic of a dimming as you're experiencing. I'd wait to see what the experts on your tube have to say, but it sounds to me like there may be an issue of some sort with the connection or tube itself. ETA or the battery, like murtis said. I don't know what battery you have in it, but try an Energizer lithium. Alkaline works fine in my 14 as well though. |
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if you can still hear the power supply and the tube just goes off intermitently like you say then i would say it could be a dry solder joint between the power suply and the intensifier
core, so it would need repotting and re-soldering or simply a defective poewr supply . if you can send it back then that might be best . |
| It doesn't go completely dark, just dims. I have new energizer lithium it in, tried a few and tested them so its not the batteries. I tried it last night outside while dark and it seemed to work fine and kept it on and brought it into the dark basement and was bright and turned to "dim mode" again. I am starting to think that is normal operating, I sent morovison this info via facebook, seems like this is their only sight and am waiting for them to tell me if this is the case. |
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It doesn't go completely dark, just dims. I have new energizer lithium it in, tried a few and tested them so its not the batteries. I tried it last night outside while dark and it seemed to work fine and kept it on and brought it into the dark basement and was bright and turned to "dim mode" again. I am starting to think that is normal operating, I sent morovison this info via facebook, seems like this is their only sight and am waiting for them to tell me if this is the case. A any quality video would help a ton, or pictures before and after the dimming happens. Would you say it looks similar to turning the gain down? And when you say it is bright, do you mean normal, you see fine and it is not too bright? Just thinking, in a dark basement the screen should not be so bright that the splash shows on your face. Obviously I don't know the light levels in your basement 
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I have a old military PVS-4 with a gen 2 tube and it did similar to what you said where it turned on for about a few minutes then slowly fade. I could still see it very dimmed but eventually it would go completely black.I decided to contact this repairer and he said the tube was shot and he didn't have any more gen 2 that he could spare at the time.
I decided to go on ebay and luckily a shop in Texas was selling some surplus PVS-4 that was refinished by L3 (not sure if that is true or not) but when I got it the tube was crystal clear at night and it came with a CR123 and AA battery pack changer. It also came with the 5.56 and 7.62 reticle and I still had this old Hebrew written reticle from the broken model.I couldn't be happier with it and have enjoyed countless hours with it shooting at night over the last year and a half that I had it. Matter of fact, I used the new PVS-4 to blast the broken model one night. 
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