Bridging a PVS-14 with any iRay Thermal - Arkayne

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Bridging a PVS-14 with any iRay Thermal

  • January 20, 2023
  • By Ethan Sensenig

The MOD Armory Bridge and all its capabilities.

Will the MOD Armory Bridge work for you and the set up your planning to run on it? Let’s look at bridging a PVS-14 with any iRay Thermal. We will also take a look at the MOD Armory bridge and all its capabilities.

Interpupillary distance (IPD) is the most important thing to know when you’re working with any bridge. It is easy to get a rough idea of your interpupillary distance (IPD). Grab a buddy and you can measure each other’s IPD easily. With a straight ruler hold the ruler up gently resting it on your partners nose. Line up the zero mark with your partners left iris. Now, without moving the ruler, line up the right iris with whatever number it lands closest to and that’s your IPD. Here’s some fun facts just so you know if you’re a weirdo or not. 95% of females have an IPD that’s 53-65MM. While 95% of males have an IPD that’s 55-70MM. With this data all together it lands the average adult at 63MM IPD.

Left eye MH25 / Right eye PVS-14

Now that you have your IPD lets get into it. One of my favorite combinations to run is a PVS-14 over my right eye for navigating and passive aiming ability. A thermal then over my left eye for scanning and finding things. I am right eye dominant and right-handed making the right eye the best suited for passive aiming and shooting with a weapon mounted red dot. This is a nice square lined up combination. When the Dove Tail Adaptor for the MH25 is pushing the MH25 out. It lands the Center of the eye pieces in their tightest configuration right at 63MM. See the below pictures for reference. If your IPD is sightly wider you will be able to pivot both the thermal and PVS-14 out slightly for best alignment.

If you have an extremely tight IPD, it is possible to offset the dove tail adaptor on the MH25 inward and not out. This is easy to configure and can be switched between the right and left eye. The MH25 can be pushed in or out over either eye. With the dove tail adaptor offset inward, at its tightest configuration, the center of the two eye pieces are 50MM apart.

 

If you find yourself mounting the MH25 on the MOD Armory Bridge using the Mini Rail Dove tail adaptor, please look over the below instructions for best mounting practice to align the MH25 and the PVS-14 properly. If this isn’t your application, please feel free to skip over the install instructions below for the Dove tail adaptor.

MH25 Dove Tail Adaptor Install Instructions

 

Left eye RH25 / Right eye PVS-14

The RH25 can be helmet mounted and also quickly transferred to a weapon’s mounted configuration. The RH25, in the following pictures, is mounted with IRay USA part number AC52. With the PVS-14 and the RH25 in its tightest configuration touching each other the center of the eye pieces lands at about 64MM. If your IPD is wider than that you will be able to pivot the thermal and the PVS-14 out slightly for proper alignment. If your IPD is tighter than that a slightly different configuration may be better (more on this below). I’m sure you have noticed that the RH25 is slightly forward of the PVS-14. In my experience while running this set up, this detail will not pose any serious problems.

Left eye PVS-14 / Right eye RH25

Running the RH25 over the right eye and the PVS-14 over the left eye can be a useful solution for those with a tighter IPD. With the two units in this configuration, you can bring the eye pieces centers as tight as 50MM. See the below pictures for reference. If you have a little wider IPD than this you should be able to rotate both units out slightly to achieve proper alignment with your eyes.

Dual RH25’s

While helmet mounted in any configuration. The RH25 provides the best viewer experience when set to handheld mode in settings. This creates the biggest screen possible and its round instead of square. With the screen round inside the unit the slight offset isn’t noticeable during operation because it’s a round image just like the PVS-14. With the units touching, in their tightest configuration, the center of the eyepieces land at the 63MM mark. Because of the design of the units, it’s impossible to get the units closer together than the 63MM achieved here with this mounting method.

IRay USA Part Number AC53 would enable you to flip the left unit’s battery housing out. This will achieve a tighter IPD with dual RH25’s. The AC53 could also be utilized to achieve a tighter IPD with an RH25 over the left eye and PVS-14 over the right eye. At this time 1-20-23 I cannot obtain the AC53. I believe we may have access to it in the future.

(AC52^)

(AC53^)

 

Dual PVS-14’s

This MOD Armory bridge was originally designed for running two PVS-14 units. I think that’s boring… Regardless of my personal preference to always have a thermal I took the time to also measure two PVS-14 Units. With the two units in their tightest configuration, you will end up with the units at the 54MM mark. Again, pivoting the two units away from each other will allow anyone with a wider IPD to achieve the proper alignment. One thing to note with all these different options is that there is two different arms to hold the PVS-14. Depending which eye you choose to run it over, make sure you have the correct arms in use! If you’ve made it this far I applaud you, thanks for taking your time to figure this all out on your own!

Until next time happy goonin.

Ethan Sensenig

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