Night Vision Black piece of something in my PVS-14 image

[Mumbles]

I have a PVS-14 built by a friend of a friend. It's not perfect, it has a few quirks, like the gain knob not working, but the image has always been good. Yesterday, I noticed the J-Arm was not fitting tightly, and when I went to give it a twist to tighten it back down, it spun almost freely. Somehow the mounting point has gotten stripped out, which is confusing (since I have no idea when that could have happened) and aggravating, but I worked out a fix.

When I turned it back on after removing the J-Arm, there was a new, rather large (highly annoying, but not to the point of obstructing) black line. It kind of looks like it's a piece of plastic flake from the J-Arm mounting point is sitting in the field of view, although I wouldn't have thought that was possible.

Is there an easy way to fix this without causing further damage? If not, it's not the end of the world, I can certainly live with it - I've dealt with worse on issued units - but is there a risk of further damage by running it with a possible foreign object sitting on something?

 

[Mumbles]

Aaaaaaand, I just mounted it to my helmet and turned it on to check it, and somewhere between checking it un-mounted, and just now, the black spot has disappeared, so it's definitely a loose piece of something.

 

[flounderv2]

I would suggest you take it to the "friend of a friend" that built it. Or if that is not an option, post pics here to better show the setup and issue and see if someone can help.

 

[JohnnyC]

I would suggest you send it to some like Ed Wilcox to build it correctly so that it quits having "quirks."

 

[Killswitch Engage]

I'd suggest you take a small spanner or tiny pin punch and loosen the eye piece locking ring turning it towards the body of the 14. Then take the ocular lens and rotate it off the housing. Once off take you a peek see around and you will probably find your culprit floating around there. Get it out. Make sure to not finger the back of the image tube while your in there. Take a key board duster can of air and lightly blow out that area if necessary. Lube the inside throat of the housing where the eye piece oring will ride. Reassemble in reverse. No biggie. These units don't need purged unless you're in a really humid environment especially during reassembly. Otherwise don't worry about it.

 

[Mumbles]

Much appreciated Killswitch. If it reappears I will do exactly that. For now, I'm gonna cross my fingers and not fuck with it.

 

[Killswitch Engage]

You can download the maintenance and repair manual for the 14 and it will walk you through it if you need to do it. If you can't find it pm me and I will email you a copy.

 

[Billy The Kid]

There's also a assembly/dissasembly video at YouTube on the pvs-14.

 

[MontanaKid]

Did you check the gain adjustment fluid?

 

[MODArmory – Nicole]

MODArmory's technicians clean and purge night vision units all the time for $75.00! Any work includes a 1 year warranty and average turn around time is 2 weeks.

 

[flounderv2]

MODArmory's technicians clean and purge night vision units all the time for $75.00! Any work includes a 1 year warranty and average turn around time is 2 weeks.

^ There ya have it. Send it in and be done with it.

 

[Mumbles]

Right on. That is certainly a safer solution than tinkering with it myself (having never had one apart before). If the problem resurfaces, I think I'll do just that.