Infrared Driving Lights - Looking for advice or experiences

[Whiskey]

On top of the IR lights (which I havent gotten to yet), make sure you have a way to black out your dash lights. This is where older vehicles shine... seems like every newer vehicle I get in has everything up to the cupholders lit. I use painters tape, then duct tape over top. Comes off without leaving a ton of residue.

[Cookie Monster]

While I have not mounted any IR lights permanently to my vehicles, I have experimented at various times driving with NODS. A quick and easy way to test the experience would be to find a safe country road and switch to just the parking lights for a short distance, if your vehicle can do that.

With a single tube and lack of depth perception, I was not comfortable at much over 50 mph on a 2 lane country road. For off road driving at slower speeds, I don't think that more distance focused driving beams would be very useful.

Also, there are a number of less expensive 12 volt IR lights on Amazon that are marketed as fixed illumination for IR cameras. While these will not be as rugged as dedicated vehicle lights, they could be an inexpensive way to try out driving under NODS in various conditions.

Gringop

It makes me happy that PF members are out there doing this shit.

[El Cid]

On top of the IR lights (which I havent gotten to yet), make sure you have a way to black out your dash lights. This is where older vehicles shine... seems like every newer vehicle I get in has everything up to the cupholders lit. I use painters tape, then duct tape over top. Comes off without leaving a ton of residue.

This annoys me for a variety of reasons. I am old enough to remember when we could turn the dash lights completely off with the OEM dial/switch. Now, I don't know of any vehicles that allow this. I've had to modify vehicles for night or early morning surveillance with velcro on the dash and cut pieces of plastic to cover the dashes. The best plastic I found was the thin sheet lifters often found in 3 ring binders. In a pinch I throw a shirt or jacket over the dash, but this is something I don't understand why manufacturers went away from in the first place.

I did find this for a "tail light" under NV. https://www.bajadesigns.com/products...w-Me-Light.asp But I need friends with NV before I need that. lol!

[Whiskey]

For the price of that (and how much I drive under NV) I would use painters tape over the whole tail light, then duct tape over all of the tail light but a small window. That would probably let enough glow from the tail light through the painters tape to be easily visible with NODs but not enough to spook anything.

Most of the times me and the buddies are doing NV stuff we are all in my truck because its old enough to mostly "self blackout" requiring very little work for the dash lights. Because I have a PVS 14 I like to have another NV wearing buddy in the passenger side as a spotter for the ditch. Iraq was a lot easier to drive in most places than the back roads here.

[El Cid]

For the price of that (and how much I drive under NV) I would use painters tape over the whole tail light, then duct tape over all of the tail light but a small window. That would probably let enough glow from the tail light through the painters tape to be easily visible with NODs but not enough to spook anything.

Most of the times me and the buddies are doing NV stuff we are all in my truck because its old enough to mostly "self blackout" requiring very little work for the dash lights. Because I have a PVS 14 I like to have another NV wearing buddy in the passenger side as a spotter for the ditch. Iraq was a lot easier to drive in most places than the back roads here.

Yes - the taillight thing would be last on my list. For now if I really needed to have someone follow me, I suppose an IR chemlight would do just fine.

[TOTS]

@Default.mp3 have you seen any of these in the field? Looking at aftermarket truck bumpers and every company seems to have its own ideas about where lights should be placed. Is it ok to place IR lights on the outer edges, or would they benefit from being closer to center? Looking at bumpers (which could be its own thread) is maddening and I'm almost at the point of analysis paralysis. lol!

Thanks!

@That Guy clearly you NEED some manner of night vision. Kids can find another way to pay for college.

El Cid, I’m not @Default.mp3, nor have I stayed in a Holiday Inn lately, but from my experience, light seems to be light. Beam patterns and reflectors seem to work similar in both the visible and IR applications. Several of our lights have both IR and white light bulbs in the same reflectors. We just control which one is illuminated with a switch. If someone more experienced than I doesn’t correct me, I would put IR lights exactly where would be optimal for a white light.

[El Cid]

El Cid, I’m not @Default.mp3, nor have I stayed in a Holiday Inn lately, but from my experience, light seems to be light. Beam patterns and reflectors seem to work similar in both the visible and IR applications. Several of our lights have both IR and white light bulbs in the same reflectors. We just control which one is illuminated with a switch. If someone more experienced than I doesn’t correct me, I would put IR lights exactly where would be optimal for a white light.

Makes sense. I figured IR light would have less throw than white. Thanks!

Now if anyone knows if Rigid ever has sales…? lol! Didn’t see a good guy discount online anywhere.