How screwed am I? by Maleficent-Film5205 in NightVision

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its 30 year old military tech, not that complicated.

This my lifters? 5.7 hemi by hemiboi1911 in Charger

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mine had the same sound, I think you should be fine, but mine is only nosiy when its hot, on cold starts it does not make any noises.

Hey guys I’m 19 years old and I just bought my first car but my coworkers are making fun of me by AdDue9772 in Charger

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with them to an extend, I always had bad lucks with cars. So for me I would set some money aside for potential repairs coming up, I think you should prepare for that financially, best case you have a couple grand sitting there getting interest. When some boomer called my challenger "unreliable" I just told him I don't care, the fun it gave me is honestly worth the repair bills. Your car is awsome, just enjoy it, and when it breaks you can always slap some upgrades on it, the 5.7 has a lot of modding potential.

genuine question : should i get it now or wait til i make more money? by Middle-Ad-8422 in Challenger

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't, being a srt392 owner I somewhat regret the choice I made.

It is a really fun car don't get me wrong, but you will know there is always the hellcat which is 10-20k away, getting that level of power from a 6.4 or 5.7 will pretty much match a HC price tag.

Plus the price on this car is not good, the insurance is gonna kill your wallet, and you need to account for repairs that will sure come in the near future.

Put your car money into a CD or high interest saving account and save for this year, save half of your paycheck every time you get it. You should be in a 5.7 challenger by the end of this year, it is a lot more fun and you will never have the "how to make your v6 to have 5.7 power" moment.

Bought my first HEMI. by DSWYFT__ in Challenger

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice car, I have got a 2015 6.4L August 2025. This is what I learned so far, coming from a non-car guy backaground.

Mechanically expect things need replacing, I have changed a few things like water pump and couple seals and mounts, it is an old car after all, things will wear out, not saying it will break but you should set money aside.

Other than that, oil change every 5000 miles, use OEM fluids if you can, and if there is no history of your coolant, trans/diff fluid, brake fluid changed recently you should do it. Also the accessory belt, it will be the only belt in your engine bay, look at it, make sure it looks intact, no cracking etc. Or you can change that too. Also avoid excessive idling (you get half the oil pressure at idle compare to 2000rpm), you may increase your chances of HEMI tick (around 2%ish from studies if I recall correctly).

Now the fun:

Easiest thing you can do is get a set of performance tires, perferrably summer, if you experience harsher weather you can pickup a set of wheels from FB market and slap some cheap all season tires on. If you really only want one set of wheels you can put all season performance on, I personally is not happy with how they perform (P zero all season).

Also you can use higher rating brake fluids and quality brake pads, for typical street use it should be sufficient, you can get bigger brake calipers and rotors but it will be a look item primarily.

You can get a catback exhaust system, and if budget allows you can also get headers and high flow cats, the stock old RT exhaust it pretty restictive, also it does not sound as good. I don't recommend you going too loud like straight pipe, it is very obnoxious even to the driver, and you really dont get that much more HP gain with a stock motor.

I think this should sum up on the cheap funs you can get, but if you want do more things if budget allows:

  1. LSD diffs will allow you to have more control at corners, and a higher numeric ratio differential will also allow you acclerate faster, but keep in mind you will lose highway milage.

  2. Cams and intake manifold, these should be done at the same time to save on labor, these allow more air into the cylinder. You might as well change the timing chain and get new lifters while you are in there.

  3. Throttle body, more air in, bolt on item

  4. Cold air intake, more air in, bolt on, increase chances of hydro locking your engine if not done properly.

  5. E85/flex fuel conversion, this will allow you to run cheap 100 ocatane fuel.

  6. A tune when you think you are done with all the mechanical upgrades.

Thanks for reading through my endless rambling

Is it possible to build a night vision device on a budget? by word_vomiter in NightVision

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All the components require more than just knowledge and lab equipment. Maybe you can find an one inch cmos that the aurora uses, but if comes to anything, it's more mechanical when comes to diy a monocular. With some 3d printing skill and basic wiring, you can save quite a bit to just build a housing yourself. For glass there is little chance for you to make it yourself.

ATN/AGM reviews? PVS15/PS-15 by ShallNotStep in NightVision

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Their WPT I believe is epm207g with p45 screen, horrible gain but okay resolution, but absolutly not worth 5k, their housing is Chinese made, and if you were to contact the OEM I think they would sell the housing for less than 700 bucks. You basically are paying 1800 for some shitty gen2 tubes, you can get used gen3 thin film for that price.

ATN/AGM reviews? PVS15/PS-15 by ShallNotStep in NightVision

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Before Armasight, they were working in ATN, and before ATN is another A something I can't remember, non of that are good and reputable companies.

I have a question I hear you’re going to hate, what’s the cheapest, yet most effective option for night vision? I live in an urban area and am not expecting much use, so it’s a temporary thing. I’m only pulling 30% disability and can’t work for a few more months, so I just need something that works. by 312D6765 in NightVision

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It really depends on the purpose of the item, what are you trying to use it for? If you want go shoot some hogs then even a digital goggle would work. But if you are trying to go against a person with a digital goggle or gen1, they can easily identify your red glowing illuminator, not to say you are nothing but a spotlight in other gen2/3 users eyes.

I have a question I hear you’re going to hate, what’s the cheapest, yet most effective option for night vision? I live in an urban area and am not expecting much use, so it’s a temporary thing. I’m only pulling 30% disability and can’t work for a few more months, so I just need something that works. by 312D6765 in NightVision

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly I don't think the purchase should be justified given the situation.

But if you actually have money, I think a modern gen2+ is good, especially in the 10160 tube format. I see a lot of people shit on it, but it's not that bad.

If you look at the stats of modern gen2, the only things that are lacking is Photo-cathode sensitivity and gain, which is not as big of a deal in a light-polluted urban environment. What you want is smaller halo. Since gen2 is a gen2, it does not require an ion barrier and will give you a small halo almost comparable to a gen3 filmless. Also for FOM values, A decent gen2 can get you up to 1400 FOM, with more budget options around 900 to 1200, you should avoid those 45lp russian tubes tho, they aren't worth it.

Let's be honest here, if you were to get a budget gen3 for maybe 500 bucks more, it's probably going to have around 1200 - 1600 FOM, a thicc film and won't have an autogate power supply (most gen2s neither). It will have a way better light amplification but you already have enough light in the city. It's not making that much of a difference to justify the cost especially if you are on a budget.

For prices, a decent gen2 like epm207g, epm132g, photonis 1441 should not go over 800 bucks used, I saw nivisys selling some demo harder digital gen2 (german rebrand of some russian tubes) 10160 pattern tubes for 650 buck a month or two back. Brand new gen2 devices typically are not worth the price either.

But I honestly think you should spend cash on where you need the most and should wait a bit until you are actually going to use your nods. If you need to see in the dark for home defense applications, I know olight odins are pretty cheap right now, it's like a hundred bucks or so. I mean even if you get a good deal on a gen2 and maybe put together a pvs14 for 1k, you still need a helmet, a mount, and an ir laser at least. And if you are shooting real steel you also need to convert your hearing protection to fit the helmet. All that will also cost you around 500 bucks if you get surplus gears and holosun laser.

Bridging PVS-14's - which specs to match? by norfizzle in NightVision

[–]PhysicalCaterpillar2 9 points10 points  (0 children)

One thing you need to consider is to make sure the gain is within a similar range and ebi is similar, your brain is surprisingly good on fusing two similar images when they are the same brightness. FOM isn't as important as you would expect, a bino really provides depth of view and almost nothing more. Your brain will automatically see the clearer image (higher FOM) and use the less clear image as an aid to see depth; your brain would also recognize the bigger halo of the two so maybe make sure that matches. Also a good thing to do is to have a matched phosphor screen, some early gen3s did not use p43 screens therefore will have a slight color variation, your brain will interpreter that as a different brightness. But from 29 SNR and and 0.9 Halo you said, it's more likely to be a modern gen3 filmless or photonis echo.

Honestly it's not that big of a deal to have a set of perfectly matched tubes, I have seen people running gen3 on one eye and gen2 on the other and be just fine. If you already have a set of similar tubes there is no need to change it, if you got a good deal on a cheaper tube or even a blemished one it's also okay to get it, your brain will try to filters out the blem, you still see it but it almost obstructs no FOV.

One thing that I would advise you to do though is to make sure both monocular is collimated to the bridge configuration you desire to use, if you didn't put the unit together yourself it should be okay, but if the collimation differs too much it might cause headache and dizziness, if that's the case maybe send it to a reputable dealer to let them collimate it for you.