I've finally decided to make a decent use of my GPS Racer quadcopter. Until now, I mainly used it to test new things for INAV and that is more less all. RunCam Owl Plus FPV camera turned out to be non-flyable in the night, so I've decided to go one step further...

RunCam Night Eagle

Runcam Night Eagle - night vision FPV camera 2

Yes, RunCam Night Eagle. I've seen couple of video reviews of this camera on YouTube and decided that this is what I really need: a good night vision camera. Not a camera that can see after sundown. A camera that can see in the night!

Runcam Night Eagle - night vision FPV camera 3

Runcam Night Eagle - night vision FPV camera

Unitil now I only tested it in "no fly" conditions just by attaching it to FPV goggles and going for a walk with my daughter in the night.

Runcam Night Eagle on FPV goggles SkyZone SKY-01

There is no DVR footage, so you just have to trust me: it really works in the night. We were able to see throught FPV goggles in real dark conditions, in a middle of a field, 10km from a city and 1km from a nearest light source (poor single road lamp). Everything was just visible. Black and white, but visible. But do not get me wrong: human sight is still better!

IR projectors

Since RunCam Night Eagle is IR sensitive (I've proven it by discovering that my smartphone has a IR diode in the front) why not to help it a little by installing IR projectors?

3W IR projector from the side

3W IR projector with lens

Pair of 3W IR projectors

I've bought those IR projectors at Amazon for a price of something like $7 per pair. Description said: 3W. I've measured, and nope, not a chance. More like 1W (maybe 1.2W) per projector. Maybe it is supposed to be 3W per pair? No way... But they are strong enough to get through IR blocked camera. I did not checked them together with Night Eagle yet. Maybe next weekend I will have a chance to do it and finally get GPS Racer into the air in real night conditions...